Postby Renee » Mon Aug 07, 2006 6:54 pm
I came across this site by accident, although I am not big on believing in accidents. I have spent the last hour or so reading many of the stories posted and WOW, did I need to hear these. Molly, it appears that you are responsible for this and God Bless you. I was dx. in May of 2005 with Stage 11B colon cancer a yard of my colon was removed. Within 6 months I was bumped to a stage IV. The tumors are now in my pelvic, hip, on my spinal cord, and I have 5 in my lungs, and 1 in my liver. I have undergone radiation therapy and have just finished the 5th dose of chemo Fo Fox, 5-fu, levovorcan, onxyplatin, zomata (for bone cancer), my last scan showed a 1mm decrease in size on 3 of the 5 lung tumors and a slight decrease in the spinal cancer. My emotional devastation has been beyond control. I am now 52 years old and at 35 I had a motified radical mastectomy so I have survived cancer 1x already. I was not diagnosed in a timely fashion due to MD's to failed to pay attention to my symptoms. I read on person spoke of night sweats, yes I get those. I had dull constant pain in my abd. bloating to where I looked 5 months + pregnant and stool that was very abdnormal. My daughter will be getting married in May of 2007 the same month I should have graduated from Graduate school with a degree in Mental Health counseling. I am an RN (trauma ER) which I had to give up after my spinal cord was crushed. I had hoped to find a job that would accomodate my physical disability, now I am hoping to live to see my daughter walk down the isle. I really needed to read all the Stage IV survivors who have written in on your site. It is a depressing stage and rarely have I found anywhere anything positive about those of us who are at this level of disease. I want to thank all of you for your ability to write about your disease, I finally feel as if I might have found a place to 'fit in" I spend a great deal of time staring at the ceilings any more. The chemo creates an enourmous amt. of exhaustion and the side effects are nasty. They have been unable to increase my dose beyond 50% the regular. I was wondering if anyone else is at 50%. God Bless all of you, I tire easily as I know you all understand but I am egar to look through this site and find what I can find. Can anyone tell me if they have gained wt. from the chemo? I have and they seem to be glad that I have. Again, I can not tell all of you how glad I am to have found others who understand, this can be such an isolating disease. I am an RN so I have some knowledge, but I was a Trauma ER better if you need answers about sutures! Molly thank you for starting this site and again, I am thrilled to have a place to belong.