Feeling lost

braelee2 said:

So sorry
You always have the right to have a second opinion . Go see another Doctor if you are not happy with what he said. I do have one question. Did he say if any lymph node were involved how many they removed and how many had cancer. From what I understand thats how they figure if you need chemo or not. Good luck and stay strong.

maglets said:

I agree
welcome! all your worries are totally and completely normal....we fuss fuss with every pain thinking....cancer for sure.....personally I have invented cancer for every possible part of my body over the last six years. Unfortunately at times it was true....it was cancer more than once. but as your journey goes on you start to live with this.

I would definitely seek another opinion if possible....it does sound to me as if you have been dismissed. so many people here will tell you to avoid the percentages game and the survival rates....if your cancer perforated the colon maybe another onc would have a different approach.

I have started yoga, deep breathing and relaxtion, lots of walking ....anything to calm the cancer monkey mind.

welcome momtofour....

maggie

maglets said:

haha
ha another northerner....i am over in Ontario....look at my expressions page....you will see home-made bread and apple pie....same deal....get that oven fired up. We canucks actually have our Thanksgiving this weekend so the baking frenzy begins....

mags

AnneCan said:

Welcome Bonnie
I am glad you posted; this is a great place to hang out when you are feeling lost, confused, sad, mad or happy.:) I agree with others that if you are not comfortable with your doctor, another opinion may help. I also agree with Pepe; if you have to have colon cancer, stage 2 is a much better place to be than where some of us are.

Take good care!

Lori-S said:

Sorry you felt dismissed
First let me welcome you to the board. There are a lot of knowledgeable people with many perspectives here that will be willing to help out.

It seems that you feel merely dismissed by your medical provider and that this doctor was not a good fit for you. It doesn't matter who they are or what their credentials, if you are not comfortable with them they are not a good fit for you and therefore not the right doctor for you. Get another oncologist and go from there.

It seems that you are concerned about needing chemo. Not all doctors will recommend chemo to a stage II patient after surgery. There is still much debate about this and many factors that a doctor assesses before recommending to chemo or not to chemo to a stage II patient. Some of them are: A high grade cancer, a tumor that caused obstruction, less than 12 lymph nodes removed, perforation, invasion of nearby organs, and margins that were not clear are the most common determining factors. So if you go to another doctor, these are the questions you might want to bring up. Are any of these determining factors present that might indicate that chemo is an appropriate treatment for you? Ask what are my specific cancer findings? Each of us is different and each tumor/cancer even in a particular person can be different. What is the risk/reward ratio for me if I do chemo?

If you feel comfortable with it, get your own OR and path reports and go through them thoroughly so you can ask specific questions about what you might find disconcerting or need more explanation on. For example in my pre-op CT the radiologist noted several enlarged lymph nodes in the lower right pelvic quadrant suggestive of metastatic disease process even giving measurements on 2 of them as they were notably large yet after going through my OR and path reports I discovered that no lymph nodes were removed from that area. As there were no affected lymph nodes removed for pathology, I was staged as a IIc (T4bN0Mx) However, after discovering this information (myself) and bringing it to the doctors attention and then having it confirmed by another CT scan, I am clinically staged as a IIIc. So I have 2 staging numbers a path of IIc and a clinical of IIIc at this moment.

Please know that there are many who would love to have that chemo/no chemo option. You must remember that chemo is a powerful toxic agent and for some has many drastic side effects. It is not a quick little treatment that you just take and go on your way, as I’m sure you can surmise just by reading some of the forums. If you do chemo will the benefit outweigh the possible side effects? I was released from the hospital after emergency surgery and still loopy from medications with a colostomy and a port and told to get straight to the nearest cancer center for chemo as opposed to anyone discussing details or options with me. They even said they would not release me unless I was ready to do that. Of course I wanted out of there after 2 weeks and smiled and said “No problem”. Being protective of myself, I first had to do extensive research and educate myself to explore all my options. If I still had cancer in me it wasn’t going anywhere and if I didn’t then there really wasn’t any problem with taking a little bit of time to do what I felt I needed to do. I was fortunate that I personally had that time as I know there are many who don’t. Whether or not to choose chemo can sometimes be an ongoing question.

Whether you have chemo or not you definitely need follow up with the appropriately scheduled testing to keep an eye on things for a while. Get another doctor. They work for you and don’t stop interviewing them until you feel you have the right one for you. With the right doctor you will be better able to decide on what your next step should be and what feels right for you. Good luck to you!