Hi all!

andreae
andreae Member Posts: 236
edited March 2014 in Young Cancer Survivors #1
Hi!

Well, I see this site has some awesome youngsters and I would love to participate! I am a 22 year old cancer survivor. I was dx at age 20 with colorectal cancer. Went through radiation/chemo, surgery, more chemo to take care of the primary tumor. Unfortunately, metastases were detected in Sept. 2003. Since then I have done 2 protocols of chemo and two thoracotomies to attack the lung mets. I am re-starting chemo in 2 days (yikes!). I have seen some young CRC survivors (crusader? Jana?) and would love to talk. I have gotten used to treatment and have learned to deal with the fear of metastatic cancer, but I guess I'm just feeling a little tired and overwhelmed at the moment. I'm applying to grad school, and trying to plan a future, but I don't really know how when I'm living with cancer and might be for a long time. Anyways, would love to talk to any young survivors out there. I look forward to meeting all of you!

Andrea

Comments

  • mc2001
    mc2001 Member Posts: 343
    #2
    Hi Andreae,
    Welcome to Young Cancer Survivors! My name is Michael. I was diagnosed with leukemia when I was 21. I am now 30. I was treated at UC San Francisco Comprehensive Cancer Center. The chat room is a great place to meet other young survivors. Hope you are doing well. God bless.
    -Michael
  • livin
    livin Member Posts: 318 Member
    #3
    Hi Andreae, glad to see you made it over here. I hope you do well restarting Chemo. I will be restarting soon also probably the weekend. With all your knowledge and wisdom you can help alot of young survivors. As I said in the pass you are my She-ro. Got to go not a young survivor and want to respect their board. Livin from the cc board.
  • shmurciakova
    shmurciakova Member Posts: 906 Member
    #4
    Hello Andreae, My name is Susan. I was diagnosed w/ CC back in 2002. I was 31 then. A liver met was discovered in 2003 and I just had a thoracotomy one month ago for two small mets to my right lung. I am not going to undergo any more chemo at this time since my margins were clear and the two spots were successfully removed, but I had a question for you since you have been through this before. How long did it take before your shoulder stopped hurting? How long until your arm felt "normal" again. My boob is sooooo sensitive (sorry guys!). I guess that is from nerves that wrap around from your back to your chest. Let me know how you dealt w/ this. Best of luck w/ the chemo you are starting tomorrow. What are you going to be taking. I know how tiring it is. I find it hard to make any plans for the future too. I am hopeful that this will be the last surgery/treatment for me and that will be that, but it is hard living life in 3 month increments!
    You can e-mail me any time if you just want to talk. Take care, Susan
  • andreae
    andreae Member Posts: 236
    #5
    Hi Susan,

    Well! It sounds like you have been having a great time (NOT)... I was lucky. The second thoractomy was not nearly as painful as the first. I would have to say it took about 6 weeks for the pain to go away (I know what you mean about the breast pain, wearing a bra hurts, not wearing a bra hurts, doesn't leave you with many options!). You should talk to your doctor about the pain, though. I was toughin it out and then just mentioned the pain to my oncologist. Before I knew it, I had a prescription for anti-inflammatories, dilaudid and oxycotin. I only then realized how silly it was of me to be suffering in silence! I wish you all the best and keep me posted to how you are doing. I'm going to be doing FOLFIRI. I progressed on 5FU and FOLFOX but I am responding nicely to this combo.. Are you taking anything at the moment?

    Hope to talk to you soon!

    Sincerely,
    Andrea

    p.s. Thanks for the friendly greeting!
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    #6
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