Exploratory surgery done, I talk to the surgeon today

[Jewells]

Exploratory surgery went great! They took bioposies to grow and test. They say my colon cancer is behaving like ovarian cancer. So, they are going to grow my bioposies to figure out which type of chemo works best. Then if I do the HIPEC surgery, they will have the best chemo for the job. I can honestly say that after surgery I was good for many hours and all of the sudden the air they pumped into my abdomen reached my diaphragm and I though I was going to die. The pain was so horrible, I have never felt anything like that in my life. What's funny is one milligram of pain meds and walking made the pain go away immediately. What a sissy I am :-} LOL I talked to the doc yesterday and he said that HIPEC was my best option because the chemo treatments I have had in the pasts have not kept the cancer at bay as long as they should have. I talk to the surgeon today to quiz him about the surgery. Hopefully, he is a smooth talker because I'm right on the line for or against the surgery.

[eitter]

Exploratory surgery went great! They took bioposies to grow and test. They say my colon cancer is behaving like ovarian cancer.

Jewels!!! WOW, mine too! You have to read my story, I also was mis-DX with Ovarian at the begining and the Chemo they gave me for Ovarian made my tumor double in size. You are the first person to have said this, I am NOT A LONE! Do you also have an elevated CA125 Tumor Marker reading? Mine got up to 350 and now hovers around 10. Here is a link to my whole story: http://www.runlizrun.com/journey.htm

I will totally pay attention to your story now too!

[Jewells]

Holy Cow! And I thought my issues have been crazy! My tumar markers have never been high, but I have always believed that it was not colon cancer that I have. I'm going to CTCA in Tulsa now and they are the only ones that have ever even used the words ovarian cancer with me. I am going to be doing the HIPEC surgery sometime in the next 3 to 5 weeks. How have you handled your colostomy? The surgeon is saying that I will be waking up with a temporary one and seriously, that makes me really nervous......

[smokeyjoe]

Hey Jewelles, I had the same issue with confusion if it was colon cancer or ovarian. The hospital I was in sent me by ambulance to another cancer center to be looked at by one of their top gyno. oncs....he checked me said "yep, ovarian". Sent me back to my hospital. Onc. figuring ovarian then booked me for mammogram, everything clear there. I was sent for colonoscopy,(drinking the prep. for that was agony, nothing going through and all I did was throw up all night) adding to the confusion biopsy came back premalignant....cannot figure that one out as my colon was completely blocked. So, that Dr. said I may have two things going on. Anyhow, with blood clots in both my lungs and a completely blocked colon I sat in hospital for a month (on TPN) while they tried to figure out surgery, no one wanted to do this with those blood clots. They put a filter in my vena cava to prevent any further clots, if any, from travelling. Took a month of sitting waiting then two surgeons, one for colon, other surgeon for the gyno......apparently they were all floored it was colon cancer mets to ovaries. Hope they get this sorted out for you Jewells.

[Jewells]

I was recently told that the only way for them to figure out the origin of cancer is to test live cells, but they never know if they are live or dead when they remove them and send them for review. It makes me wonder how many people had a diagnoses that was just a guess. I am very lucky that before they go in and do the HIPEC on me that they are having my cells tested against 4 different types of chemo. 2 for colon cancer and 2 for ovarian cancer. I can't wait to see what they decide.

So many people have had a confusing and frustrating time with their cancer adventure. I wonder what issues others have had and if we pool them all together, if it will help the doctors come up with better diagnoses in the future.