My husband had cancerous nodes on the internal iliac artery. They actually grew during chemoradiation and if hadn't been for him having a mini-stroke (TIA) and me insisting that they do a pelvic CT when they were doing his brain he wouldn't have known until surgery, two months later. Two rounds of ...

As I was reading through this, this sounded just like the same stuff you find on "alternate cancer treatment" websites. They have some very interesting theories about what causes cancer and how treatments reverse these processes. I was immediately skeptical about all of it when they also s...

I am so sorry, too! I'm not sure I am the best person to answer your question, but the question lingers for me as well: what if nothing works and in the end I have to face the fact that I'm not going to beat this? I am just starting my race as an RC IIIc, but I could very well go down your same (or ...

NWgirl wrote:3) Depends are amazingly comfortable but don't always absorb the diahrrea very well, so just be prepared.
(

How about a diaper inside a depends?

Ha! (John Wayne voice) Let's see you get out of there, Diarrhea!

Tony snow had one every year because of his mother dying from crc, one year clean, the next year stage 4. Sometimes I just think its in the DNA, one body can fight off the cancer cells and one doesn't know how. Coulda's and shoulda's don't matter. It's a good idea to get screened, eat well and all ...

I am so sorry, too! My mom died when I was 13 (not from cancer) and it has always felt like a big empty hole in my soul even to this day. In your case, it may hurt even worse than it did for me because you have had so many years to bond and grow close. I found great comfort in the book "Motherl...

Hi PITA, I am a LN mets only patient or an olymphian, as we call it. Originally I had 1 large cancerous LN in my upper groin when I was diagnosed with RC in Nov 2010. It was about 2-3" in from my right hip bone. After 6 rounds of Folfox and 28 daily rounds of radiation, it was eliminated along...

Every year for the five years prior to my husband being diagnosed I would get the September back to school cold plus maybe one or two others in the winter. My husband would always brag about he hadn't gotten a cold since he has West Nile, he would tell me how much stronger his immune system was tha...

Hi PITA, Oh, funny! I didn't get the acronym at first! There are a bunch of us that have LN mets; we call ourselves Olymphians. It is not common to have LN mets with no organ involvement, but it does happen. Well my use of the term "high up" may have been confusing, but he distinctly said...

I haven't eaten red meat for years (or at least, very rarely). I think I stopped when I was about 30. Looking back, my cancer was developing during a time when I was taking all kinds of supplements (Omega 3s, B12, B6, flax seed, protein powder, chia seed), high fiber, low glucose diet, walking 4 mil...

I would have told them they were SOL!! Like you, I needed those hot baths to get through the pain. That said, after the effects of radiation started, I had to back off the water temp because I had radiation burns to my backside and it was another pain I didn't need. But until then," AAAAHHHH l...

Belle/NWgirl

Realized later that you were giving advice on "butt burn" you get during radiation... is that right?

Sorry if I misunderstood... I hadn't heard of that, really, until now. Oh joy!

I am realizing that not all RC IIIcs are "created equal." A IIIc can be T3 with 4 or more LNs or T4 with 1 or more LNs... I seem to be the "worst of both worlds" - a T4 (because of a recto-vaginal fistula) with a "bunch" of LNs (he didn't give me a number, just showed m...

I presented with a recto-vaginal fistula. Went to the ER and they did a CT... The ER doc says, "Good news! You don't have a tumor!" Oh, except for that 5cm tumor in my rectum that you guys missed because no one did a rectal exam! (I knew there was something else wrong and saw a specialist ...

Justin Case, Thanks for the positive info! I have a top notch colo-rectal surgeon and my tumor is so close to the sphincter that they are saying there is only about a 15 percent chance they can save it (the sphincter! Not the tumor, haha). Even if they did, I would unlikely have complete control bec...