The Colon Club

Hi All,

Looking for some help/info...

On February 28th, my Mom started bleeding vaginally...Postmenopausal...Bought her an earlier CT Scan...Scan was "perfect" per her oncologist...Still sent her to a Gynecological Oncologist...They did a vaginal biopsy and sent her for a transvaginal ultrasound...

Well ultrasound showed a uterine mass...We were told by her oncologist on Friday, March 13th, that it was on the outside of the uterus and probably a metastasis from the colon...That the biopsy probably wouldn't show anything...Mentioned starting her on Xeloda and radiation...Also, wanted us to get a PET scan...Pulled her CEA and was at an all time low...2.8...Since being on chemo it usually runs between 3.1 and 4.8...Should mention Mom's been on chemo for 4 years...8 rounds of Folfox...On Maintenance of 5-FU/Leucovorin ever since...

Met with the radiologist/oncologist last Wednesday...He was thrilled...Said it was a uterine cancer...Not a metastasis!!! Totally curable and that he was the first to see the biopsy results and would contact both our oncologist and our gyn/oncologist to discuss the findings...

GYN/oncologist phones the next day to tell us the same results...And, we didn't even need to see her until after the PET Scan...To reschedule...When I phoned to reschedule I was told no to keep our appointment for today.

We went to her today...She brings in a little uterine model...Shows us where the mass is...Said its totally curable...And she has 4 options...Surgery, radiation, progesterone pills or nothing...

Then, this is when we were gutted...

Says she spoke to the our oncologist and radiologist and they all agreed that Mom has only about a 1 to 1 1/2 to live...

I was shocked...Can't even begin to imagine what my Mom felt...I told her that our oncologist told us that she had around two years...And, that this was when he thought it was a metastasis...As far as we know...There is NO metastasis...It's a new cancer...That is totally curable!!!

I felt that we were in the Circus of The Insane... She kept waffling between surgery for the uterine mass...Then NO surgery...Then surgery again...Then radiation...Then Surgery...Then progesterone...It was nuts!!! Then actually asks me who the Dr.s are that I'm talking about...These are the Dr.s that she said shes been talking to...The oncologist and radiologist/oncologist!!! Is she even serious!!!

When I told her that per both the oncologist and the radiologist/oncologist that the Colon tumor is basically not even there...She looked at me like I was crazy...Until she looks at the CT scan results and proceeds to tell me I'm right...Her after visit notes state that she's NED for the colon cancer...

Long winded, post I know...But, my question is...Has anyone here ever had a secondary cancer after their colon cancer diagnosis??? Also, should I contact the radiologist and or her oncologist to find out why suddenly they are saying she has 1 to 1 1/2 years to live??? Makes no sense!!!

I need some help here...

I feel like I'm in some kind of a Fellini movie!!!

Thanks in advance for any help/advice...

Paula

I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer 18 months after my colon cancer diagnosis. It was frustrating in that the gyn oncologist is very compartmented. They only deal with female cancers so I still had to follow up with my regular oncologist. Treatment is very different for the female cancers. I did not do chemo for the colon cancer as it was stage 2a. I don’t know how they would deal with treating two different cancers simultaneously that require very different treatments.

It wouldn’t hurt to follow up with her regular oncologist and ask if her prognosis has changed with her new diagnosis.

If it were me I would opt for vaginal hysterectomy ASAP if that were available, not less aggressive half-measures apparently based on the idea that I only had a year left due to colon cancer which is currently NED. Especially since this "time stamp" may be based on the erroneous assumption that the uterine mass is a met.

Your mother is not a packaged cut of meat with a sell-by date.