Scared- advice needed

[Girl111]

Hi

My father had his surgery 2 weeks ago . He is dukes c1 with local
Lymph nodes affected .

I am
Now worried regarding meta as I've read stage 3 has more chances if mets occurring right ?

Last scans were done feb but wondering whether we shod get them done again .

Will chemo help ?

[chemo sabe]

Dear Girl111,
your internet search engine will pop up a ton of stuff for you and your Dad to read and learn enough to ask questions of his doctors. Here is a site that will start you. http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer- ... wel-cancer Colon Cancer is very sneaky and can return. I can only tell you not to dwell on the Statistics. We have no way of telling the future.

As far as adjuvant chemo is concerned, in America, standard of care says you will get chemo following surgery. However, this is not true everywhere. I think the Europeans will not give chemo until or if the cancer returns. Lots of people get chemo and get sick again, lots of people remain disease free. The first big thing was your fathers surgery to remove the tumor. For a shot at the best outcome, the pathology report should say "clear margins".

Here is hoping your father has a good outcome!!

[Girl111]

Thx

What does "clear margins' mean ?

I will check to see if it states this.

He was t3n2m0.

[O Stoma Mia]

...What does "clear margins' mean ?

The concept of "clear margin" is discussed in the following report:

Understanding Your Pathology Report: Colon Cancer

Margins
Your report may comment on margins. This is the area at the edge of the specimen that was submitted. When performing a cancer surgery, the surgeon attempts to remove the entire tumor and some normal tissue surrounding it. This area of "normal tissue" is important because any stray cancer cells may be included in this. If the edge (or margin) contains tumor, there may have been cancer cells left behind. The goal of surgery is to achieve a "clear margin", that is, clear of any cancer cells.

ooooo

[Girl111]

Thank you . I will have to check that .

But a re occurrence is high for stage 3 right ?

Could some cells have escaped from the primary tumor even before surgery ?

Tina

[NWgirl]

Could some cells have escaped from the primary tumor even before surgery ?

Yes. I had clear margins at surgery, received chemo after surgery and had a recurrence 3 years later - determined to be from the original tumor.

You can drive yourself crazy over all of this - try not to. Many stage 3's survive - many don't. It's all a big crap shoot. All you can do is have him follow his doctors advice, try to stay active, eat right, all that good stuff and just hope for the best.

If he had scans done in February, there's probably no reason to scan again so soon. When I finished my post surgery chemo, because I had so many lymph nodes affected (27 of 38 removed); we scanned every 3 months the first year; every 6 months the second year - and then the cancer returned. The most frequent I've seen most scanned is every 3 months - and that was to either watch for a recurrence after finishing chemo - or in my case now to monitor the chemo I'm receiving to see if it's working on the active cancer cells (if it isn't then we change chemo regimens).

[lentini66]

Hi,
They found my stage 3 in December 2012 and I have had several scans that show I am currently cancer free.
If you dig around you will unfortunately see that recurrence rates for stage 3 are high. The best reason to have Chemo is hopefully to kill any escaped cancer cells.
Get your dad's docs to do scans every 3-6 months.
Blood tests more often.
The anxiety leading into my scans is difficult but the relief after the news that there is nothing there will be tremendous.
Good Luck.

[Girl111]

Thx all.

Should he stop smoking and alcohol? He has a drink a day and few cigarettes a day ?

[chemo sabe]

Dear Girl111,
How old are you and are you here in the United States?? I ask because I think your question about smoking is really silly. In America, unless you are a child, it is well known that smoking causes cancer and heart disease. I know your father is not sticking those smokes up his butt, however, smoke and carcinogens are swallowed and end up down there anyway. Colon cancer is well known for metastasizing to lungs and liver - does he really need to smoke??

[horizon]

You can drive yourself crazy over all of this - try not to. Many stage 3's survive - many don't. It's all a big crap shoot. All you can do is have him follow his doctors advice, try to stay active, eat right, all that good stuff and just hope for the best.

This is great advice. You're not a doctor and can't predict what will happen. Every time I worried and tried to predict what was happening with me I was completely wrong. Of course you're going to worry because it's your dad, but try not upset yourself unnecessarily.

[Girl111]

Thx all for the replies .

[Girl111]

Thx all for the replies .