Recently diagnosed

[dmrs240]

First - thank you for this board. Until I found this site I felt I was the only one at my age (37) to receive this diagnosis. I was diagnosted 5/3/06 with stage 1. I now realize how lucky I truly am. Most of the posts I read are stages 3 and 4. I am scheduled for surgery 5/24 for a resection. All pre-op test have been negative (PET, CT, CEA). I do have 2 small spots on my liver too small to be picked up on PET. They will be evaluated during surgery.

I am really nervous about surgery - just not sure what to expect. Any information you can share would be truly appreciated.

thank you all.

[Edward]

Let yourself physically heal!!!!!

[bill]

hello dmrs,
Until you have surgery it is impossible to stage colon cancer. A pathology test needs to be done to see how deep the colon cancer has invaded the bowl wall. Also lymph nodes have to be tested. Stage one colon cancer means that it is still in the innermost linings of the bowl wall. Your doctors should not be giving you a stage at this time. Not to sound negative but colon cancer spreads usually to the liver first. This means that it would be stage 4. Spots on the liver can be shadows or fatty deposits so it may not be that. I would be very suspicious of your doctors for staging you like this.

[cynnycal]

well, i know my doctors sorta staged me...i mean, they said
"we think POSSIBLY stage 3" after some scopes n stuff.
though they were clear to say "we won't know for sure til surgery though"
i think it you understand that it's sorta like a 'guesstimate' on their part, it's not wrong for a doc. to guage what he thinks.
i look at it like this,if they say they think i'mma stage 3..and it turns out later i was a stage 1. well, it's almost like a bonus (er...well, you know. not really, but all things considered)

[Lee]

I was also kind of staged at my diagnoses. Because they could see that certain lymph nodes were affected, and because my scans were clean, the doctors felt confident that I was stage 3. I was aware that the surgery would determine the actual stageing. My surgery did confirm I was indeed a stage 3.

[bill]

But if you say your stage 1 and your stage 3 then that would not be a bonus. Doctors should wait. That is what mine said. You CANT tell till after surgery. But i guess that is my thought only.

[cynnycal]

well, i think my doctors were pretty clear that this was a guess..and it isnt a certainty.
they didn't try to lull me into thinking i'm definitely one thing or another. they were just giving medical opinions.

[Joy]

My doctor who is a professor of surgery at a major university in Canada told me that I had a stage 1 "nothing to worry about - a quick fix, you will be up and about your business in 1 month"!

After the operation he still didn't think there was a problem and told me that I could make plans to go to Florida for the winter.

4 weeks post surgery he finally got the pathology reports

STAGE 3 X 2 LYMPH NODES INVOLVED!!!

I'm not complaining --- he is an excellent surgeon, but it does prove that without pathology reports things can look good and they are not.

I'm doing Chemo and Radiation

[Maggie]

I too was staged before the surgery, but told that I must understand until my doctor had his hands on my insides (his words, not mine), he wasn't going to be completely satisfied with that diagnosis. Luckily, all my tests pre-surgery came back stage 1 and that's what it was.
Good Luck whatever stage you are. You can read on this website a hundred times over how people are surviving and fighting stage 3 and 4!
Maggie