I love Oprah!

[cynnycal]

I get avastin too, though i wasn't stage IV, i was III, but i've gotten it from day one.
i guess they didn't want to take any chances.
at the surgery, i think i had something like 3 out of 35 lymphnodes were involved.
so magnolia...just b/c it got in the lymph nodes, that doesn't mean it automatically will show up somewhere else?
i just started chemo again in order to kill off anything left.
but they popped that tumor out no problem at surgery. of course they also popped that colon, rectum and anus out so i guess when you're taking it ALL it's alot easier to get the tumor.

hey pj, right when i was all diagnosed, i was in the process of trying to go back to school for film. i've worked a little bit as a PA on some independent and feature projects, thinking i'll pay my dues and work my way up. (i desperately want to be an editor...)
but of course, my whole life is on pause right now. and besides i would never qualify ever for student loans again with all this debt.

i'd love to talk to you more about getting into films, if you get a chance, email me, cynnycal@yahoo.com

[pjpeace]

Magnolia and Cynnycal:
I just gotta share the GREAT NEWS!!!! Yesterday at my doc's visit before chemo i was going to ask my doc how my CEA levels were doing...my last scan showed 50% after my fourth round so I'm thinking 'ok at this rate the tumor should be at like 75%" at my 7th cycle. Ok wrong but it far surpassed what i was hoping for...my CEA was <0.5!!!! BELOW NORMAL of <2.5!!!! YEAPIE!!!! The words of "No Measureable Disease" came flying out of my Oncologist mouth before i could even ask about where I was and i was like 'WHAT???!!!" He was so happy and i'm still in shock...

So do you guys know if i'm in partial remission or what the term for where I'm at? We were sooo excited that I forgot to ask. i get a CT scan done next wednesday (ew yum barrium smooties...they still taste awful don't fool us with the smootie part man) and he wasn't gonna scan me till the end so this is really good news!!!

I have even more this Thanksgiving to be thankful for. I already felt blessed beyond measure but this has made it even more special.

Happy Thanksgiving you all!!!

[Molly]

Hey Cynn-

I just happened to see an ad for Oprah's Monday show and it looks like it's the one you were talking about (original post)! Hope we get to see you on there!!!

xo,
molly

[cynnycal]

well...yea, so i doubt you'll see me on there, at least, not in the role of telling my story to her and getting more awareness for colon cancer (as i would like)
but maybe they'll be a video montage or something of all the stories that didn't get fully featured, and so you just might see my beaming face.
still crossing fingers

[Bobbie]

My daughter had a low paying job; just got her BA Degree and ends up working at Target for $7.00 an hour, and needed medial attention. She went to the local hospital that has a clinic too and they charged her according to her income. Each county is to have a hospital that does this. Now she even got her medicine at no charge and only $10.00 for a doctor
appt. Aren't there things like this in other areas?
Bobbie

[cynnycal]

well, yes, we have a county hospital. but county is um...lets just say NOT the hospital you wanna go to. to be nice.
i guess in that respect, i can't complain too much about medical bills hm?
b/c i CHOSE to go to a world reknown, cutting edge facility to get my surgery. i was not going to settle for anything less than the absolute #1 best.
I felt very confident going into my treatment and surgery. so now i'll just eat the whopping bills they send me.

and yes, i believe there must be some sort of sliding scale payment option or something that i'm going to look into.

I don't know how any hospital would expect that i'd just unquestioningly shell out the $90,000 they billed me (with no itemization). i mean...who would do that? who has an extra $90grand just laying around. so...we'll see.

[Magnolia]

County clinics are fine for routine care, but for major stuff like cynny's surgery, you want people who've done lots of these procedures and REALLY know what they're doing. She went to the right place.


PJ, it sounds like you may be in complete remission based on what you've said. Congrats! That's great news. But don't take my word for it. Get it from your docs in no uncertian terms.

[Guest]

Cynn,
Just saw the Oprah but missed the first part! Were you on there? i hope you were to get the word out!

yeah, good thing you went to the good place to get your surgery. i def. want to IU to do my next surgery since the surgeon does this type of surgery every week...and their surgeons do the whipple almost everyday there. your survival rate is much better from a cancer center too. your life is worth more than any amount of money for the best care.

PJPeace (Paula) this thing doesn't take my user name for some reason...

[Magnolia]

Cyn, when it's in the nodes, it will spread if it's not treated. Sometimes the surgery will remove all the affected nodes, and sometimes not. No way of knowing at the time if the surgery got it, so chemo and/or radiation are the safety nets to clean up any residual that may be left after surgery.

I explained it to my daughter this way. The tumor is like a Christmas ornament. If it's not broken, it can be removed in one piece and it's gone for good. If it's broken, you have to get all the pieces before they start to grow new tumors. In my case, there were no big pieces, but a few little slivers in the nodes. The chemo is like a vaccuum to clean up any more slivers too small to see. My doc said there was a 50% chance the surgery got it all, but 50% wasn't good enough. I'd concur with that. Chemo decreases the chance of recurrance by another 50%. Avastin may do even more.

25 years ago, when I was an onocology nurse, we had one effective drug for colon cancer, 5FU, and when that didn't work, nothing did. Now we have a whole arsenal of stuff to fight this with. Stage I and II are cured more often than not. Stage III is more routinely cured now than before, and Stage IV cures are no longer the rarities they once were. There's plenty of hope for all of us. A lot of progress is being made with this disease. Even when cures are not possible now, we can buy time we couldn't before and newer and better treatments are being developed all the time. A few years of survival can mean the availability of a new treatment down the road that we don't have now.