My husband Just diagnosed

Hi LLLady,
There are alot of survivors here. What part of the colon is the tumor in? That makes some difference in what the treatment is. If it is almost completely blocking they may need to do surgery first. I had rectal cancer and had chemoradiation first to shrink the tumor. At your husband's young age you may want to have him get some gene testing especially if you have children.
Good luck and keep asking questions. Our prayers are with you.
****

Hang in there. I am 28 with stage IV, I am a single mother of a 5 and 7 year old. I have had chemo and radiation, surgery and now I am on chemo. Being emotional is so normal, I still have my mood swings, the most important thing for me has really been my family and friends. Being there for your husband will make all the difference in the world. Like others have said, Attitude is everything and I believe that with all my heart. Fight this thing!!!! Make sure that you have someone that you can talk to about what you are going through, you always have us here! I will keep your family in my prayers.

LLLady said:

I'm glad I found you people, Thank you so much and I wish you all the best Hugs!
We don't even know what stage my husband in yet. But I do know the blockage is very low below his belly button on his left side the doctor could not get passed it to finish the colonoscopy.
I'm reading a few books. They talk about the immune system and vitamins he needs to take and cleaning his liver. but I also see he can't take vitamin C while on chemo. I wonder why
Oh did I mention I'm a heart attack survivor 11/17/01
Our youngest son is 15 and taking it pretty hard he wont talk about it at all. He gets very mad if you try to talk to him about how he's feeling. I have 2 other boys that my husband raised but they are not his kids. They are 23, and 27 they are very upset. We don't have a surgery date yet, We are meeting with the surgeon this Tuesday.
Anyway I thank you all for being here for me when I really need you. xoxo Take care sweetheart's
LLLady~*

Vitamin C is an anti-oxident....some oncs believe that it interferes with the chemo, some don't. Mine said I shouldn't drink green tea, yet in the treatment center, there was a continuous pot of...yup....green tea for we survivors.
Cancer is no longer a death sentence. FYI ONLY (sigh, the caregiver gets the WHOLE STORY...) hubby's son should be prepared for his first scope at 31....10 years before his dad's diagnosis...sigh...my grandfather died at 55 from this cancer, had I been scoped at 45, well, maybe I would have only been Stage I or II....
I am a FIRM believer in the old immune system....and learning as much as you can...

Hugs, for all your research!

Kathi

Good morning, I'm so sorry to hear about your husband. I will say, people do survive this. My grandmother survived 15 years and the colon cancer was not the reason for her passing (she was 89). My mom had her colon cancer removed in April. She has emphysema and tolerated the surgery very well. I'm sure after the surgery they will be able to tell you much more. They usually biopsy the lymph nodes during surgery and then they can tell if further treatment is needed. I can only imagine how hard this is for you. The best thing you can do is just take things one step at a time. I will pray for you both and please remember people DO survive this, so hang in there. Hugs, Paula

My husband was dx stage IV (positive lympn nodes and lots of small tumors in the liver) July 05. He was 52 at the time and we were newlyweds of 6 months. What a shock, after crying for 9 days in the hospital, I got it together. He had emergency surgery to remove the blockage. He was told by oncologist at the hospital that the average life expectancy for his condition was 22 months. Well, it has been 13 months and he is doing fabulous. He had to initially have a colostomy bag for 4 months, we did OK with that, I took care of it initially as he was a bit freaked out, and sure enough after a few weeks he took care of it. He started hitting golf balls about 2 days after released from hospital, not very far, and not very hard, but enough to give him hope.
He has had lots of chemo in every way shape and form. I had prepared myself for the worst. He did fabulous, after round 1 of chemo the tumors in liver shrunk about 20%, but despite almost non-stop chemo, they have not shrunk anymore, on the GOOD side, they have not grown nor has the cancer spread. He had surgery to reverse the colostomy, that was much worse than anticipated, but he made it through it. Our wonderful surgeon gave us a wonderful piece of advise when he gave us the horrible cancer news, he said you can either focus on living, or focus on dying. We chose living and for the most part live in the moment. We travel, spend lots of time with family, have lots and lots of sex (even with the colostomy bag). He is still on chemo, however now just the avastin 1 time every 3 weeks and oral chemo xeloda 2 weeks on, 1 week off. The chemo slows him down maybe 10%, hardly at all, the surgeries took some bouncing back from, but what would you expect. We have such faith that if we can keep in this holding pattern, the new drugs will be approved and we will be ready for them.

On the subject of supplements. My hubby takes a lot of them, lots for the immune system. If you want info, email me direct sandyjg@comcast.net. We hope these supplements will help shrink the tumors, but at the minimum, my husband has an excellent quality of life. He still works full time, does take lots of days off for trips. He plans to retire early next year. We realize life is too short and we want to enjoy life. God bless you. please write if you need to. I always want to ask people questions, of course sometimes I am afraid of the answers.

Hi LLLady,
I was 48 at dx . I had a tumor in the descending colon (left side) that they couldn't get the scope through. They removed the tumor as well as 13 lymph nodes,six of which were cancerous. There were no mets anywhere else so that made me stage 3. I had 48 sessions of chemo over a year. This coming Jan will be the end of my 9th year clear of ca. Best of luck to your husband and you, hope you share the same good fortune,Ron.

Welcome; you have definitely come to the right place; we have been through it all.there is always somebody who has been down the road. Your surgeon will likely schedule him for surgery immediately. Until then, you won't know what to expect, other than some sort of adjuvent therapy.
Meanwhile brush up on boosting the immune system,possible diet changes, etc. There is little you can know until after the surgery, so concentrate on that. Your 15 yr old is obviously in denial..the more information he can get the better he will understand. Keep him involved somehow..maybe a support group or let him post questions here, which might be less threatening.

One day at a time; tomorrow hasn't happened yet, and nothing much to do about yesterday.. Bud

I am a 46 years old woman with stage III colon cancer. Initially I was going for a gastric bypass surgery (for weight loss) when my pre-op blood tests showed I was iron deficient. I had a colonoscopy on May 2, 2006 and the colectomy on May 22, 2006. I am a colong cancer survivor. I had the right side of my colon removed along with the tumor and my appendix. My surgeon removed 40 lymph nodes and the cancer had only spread to one. I am into my 3rd chemo treatment. I have to do this for 6 months. Good Luck to you and your husband. You have to take one day at a time.