Another newbie...

Hey all...after weeks of lurking, I figured it's time for me to finally register, say hello and introduce my/ourselves, and give a great big "thank you" for all the great information we've found here so far.

I'm the husband of Staci, a 32-year-old who certainly doesn't look like there's anything the matter with her health-wise, who had a colonoscopy in July and came home with a dx of rectal cancer. Since then, it's been clinically dx'd at either stage II or stage III, depending on who you talk to -- the medical oncologist said that he thought it was stage II based on the handful of CTs and MRIs, but there were some "irregularities" in the lymph nodes when she got a rectal ultrasound, so the GI surgeon said he'd prefer to call it stage III. PET came back with only normal pathological uptake in the lymph nodes, so we're "on the fence," so to speak, about what stage it really is.

We live just outside Youngstown, Ohio, about halfway between Cleveland and Pittsburgh. After having the colonoscopy done locally, and meeting with a local onc and a couple other local doctors, but then heading to Cleveland for second opinions, we decided that she was going to get all of her treatment and surgery and care at the Cleveland Clinic. She's had nothing but great care so far and we have no reason to expect anything differently going forward.

She had her second-to-last radiation session today, the second of three "boost" sessions that will take her to 28 total sessions when she's done on Monday. She's had 2500 mg of Xeloda every day that she has radiation, and she's thankful that the need to take those big pills is coming to an end (for the time being).

APR surgery is scheduled for Friday, November 20...since day one they've told us that she will have an ostomy of some sort, because her tumor is so low in the rectum that there doesn't appear to be any way to save the sphincter. She's been ok with that, and has really had a great attitude the whole way through so far....her main response has been "what else would I do?" Spurring her positivity are the three little ones we have -- almost 7, 4, and almost 2 -- and as she's also said, "I don't have the luxury of taking it easy on the couch when I have the flu - why would I change now?" She's had some side effects, primarily the sunburn-like burns and the nausea and diarrhea, but for the most part has been able to get through with not changing that much from what we considered "normal" just two and a half months ago.

I will admit that we're very lucky to have her parents, sisters, and other family 10 minutes away, so they've been able to help out a lot and take some of the normal life workload off of her. My parents live 12 minutes from the Clinic, right on our route, so they've also been more than willing to watch the kids while we run downtown for a few hours.

I think that's about it for now...but if there's anything I left out, just ask and I'll certainly answer! We're pretty much open books about this...but are also cognizant of sometimes needing to just say "I don't know." I'm thankful for the help I've gotten from my readings so far, and although I wouldn't have chosen to come here willingly, this seems like a group with which we have a lot in common.

Chris