Buster's Story

On Dec 14th, at age 42, I was diagnosed with Stage IV Colon cancer, it had spread to my liver. Several weeks later, after doing some research and talking with a few doctors, I elected to do chemo (folfox)in hopes that my cancer would shrink. After 3 doses of Folfox the three spots I had on my liver were gone and my primary tumor had shrunk. A month later, I had a colon resection and I was fortunate my doctor only took 8". Several weeks later I was back on Folfox and a month after that I started radiation. They radiated the site of the resection, and I'm happy to report it's not come back. After my 5th week of radiation and tenth dose of chemo, I was scanned and it was determined that I was in remission. Fast forward Feb 2005, had a Ct Scan, cancer was back in my liver, this time, one spot. I elected to have open surgery and my doctor Cryo'd my tumor and felt confident he got it all. Was back to work in 3 weeks. In June,2005 we did another CT Scan, cancer gone! Fast forward to Febuary Oct 2008, had ct scan, spot appears on my liver, seems to be in the same place as cryo'd spot. This time around I elect for another open surgery, this time surgeon does liver resection. I also start folfiri regimine. At this point, I'm seemingly in remission, but I have to wait 3-6 months to see if anything popped up. Fast forward to Nov. 2009, feel pain in my right lung, they do a ct scan, this time they find a tumor in the plural(lining) of my lung, it's inoperable and the only way to treat it is chemo. From Nov. to this day, I'm still getting chemo treatments, I go once a month, I've had 42 doses up to this point. I hope to do 40 more:)

Today, I'm happy to report that I seem to be keeping this cancer in check. My overall health is good, I go to work everyday, I chase my 8 year old boy around, and most people I know don't even know I'm sick. Best advice I can give is don't stop living, don't let this disease rule your life. Compartmentalize your illness and visit it when you must, but when you're done, put your illness back on the shelf and live your life. Head down and full speed ahead:)