For color-related reasons I suspected that I was bleeding again, so at my last checkup with the onc I did a fecal occult test, and all of the samples came back positive. I'm setting up an appointment with my GI doctor, but am naturally concerned. My last colonoscopy (11/08) came back clear, as did m...

Please tell Brady: you are a light--a beacon--when I first joined this group and time and time again since then, and that he's in my thoughts, hopes, and prayers.

My colon came back on-line by the end of day 2; after keeping solid food down for half of day 3 they sent me home. This was great because the solid food they were feeding me wasn't very good, plus there was an elderly woman who would wake up and start screaming for about 30 minutes every night in a ...

You may want to consider waiting a little longer before cutting it. I didn't lose any hair until a few months into chemo. It thinned pretty uniformly and was just getting thin enough that other people noticed when the thinning completely stopped and never started again. I actually would have shaved ...

I'm just about four months out from chemo, which included Eribitux. My skin was mostly cleared up within two months, the only area that's still affected is my chest, which is still sort of red and pimply but a lot better than it was during treatment.

I had the right side removed as well. Except during chemo, when I would get bound up from the meds, it's definitely been looser than it was though not quite the runs. I think the surgeon said that the right side normally does some water collection, but he also said there are some meds you can take t...

A few weeks after I finished chemotherapy my feet began to swell at night. It goes away pretty quickly in the morning (once I start walking around), but in the past week or so the onset is earlier--now at around 8 at night, rather than while I'm asleep. I had numbness in the soles of my feet from th...

Misty, I second the suggestions that you ask for anti-anxiety medications (if they don't do it standard)--I had light doses of versed for each port insertion, which was great. Also, if you have any pain during the procedure you can ask the doctor to up the meds--when I had my first port put in I sta...

When I met with my surgeon one month after the surgery he asked, "are you walking?" I told him yes. I then asked if I could go back to work. He said, "yes but you should walk there." I told him I live six miles from work. He said, "all the better." Funny guy--if I had t...

My fissures were more on the balls of my feet; I got a cream that had a lot of lanolin in it from a fair that did really well--I think you can get commercial lanolin-based creams. Also, my wife makes a mix of calendula (promotes skin growth), comfrey (soothing), bees wax (binding), and olive oil (ma...

Weight loss?? I wish! Well not really, but after surgery and during chemo I actually put on about 15 lbs and am the heaviest I've ever been. The only effects I've noticed are that I generally need to go a little earlier in the day and in general it may be a bit looser (though I also had to go really...

I agree with Ellen on the nasal spray. My drugstore carries a misty one, which didn't help as much, and a gel, which worked better. Also, some people find them kind of gross (my wife included), but using a neti pot can help (I would sometimes do it, but after a shower since there was usually a lot t...

I only had a few bouts, starting around half way through. It would usually hit on day 2 or 3 of the cycle; a more reliable way to determine when mine would hit is when I was in a really bad place for it to happen (e.g. at a Red Sox game I had to use the toilet at Fenway Park--gross).

My last dose of oxalyplatin was given about four weeks ago (still had an additional leukovorin/5FU, plus three doses of cetuximab after then), so I'm done with chemo (knock on wood). My neuropathy hasn't really improved in my hands, and in some ways it's worse than when I was doing chemo: e.g. if I ...

Hahaha. Love the story about the cop, Gaelen! Never thought of the port and pump as a get out of jail free card, but I guess it can be!