Another new diagnosis
Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2018 12:27 pm
I am here because my husband was the one diagnosed. His story is he had no family history, no tell tale signs that something was wrong. The week of May 22nd he started not feeling well. His stomach was bothering him. No blood in stool or anything. On Friday May 25th he calls me at lunch telling me how bad he is feeling. This is a man who doesn't complain about anything and felt bad even calling. I asked symptoms, this is when he tells me he hasn't pooped or farted since Tuesday. Im like ok you need to come back (he has an hour commute to work, 30 min to our dr office). He finally is able to leave work early and walks into our clinic. Our main dr wasn't there that day and he had to see the on call dr. He did run some blood tests, but he wasn't too concerned and suggested he try a liquid diet and see if it clears his no bathroom problem. The dr did say if he started to feel worse go to the ER.
He drove home an by the time he got here he was clammy looking, sweating, and shaking. I'm like ok we are going to the ER. We get there and after an hour and a half (which is long where we are) and people coming in after us going back first. I went up and asked if his pain is getting worse do you want to know? He was back in the ER within 15 min then. I tell them I'm pretty sure he has a bowel obstruction. Of course at the age of 46 they were like, probably not. Im like my dad and my BIL went through bowel obstructions last year I know the symptoms. They tested to see if he was impacted. He really wasn't so they decided to do a CT scan. They found an abscess and infection. They also mentioned diverticulitis. We didn't get to see the surgeon until Saturday, the surgeon was wary to just go in and do surgery. They did put an NG tube in on Saturday. They scheduled a colonoscopy for the next day, Sunday May 27. They did confirm the abscess and infection, but also found a growth. They tried to put a mesh something in to help him be able to wait for confirmation of cancer, and Im sure they wanted to do Chemo first. Needless to say they couldn't put it in. So surgery was scheduled for Sunday night May 27. They took about 18" of colon, 33 lymphs (only found cancer in 1), and had to do an ostomy because of the abscess and infection, they couldn't reconnect. It was ugly in there. His colon was rolled and things were laying on each other. He did have some perforations and tears that the surgeon fixed. He did look around and didn't see that the cancer had not moved near by. We found out the short term disability listed on my husbands benefits (I stay home and babysit on the side) are only for work related stuff. He was in the hospital 8 days. So no short term disability. The dr let him go back light duty (his work is wonderful about this) this past Monday.
Saw his Oncologist on Wed June 6. He was stage 3. He looked at the CT scan and didn't see where the cancer had spread anywhere. He is pretty sure they removed it all. He talked with the radiation person about my husbands scans and they believe he is one that does not need radiation. They will have us talk to the radiation person later so we can decide for ourselves. They went ahead and put his Chemo port in last Friday June 8th, so he can limit his days off, that aren't needed. He starts Chemo Monday June 25th. They also told him if he does radiation the ostomy would be permanent.
I don't know what other information to put. All I know is that I keep thinking if he hadn't gone in because that abscess and infection we still wouldn't know he had cancer. I also know what caused the abscess and stuff. He was trying to be healthier and we were taking a Mexican Root thing that helps turn fat into energy. When you take it you have to supplement potassium. My husband HATES bananas so we came up with smoothies. It had whole Kiwi, strawberries, and I added flax seed (there was other stuff also, this is just the seeded stuff). I know they say seeds don't inflame diverticulitis, but you should've seen what just rinsing out the blender in my sink did to the drain. So Im sure this is what inflamed him. He'd only been on this 35 days, when this happened. We're just lucky we finally found out.
Trisha (husband Roger)
He drove home an by the time he got here he was clammy looking, sweating, and shaking. I'm like ok we are going to the ER. We get there and after an hour and a half (which is long where we are) and people coming in after us going back first. I went up and asked if his pain is getting worse do you want to know? He was back in the ER within 15 min then. I tell them I'm pretty sure he has a bowel obstruction. Of course at the age of 46 they were like, probably not. Im like my dad and my BIL went through bowel obstructions last year I know the symptoms. They tested to see if he was impacted. He really wasn't so they decided to do a CT scan. They found an abscess and infection. They also mentioned diverticulitis. We didn't get to see the surgeon until Saturday, the surgeon was wary to just go in and do surgery. They did put an NG tube in on Saturday. They scheduled a colonoscopy for the next day, Sunday May 27. They did confirm the abscess and infection, but also found a growth. They tried to put a mesh something in to help him be able to wait for confirmation of cancer, and Im sure they wanted to do Chemo first. Needless to say they couldn't put it in. So surgery was scheduled for Sunday night May 27. They took about 18" of colon, 33 lymphs (only found cancer in 1), and had to do an ostomy because of the abscess and infection, they couldn't reconnect. It was ugly in there. His colon was rolled and things were laying on each other. He did have some perforations and tears that the surgeon fixed. He did look around and didn't see that the cancer had not moved near by. We found out the short term disability listed on my husbands benefits (I stay home and babysit on the side) are only for work related stuff. He was in the hospital 8 days. So no short term disability. The dr let him go back light duty (his work is wonderful about this) this past Monday.
Saw his Oncologist on Wed June 6. He was stage 3. He looked at the CT scan and didn't see where the cancer had spread anywhere. He is pretty sure they removed it all. He talked with the radiation person about my husbands scans and they believe he is one that does not need radiation. They will have us talk to the radiation person later so we can decide for ourselves. They went ahead and put his Chemo port in last Friday June 8th, so he can limit his days off, that aren't needed. He starts Chemo Monday June 25th. They also told him if he does radiation the ostomy would be permanent.
I don't know what other information to put. All I know is that I keep thinking if he hadn't gone in because that abscess and infection we still wouldn't know he had cancer. I also know what caused the abscess and stuff. He was trying to be healthier and we were taking a Mexican Root thing that helps turn fat into energy. When you take it you have to supplement potassium. My husband HATES bananas so we came up with smoothies. It had whole Kiwi, strawberries, and I added flax seed (there was other stuff also, this is just the seeded stuff). I know they say seeds don't inflame diverticulitis, but you should've seen what just rinsing out the blender in my sink did to the drain. So Im sure this is what inflamed him. He'd only been on this 35 days, when this happened. We're just lucky we finally found out.
Trisha (husband Roger)