Brearmstrong wrote:Hi Punky, I am also sorry to hear what is going on. I am one of those Stage IV due to distant nodes that warriorspouse mentioned. In my case with the tumor in my cecum, my spread to para aortic nodes deemed me stage IV. I never had a PET scan before my initial surgery so it’s hard to know if it was hanging out there all along and started to grow after finishing folfox. My CT scan showed them slightly elevated but my CEA jumped a bit so Dr ordered a PET which lit up those darn nodes. I was told chemo for life, palliative care, but my surgeon said he was willing to try to remove them if I wanted to take the risk. I did 9 rounds folfiri but they only stayed stable so I asked to move up the surgery and the team agreed. I ended up having 8 nodes in that area removed and 5 were cancerous. They originally thought only 1-2 but nope... I have read that some believe with rectal cancer that the iliac area is all considered regional spread and some say outer iliac is distant, etc. either III or IV, the best bet is to find a surgeon who will take the risk! I will be on oral chemo for life or until I have another recurrence but right now I’ve got the best shot I can hope for! Keep pushing!!
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