Hello all and thanks for this BB,
I have been diagnosed with colon cancer May 18 and bowel resection done on May 19 with several spots on my liver that my surgeon looked at but didnt see. I was sent to an oncologist to discuss any chemo therapy. There was none recommended for the colon cancer. The several spots on my liver threw an alarm and she sent in for an MRI. Came back with spots so i was sent in for a biopsy. Went for the follow up on the biopsy and it turned out to be colon cancer on the liver. Oncologist told my bluntly ( as if i went in to have a finger diagnosed with a splinter) that chemo was needed and best i could hope for was remission. "You have cancer". I am not too excited about the thought of chemo Folfox5 nor am i excited about the Port that goes into before i start chemo. I live in Arizona and am on AHCCCS. Arizona Health Care. My choices of a second opinion are scarce. But dont like the way my oncologist has treated me and they she is handling this. My visit with her was interrupted my another patient that was going thru treatment and there was a few more interruptions , then it was "i have other patients needing attended to so you can call me on Monday with further questions"( this appointment was on a Friday). Now I have more questions than answers.
Is the cure worse than the disease? What would be my chances of life without chemo vs struggling with chemo. i asked my oncologist how long had any of her patients lived from the chemo treatment, her answer was 13.5 years and he was a hard core chain smoker. I also asked her the shortest anyone lived, her reply was 2 years but i was around 90 with many other medical problems. I am an otherwise very healthy 55 y.o. male.
Like I said, I live in Arizona and its a small community that doesnt support many doctors and my oncologist is 30 miles away. Phoenix is about 90 miles south of me, so my commute would not be an easy one.
Sorry if this post is jumbled up from one subject to the next
I do have other questions but cant concentrate now to think of any more, and like I said, I havent even started chemo yet, so i cant blame "chemo-brain".
This all seems to "rushed" or "hurried" to get this done and started. i havent even seen any kind of pictures or been explained to as what is going on inside my own body. Sometimes i am thinking that these Doctors and needing another payment on their resort home. Oncologist said i was eligible for SSDI. I have not worked in almost 2 years for medical problems. Firstly i was a truck driver and my right bicep was tearing away from the tendon. I had surgery to repair that last September. Was recovering from that and the bowel was acting up and was diagnosed with colon cancer and the bowel resection was done with a week stay in the hospital for recovery. was doing good a few weeks ago and now my left side is acting up with what feels like pressure pushing on it just below the ribs. I dont "feel" like doing anything most days. and this is driving my wife crazy. as there is bills to be paid and i am not contributing.
anyway enough of my ranting about this as i am tired and it is getting late. Thank you for listening and for the BB.
also sorry for the grammatical errors.
tmberwoof.
stage 4 colon cancer moved to the liver.