NED............YEAH...

Patti1 said:

NED Reply/Brief History
Cheryl,

My husband is the person NED. Dennis was diagnosed 1/5/2006 after going for a colonoscopy due to some minor rectal bleeding. The look on the doctors face told the whole story. I knew we were in for a battle. The biopsy came back as Stage IV Colorectal Cancer, soon after we were sent for a Pet Scan and were then told in had spread to his liver and possibly to lung also as a small spot did show up but did not lite on Pet Scan. He then started chemo, Avastin,5FU and the whole cocktail assortment. We were not really feeling good about the doctors we had or the choices we were given (that set of docs said surgery was not a option) we followed our heart and went for a 2nd opinion, guess what surgery was a option. We stopped chemo for 6 weeks and on 7/14/2006 underwent surgery. That was a bit more than we had planned for, had a complete lower resection with a permanent colostomy and a liver resection, 4 weeks later started chemo again with rad treatments, then followed by oral chemo (Xeloda). With a strong will and good physical activity and a good surgeon we have somehow managed to stay NED.We follow our doctors regimen to the tee. We have had our ups and downs and our share of issues but deal with them as they come along. I thank all of you that have been there for us throughout the years.
Patti

Excellent!!
Patti.... thanks for going over the history again (I'm sure you've written it out many times over the years)... but depending on when we come on the board, sometimes we all need reminders of who has gone through what, what were their options, what options did they take and how are they doing now

WOW.... to hear that Dennis and you have gone through all of that, with the first set of doctors not giving much in the way of options or hope... look at you now!!! Whoooooooo!!! That is so darn exciting.... I'm excited for both of you and excited for what it means to the rest of us

When I was first diagnosed in Dec 2006, I was a Stage III.... the tumour had perforated through the intestinal wall, and 1 out of 17 lymph nodes tested positive. Not knowing ANYTHING about cancer, staging, treatments, etc... even though all of this came as a shock to me, I figured, "Heck, I'm no spring chicken, but I'm also not a senior citizen yet... surely I can beat this thing?" The thought of death being a big possibility just wasn't a reality for me... no matter how much I tried to prepare myself for the "possibility". My surgeon at the time (who I adored), did tell me that this is very, very serious and that until they opened me up, he wouldn't know how bad it was in there... but he has only seen a tumour perforation this bad a couple of times in his life. There is a good chance once they open me up, they are going to have to just close me up and I may not be leaving the hospital. The shock of a doctor telling me this was just way too surreal. I had family and friends with me in the hospital around the clock... and I was there for a whole month. But, that dream of a surgeon not only opened me up, cut out the nasty bits, sewed me up so everything is working better than ever, he even repaired two hernias while he was in there... two that I didn't even know I had . He joked afterwards that he did those two free of charge ... the joke being, of course, that up here we don't have to worry about any hospital expenses, drugs, specialists, etc... just tv rental .

Anywho... I knew I was in for chemo and radiation after that but I figured I've made it this far, through the worst of it... so no matter how tiring or sickly I feel with the chemo or radiation... I was bound and determined I was going to make it through them and enjoy it, because for each time I felt fatigued or sickly, it would mean the chemo/radiation is doing it's job and killing off the cells. Hehehe.. I won't tell you what I took for the feeling of nausea because I'm not sure it's allowed on the public board, but suffice it to say, I quit smoking ciggies over 7 years ago... but a puff or two of the weed that looks like baby maple leafs, did the trick that no amount of pharmaceutical anti-nausea med ever did. I could not believe just how well it did work, so throughout all 8 months of chemo, I never once felt nausea to the point where I was sick.

Anywho... once I finished the chemo and radiation, as per my oncologist's plan, I was so proud of myself and patted myself on the back... I had done it!! Then, a month or two after the chemo was finished, my CEA levels started rising... so a PET scan was ordered. Sure enough, my right adrenal gland lit up like a Christmas tree, and one spot on my lung. A further CAT scan to the lungs showed multiple spots... but they aren't really acting like cancer would act... so we are taking our time with them. They are sure one of them is cancer... and a second one may also be cancer... but the others, the jury is still out.

But, the fact the cancer had spread to the adrenal and possibly the lung, that meant I was now staged as a Stage IV... metastacized colon cancer... or advanced colon cancer. That is a real blow to one's confidence... just hearing those words.

Soooo, you can imagine how your and Dennis's story about being a Stage IV, going through the journey of treatments that you had to go through... and he's come out NED!! That is sooo exciting... and I am celebrating with both of you!!!

Keep telling your story because as newbies come on this board, scared and not sure what's ahead for them... when we hear these stories it's like this huge curtain of relief opens up

Huggggggs,

Cheryl