The Colon Club

I just finished my 6 month tour of duty with chemo, got my scans and blood work done and it shows me clean!

This signet thing scares me a bit as far as long term NED.

Just wondering if there are any survivors out there who can share their success secrets or tips.

Thanks
Joel

Hi Joel:

Many congratulation with getting done with chemo and your good scans. I don't know anything about signet cell, so I'm bumping you up. I know there are few people, at least, on the board with signet cell.

Best of luck to you,

Bev

Hi Joel, my daughter has signet cell, similar to your diagnosis. She was Stage 3C, quite a few lymph nodes. She was diagnosed in Feb. 2010. Just found out she has a recurrence in the abdominal cavity so we are setting about getting a plan to treat that right now.

On this board we have Dori (signet cell diagnosed in Spring 2008 and doing well) and Nanette (husband Bruce diagnosed in fall 2008 and doing well). Hopefully they will see this and comment.

There is a blog online, don't know if you've seen it of a 10 year survivor of signet cell appendix cancer.
http://appendix-cancer.blogspot.com/
She has links on there to other signet cell patients. You should check it out, it's very inspirational.

So, it's hard to find any good info about signet cell, but don't believe everything you read online because it is possible to outwit it! Keep on fighting and keep everyone here updated and come with your questions.

Hi Joel,

Glad to hear you're done with chemo and your scans were clean. My husband, Bruce, has signet cell. Can I ask what your pathology was? Bruce's was poorly differentiated. He was dx. back in December, 2008 (see my sig.), and will have his next scans in Dec. or Jan. He just had his CEA done and it went down a tenth of a point to 0.8. He feels pretty good, but sometimes he still has fatigue. I'm not sure if it's from the chemo or rads, or if it's just old age!

Some tips you can take from Bruce are he exercises (he does at least three x's/wk.), takes Vitamin D3, flaxseed, fish oil, hardly eats any red meat or processed meats, eats more veggies, and drinks green tea.

One more thing...Bruce had to have radiation (which is rare with colon cancer) because he had positive margins when they removed the tumor. So he had five weeks of radiation, taken with Xeloda, in between his Folfox tx.

He's coming up on his three-year anniversary on Dec. 7 (dx.) or Dec. 11 (surgery). We celebrate both days!! And everyday in between!! We pray he keeps getting good reports and I hope the same goes for you!!

-Nanette

I can't share a success story. But I'm anxious about the responses. My husband has signet ring cell with mucinous whatever they call it. I knew that both signet and mucinous were more aggressive; but I didn't realize it would effect recurrence.

Just when you think you might have a handle on things....

I know this is an old thread but I wondered if anyone can advice or help me in anyway?

My wonderful husband Chris was diagnosed on the 25th march 2017 age 36 and we are struggling to believe he can have Cancer being so fit and well, let alone such an aggressive form with Signet Ring Cell.

We have a 3 1/2 year old and another baby girl on the way in September. I am trying everything to advocate more information and help for us!

Can anyone please advice ?

Many thanks

I am sorry to hear about your husband. But any SRC stories I have read don't have any "special" treatments for it. I am a little over a year since my diagnosis. What you need to know is that it is aggressive - so the tumor sizes grow faster and the mucus it produces helps it spread faster. That being said, it is treatable, and responds well to the normal chemo regimen, early detection helps as with other cancers, and the only thing done differently that I know of is a lot of close monitoring after chemo, so frequent scans and blood work if applicable - again early detection. Also, MRI's have better resolution and are better for viewing/detecting SRC tumors.

I guess what I am trying to say is that though CRC SRC is scary, but from a technical stand point it doesn't seem to require medication different from standard treatments for colon cancer, so you are not tasked with finding some SRC specialist (and there probably isn't one out there). It is hard to deal with, but it has been found and I really hope your husband responds quickly to treatment.