Hey there, I wanted to respond to your concern about rectal bleeding after surgery. I also experienced this. I had rectal cancer, and they re-sected everything, stapled it, etc. I had bright red blood in my stool (not a ton, but definitely noticeable) for several months after the surgery. It did tur...

Hi Jack, To the best of my knowledge, Avastin is only approved for Stage IV Colon Cancer here in the US. That means if you are given it at another stage, it's not automatic that your insurance company will pay for it. I've been on Avastin twice - the first time as a Stage III patient, and the second...

Hey Jane,

This is great news! I am quite happy that you have not joined my "exclusive club" - the less we have in the club, the better! You know what I mean!

The splenectomy is nothing compared to the colon surgery. I'm glad you are doing well.

Best,
Skier03

Hi KP - No, I did not have to push to have the spleen removed. Actually, all of my doctors decided it should come out less than a week after the PET results. I am a patient at Cornell Hospital in NYC, so my oncologist presented my case to the Jay Monahan Center Board (Katie Couric's center), and eve...

Hi Jane, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but 10 months post treatment, a 1 cm 'something' showed up on my PET/CT in my spleen. Colon cancer spreading to the spleen is virtually unheard of, but my doctors decided to remove my spleen just in case. Good thing they did, because when the pathology c...

Hi there, Well, it certainly IS a good thing that your period returned, even though it is nice not having to deal with it. So, I went through something similar. I stopped menstruating a few cycles into FOLFOX and then when I finished, it did return, although it did take some intervening to regulate ...

Hi there! Well, I don't know much about an enlarged spleen from chemo, because I did not have that happen. However, I can speak a bit about fighting cancer and tolerating chemo without a spleen... Just about one year ago, a spot was found on my spleen after a routine PET/CT. The doctors did not know...

Hi there! I'm not sure exactly where you are located, but I am in the Hudson Valley area. I am now 25 - was diagnosed when I was 22 with rectal cancer - and have been through chemo, surgery, and a recurrence. I'm happy to chat or meet up if you'd like. Let me know!

skier03@hotmail.com

Hi Bunny! I'm so glad that you have joined the site and are finding it helpful. When I was on chemo the first time, I also lost a lot of weight and dropped to 88 pounds. But once I finished, I quickly gained it all back (and a few extra pounds as well...), so know that once treatments are done, you ...

Hi, This is my second time on the lovely 5FU pump. My first time around (for 7 months about a year ago), I did not have any reactions to my hands and feet from the infusion. However, I am on it again, just about finished (one more treatment to go!), and have had many hands and feet problems this tim...

Hi Ketel,

I e-mailed your personal e-mail address given in the post with responses to your questions. So check that out and let me know if I can help anymore.

Good luck!

Skier03

Hi Ketel, I was diagnosed at Stage III c 2 years ago. I had rectal cancer, so radiation and chemo are the norm. However, given my age and gender (22 yo female), the effects of radiation were unacceptable for me and my family. Needless to say, we sought other options, and settled on FOLFOX & Erbi...

Hi J.R. - Unfortunately, I have some experience and knowledge about spleen mets. This past June, a spot showed up on my PET/CT on my spleen. The doctors really didn't think that it was cancer, because it is so rare for it to spread to the spleen. In fact, before me, there was only 8 documented cases...

Hi, I had FOLFOX + Erbitux for 7 months when I was first diagnosed. At the time, Erbitux was just recently approved and not in clincal trials for first line treatment. But I had it anyway... It is supposed to be one of the new "miracle drugs" for colon cancer, and there are many, many success storie...

Hi, I was on FOLFOX + Erbitux + Avastin for about 7 months when I was first diagnosed. I recently had a recurrence, and am now on FOLFIRI + Avastin for 6 more months. The only difference between FOLFOX and FOLFIRI is that instead of oxiliplatin you will receive irinotecan. Everything else is the sam...