Story on Stage IV patient fighting another fight

Hi,
I am new to this. My
Hi,
I am new to this. My husband has stage 4 colon cancer. He was first diagnosed in October 2007 with stage 3. Cancer then spread to liver and lungs. He had two spots removed from lung, went back on chemo w/avastin and then on Dec 31st 2009 he had a liver resection and we were told he was cancer free. CT scan last week shows no evidence of recurrence on liver, but there are multiple new and increasing lung nodules and a new small right pleural effusion. We have an appointment with the onc this Friday and to say that we are both devasted and in deep depression is an understatement. The surgeon and onc at Mass General have sent us back to the referring onc and crazy things are running through my mind as to why. I don't want to give up hope, but right now, we are really struggling. Don't know what to do.

AnneCan said:

Hi Baldwin,
Welcome to this
Hi Baldwin,

Welcome to this forum. I am really sorry to hear of your husband's news. I hope you find tis forum as useful as I have. I know how hard it is to wait for these meetings with our doctors etc. Good luck on Friday.

Thank you. I am really
Thank you. I am really falling to pieces and don't want to make it worse for my husband who is also very depressed. I want to be strong for him, but I am losing it. Any advice?

baldwin said:

Thank you. I am really
Thank you. I am really falling to pieces and don't want to make it worse for my husband who is also very depressed. I want to be strong for him, but I am losing it. Any advice?

Baldwin
I am no expert for sure + if someone can tell me how to not worry when getting scan results, etc., I would love to hear it. I don't have experience with lung mets; I have 4 mets on my liver, but I know that there are many people on this forum who have had very successful procedures done with their lungs. I can't even remember all the names of lung procedures that have been done. It might be a good idea to start a new thread asking for advice; you might get better reponses from people - your issue could get lost on this thread. There is a spot on the left top side that says something like "post new discussion". Then you can put in whatever title you want + more knowledgeable (than me) people will help.

Make sure you take deep breaths; they really help. Friday will be here before you know it + knowledge is power. Many of the people on this forum will also say get 2nd, 3rd, 4th opinions - whatever it takes to get the help you need.

My surgeon told me "this is a marathon not a sprint". I remind myself of those words frequently. I originally was going to have colorectal surgery last fall, after radiation + chemo in the summer. Late August it was confirmed that I had the liver mets, + the surgeon told me I was not operable at that time. Since then I have been on folfiri + avastin with great success - the 2 colorectal tumours were "not detectable" after 4 treatments + the liver mets have decreased in size. Anything is possible + they may be able to do surgery or other procedures in the future. When you read some of the stories on this forum you begin to truly believe anything is possible.