Immediately after Katie was born the attending doctor was feeling "around" my uterus and felt a suspicious bump. My husband had already departed the room with the baby for her Apgar tests and I lay there nervously while the doctor decided to bring in the on-call oncological surgeon. He came in and took a biopsy of the node and then returned 45 minutes later for another. That whole time I was unable to move and emotionally frantic as I worried about what was going on.
Fast forward to 11/10 of that same year (my 39th birthday) and I had just woken up from a colonoscopy. The GI doctor told me that he had found a mass and also had the results from my CT scan. I had colon cancer and 5 liver mets spread across both lobes of the liver. My CEA was over 300.
I attended a scheduled meeting the next day with a local oncologist who calmly told me I had 22-24 months to live. My newborn slept quietly next to me. I was devastated. This doctor offered little hope to me. We informed him that I had already secured a second opinion with Dr. Kemeny at Memorial Sloan Kettering. He said it was probably a good idea but that she was a "dinosaur" and had this "thing" called an HAI pump that was all she did. He was not encouraging. That was my first and last appointment with him.
The next week's appointment with Dr. Kemeny was much different. Although not overly warm and inviting she calmly told me that no one could predict my prognosis, everything depended upon how I responded to chemotherapy. She laid out, however, three plans we would follow based upon my chemo response. I felt she was in control.
The night before my first chemo treatment my sister-in-law took me to a healing session. The preacher laid his hands on my stomach three times. The first two times I felt a burning sensation in my abdomen. The third time I did not. I told the preacher and he said that my healing had already begun.
Four chemo treatments later I scanned and my mets decreased by 40 percent. At my visit with Dr. Kemeny to get scan results I was informed I was already scheduled for surgery 11 days later. I would have half my liver removed along with 12 inches of colon. The HAI pump would be implanted for future HAI treatments. The HAI would hopefully reduce the chance of recurrence.
Feb 20, 2009 I went into my 7 hour surgery. I had an amazing liver surgeon (Dr. Michael D'Angelica) and equally amazing colo-rectal surgeon (Dr. Philip Paty). I woke up to my husband telling me that they felt that they had "gotten it all."
Despite being NED after surgery I still had such depression. I worried about seeing my children grow up, missing a long life with my amazing husband. One night I prayed to God that if He wanted me in Heaven to please do it quickly. The next morning during my FOLFOX infusion I suffered cardiac arrest due to Oxaliplatin reaction. Shock and 2 doses of epinephrine brought me back. In a way I feel God was telling me everything would be in His time.
Treatments ended 5 years ago. I had my last chemo treatment in November 2009. Since then a schedule of scans and pump fills for my HAI pump are the only reminders I have had of my cancer treatment.
And that little baby that saved my life? A blessing in every way. She and her siblings make me laugh and they can make me cry but like any parent, I treasure my time with them. My children have never learned of my experience and my hope is that they will never know until they are late teens and we start them on a surveillance schedule of colonoscopies.
I post this as a hope for people that there are possibilities of long-term survival. I yearned for stories like this when I was first diagnosed. I am so grateful to God that He sent me my angel Katie and I thank Him for the skill and knowledge with which he blessed the entire medical team at MSK that treated me.
In love and in hope,
Amy
