Kathy, Did you get an appointment with MD Anderson in a decent amount of time? They were asking us to wait 2 months with our initial diagnosis and wouldn't see us if we started treatment elsewhere before then. Also, they wouldn't take us for a 2nd opinion. We decided to start treatment without them....

Toni,

My husband's tumor was located right inside the anus and was easily accessible without surgery. He needed more sedation than for a colonoscopy as the biopsy was "deeper". I would imagine the doctor was trying to get more tissue nearer the rectal wall. Hope this helps.

Lisa

Thanks Lee and Liz. Sloan Kettering was in not covered by our insurance. That would have been our first choice as my husband is a New Yorker and he has family there. I'm hoping for the best and some good options as we meet with the Mayo team.

Lisa

Our colon doctor took 8 samples during a colonoscopy--all came back negative. This was a 3cm tumor.

It took a general surgeon (used to be a colorectal surgeon) to get us the positive biopsy.

DJ, My husband's situation is exactly the same--we'll just watch the lung nodule they said. Then we spent 5 months getting the insurance to pay for a petscan that was supposed to be in Dec 2008. Got it this month and what do you know, 3 spots and the original has grown. His oncologist has recommende...

We're new to the forum and hope that someone might have some advice on our initial visit to Mayo next week. We have been told to expect anything: either saying they can do nothing more for us, they will want to do more testing, or will start treatment the next day. This is very hard for us to deal w...

Merhaba Deniz, My husband is in a similar circumstance to your Aunt and we are awaiting admission to the Mayo Clinic in AZ. He tried Avastin but had one of those rare gastric side-effects that could be deadly so we took him off of it. I have heard it is wonderful for many patients, though. Let us be...

Karma, My husband had Stage III RC with 1 lymph node involved. He had an APR. The chemo/rad did not shrink his tumor very much. Turned out to be Lynch Syndrome which doesn't always respond well. For us, the concept of the permanent colostomy was not a big deal. We were going to do whatever it took t...

Hi Everyone, I'm new here but have been reading your forum since 2007. My husband has tested positive for HNPCC (MLH2 gene). I am also debating when to have my children tested. The oldest is 17. I am assuming you mean by being tested the colonoscopy and such and not the gene test. Should my children...