Great news! Today was my first colonoscopy after my surgery (crs/hipec on 8/7/1019). There were no polyps found. Zero. None. And the recommendation is to return for a followup colonoscopy in three years. My September CEA was .6 and CA125 was 12 (down from 13 in July). Now just watching the peritonea...

Hello everyone. Hope all is going well for each of you and your family and friends. The three of us here are almost at the end of the 8th week of remote-work and remote-college. We're still smiling at each other. We've settled into a routine, of sorts, that includes all of us in separate spaces all ...

I am working from home. Again. I'm finding I want to be at work, and hate c-virus for taking that away from me just as soon as I was able, finally, to get back to things. Also, I didn't;t mind being home when I wasn't able to get out. Now that I *can* get out, being told *not* to go out somehow is m...

Appointment with local ONC yesterday. He said: Labs look good, scan looks good, see me in June. :) Wondering if I should cancel my appointment with my Boston ONC (at end of March) given the current state of things. It's a plane, train, bus trip. I'm thinking of calling to ask if there is a way to ha...

Good morning! Yeah, it's Monday.
Bright, blue sky this morning, and not too very cold outside.
Have a great, positive, beautiful day!

2020! January no medical tests or appointments scheduled. February only has a port flush scheduled. March is local ONC, labs, scan, and the Boston ONC. 12/02/2019 labs showed CEA 0.6, CA19-9 12, CA125 50. Cause for concern, so the CEA125 was redone 12/19/2019 and came back at 36. :) Last PT was end ...

So... GOOD NEWS! I remain chemo-free for now. :D I met with both surgeon and oncologist this week for my 4-month post-op appointment. The scan report shows there are still cancer cells present, but they are not doing anything. Just sitting there. :D No limitations on movement, exercise, or what I ca...

Reports are coming in from my surgery at MGH... Pathology says all the margins are clean. YAY! Molecular Diagnostics: NO amplification of the HER2 gene. Immunoreactive for MLH1, MSH2, MSH6 and PMS2 - consistent with a microsatellite stable tumor. [MSS] POSITIVE for variant(s) in SMAD4, APC and KRAS....

One month ago I had my CRS-HIPEC surgery. Cannot believe it's been a month already. So far nothing to report, except that my husband tells me that when the surgeon came out to see him afterward, he said things went well and he was positive he'd gotten 99% of it. It was a long surgery - I went in at ...

AND THIS IS HAPPENING! I found out July 22 I will not begin new treatment plan with Cetuximab. I had 2 biopsies - one with sample from the tumor inside my colon, one with a sample from the mass outside my colon. One is type wild and one is mutated. (Not sure which one is which.) Good news is my last...

Monday: Appointment with Dr. James Cusack (surgeon) at MassGeneral. He said there was still too much disease for him to be confident in removing all of it. He called in Dr. Jeff Clark (oncologist) to consult. Left with treatment plan to continue with FOLFIRI, adding Cetuxamab. We agreed to ramp up m...

Looking for simple directions to Yawkey Bldg (Dr. Cusack) at Mass General in Boston -- we will be starting from Manchester, NH. We know to go down 93, but then things look complicated on google. Hubby would like to try public transportation rather than drive in downtown Boston. I want to get there w...

Guess what I'm doing in mid July? I am heading to Mass General in Boston to see Dr. Cusack! I sent my records and test results and his office called to give me an appointment. :) Great news. You will be in best hands with dr. Cusack. If the surgery is moving forward, you might want to ask to see on...

Guess what I'm doing in mid July? I am heading to Mass General in Boston to see Dr. Cusack! I sent my records and test results and his office called to give me an appointment.

Updates: (1) The hospital is hiring a full-time oncologist in July. :) Finally don't have to see a different onc every three months. (2) Saw the latest onc (#4 for me in a year) May 30. Long story short he looks up from papers he is reading, asks if we'd seen a surgeon. No, we say, a little confused...