My husband

LAMAY · September 2005

Can anyone who survived colon cancer help me. I am terrified. My husband was diagnosed with colon cancer on Aug 16th. He had surgery on the 22nd to remove the tumor, 10 inches of the colon and 13 lymnodes. They said the cancer did not enter the lymnodes and only penetrated 2 of the 5 layers of the colon wall. They put him at stage 1 & 1/2. Do we have a good change of survival? Does it reoccure? This man is my whole life. I love it dearly and can't imagine my life without him

alihamilton · September 2005

I know how you feel as I had the same fears two years ago when my beloved husband was dx Stage 111c with 11 out of 18 nodes positive. Here we are over two years later and he is well. There is never certainty that it will not recur but we try to remain positive, living in the present and make sure we follow our oncologist's guidelines for follow up. Your husband dx at 1 1/2 has excellent chances of survival. There are people on this board who have been dx Stage 1V and still going! Are they intending to give him any chemotherapy?

All the best to you and know that we will give you all the support we can.

Ali

HisJoy · September 2005

Your husband is very fortune to catch this cancer in its earliest stages. The chance of survival is very good with no penetration of the colon wall, and treatment is getting better all the time to extend life even in the higher stages. I'm stage 3C with 18 cm of colon and 15 cm of small instestine removed. The 4.5 cm tumour had penetrated the colon wall and adipose tissue and was in 5/13 lymph nodes removed. MANY of the survivors in here have even gone to stage 4 with mets to the liver or other organs and we're still alive and kicking.

It's important that your husband stay with all of his follow-up appointments in the future and it would be good to watch nutrition, as well. Lots of web sites give you good advice on what to eat - plenty of fiber, limited red meat and saturated fats, get rid of white flour and white sugar from your diet - that kind of stuff. The jury is still out on the benefits of eating a lot of raw fruits and veggies, but the high fiber (whole grain) and low red meat research is pretty conclusive for colon cancer. You can do research online and talk to many in here who use juicing and nutrition to treat their cancer. I think all of us would advocate eating lots of raw fruits and veggies, though, in spite of what researchers say about "inconclusive" evidence. Eating lots of raw fruits and veggies is good for the liver, the heart, Alzheimers, and lots of other things whether or not they've proven a link with colon cancer.

Will your husband be doing adjuvant chemotherapy? Usually they don't do that for stage I, but I've heard of it being done for Stage 2 colon cancers.

Joyfully,
Bonny Buffington

HowardJ · September 2005

Hi Lamay,
Your husband is very fortunate. According to ACS statistics the 5 year survival rate for stage I is 93% and stage 2a is 85%. (See: http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_4_3X_How_is_colon_and_rectum_cancer_staged.asp?sitearea=) so while nothing is for sure it seems good. He'll probably not need chemotherapy either. As for reoccurences...cancer can reoccur so he'll have to be checked every few months and have follow-up testing the first few years (when reoccurence is most frequent).

Good luck and feel free to post with other questions. The folks here have worlds of experience.
Howard

Unknown · September 2005

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jana11 · September 2005

As already said, your husband was VERY fortunate to have caught the cancer at such an early stage. I am stage 3, advanced to stage 4 and doing GREAT!!!!

Try to remain calm and count your blessings. Tell your husband every day what you just posted to all of us. Take each day, one at a time, and fight like crazy against this beast.

New treatments are coming, allowing those of us with advanced disease to live full, long, and happy lives.

Your husband has a great chance at survival. Cancer can return, but you can't live your life waiting.... just live and love.

I swear, it gets MUCH easier once the shock wears off. Be well.... try not to freak out. You will be OK. jana

ron50 · September 2005

Hi Lamay,
I had 13 lymph nodes removed ,six were cancerous. I had a year of chemo and at this point in time I am cancer free and according to my surgeon and oncologist that tumour is cured, It has been 7 years and 9 mos . So in my opinion your husband has an excellent chance of long term survival, my thoughts and prayers will be with you Ron.

kangatoo · September 2005

ron50 said:
Hi Lamay,
I had 13 lymph nodes removed ,six were cancerous. I had a year of chemo and at this point in time I am cancer free and according to my surgeon and oncologist that tumour is cured, It has been 7 years and 9 mos . So in my opinion your husband has an excellent chance of long term survival, my thoughts and prayers will be with you Ron.

Hi Lamay and welcome from us in oz. I was stage 2 with a 2/3 blockage, tumour went thru the bowel wall I did 6 months chemo and am now NED(no evidence disease) for 18 mnths. Your hubby has a very, very good chance of remaining NED, so don't despair! Whether he does chemo or not will depend on lots of factors but I can only go by what happens here in oz. Oncologists/surgeons here tend to errr on the side of caution and admin. chemo as a preventative measure for stage 1-2. In a lot of cases patients are counselled and given a choice. Generally we are told that the chemo in the early stages gives about a 3% better chance of the cancer not returning. The whole idea is to destroy any possible chance of any "rodent" cancer cells that may be lurking.Your hubbies surgeon would have made sure that duing surgery they had "clear margins"....they would have made sure they got all the tumour and taken more bowel than necessary either side of the tumour...just to be sure they got it all. Having clear nodes is a big "wow, whoopee!" factor too!
Take heart and try not to be worried(better said than done I know)......your hubby has a very good outlook!
huggs, kanga n Jen

novatocabruce · September 2005

First. . .no one gets out of here alive. You need to accept and embrace this fact, because it is true, and will (hopefully) lead you towards the full person you are. I hope and pray that you'll be with your husband for many years to come.

I'm in year four after being diagnosed with stage 3 crc in 11/01. It was a year of treatment with three surgeries and a couple rounds of chemo. Yep, it was a tough year, but I'm glad to be able to email you. I'm not out of the woods, but things are looking good. Having a tough mental attitude is important. Read Lance Armstrongs book "It's not about the bike" and you'll get a sense of what is really a tough hand.

Feel free to email me. It sounds like your husband has had a tough go, but he didn't get the real nasty diagnosis. Stage 4-5 with invasion of another organ is much tougher. Stage 1-2 is something that can be dealt with.

Talk with me if you'd like.

My husband

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