New to Colon Club and so glad to have found fellow fighters

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Renee
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 6:36 pm
Location: Ohio

New to Colon Club and so glad to have found fellow fighters

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.

Lee
Posts: 6207
Joined: Sun Apr 16, 2006 4:09 pm

Postby Lee » Tue Aug 08, 2006 5:44 pm

Renee,

I'm glad that you were able to find this site, I am sorry for why you had to find it. I was diagnosed 2 yrs ago (age 46) with stage 3 rectal cancer. This is a challenging club to be in but you will find survivor with stage 4. Don't give up the fight.
rectal cancer - April 2004
46 yrs old at diagnoses
stage III C - 6/13 lymph positive
radiation - 6 weeks
surgery - August 2004/hernia repair 2014
permanent colostomy
chemo - FOLFOX
NED - 16 years and counting!

mtsko
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Jun 08, 2006 1:35 pm
Location: ca

Postby mtsko » Tue Aug 08, 2006 5:55 pm

Aloha Renee!
I, too, am a Stage IV colorectal cancer survivor. I was dx 3/04, and have been going through 6 chemo and 1 radiation txs since then. It wasn't until last month that we found the latest treatment is making a difference. actuall SHRUNK the inoperable tumor! My Dr's said they have seen/heard a lot of positive things w/ Erbitux. With all the different combinations of chemo and meds they have now, it's a matter of time they find a combo that works w/ your biochemistry! stay positive! keep a wonderful attitude and do what you have to do to beat CC's butt!
Stay strong to live long!
-mtsko
find the humor!


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