Rectal cancer (Stage 3A) diagnosed late June 2017

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NHMike
Posts: 2555
Joined: Fri Jul 21, 2017 3:43 am

Re: Rectal cancer (Stage 3A) diagnosed late June 2017

Postby NHMike » Fri Jun 01, 2018 7:19 am

If you're ramping up on walking, you need to pay a lot of attention to your feet: toes, balls of feet, heel, etc. Those parts can take a real beating. The right sized shoes and lacing them up properly can help eliminate a bunch of problems. I have a callous developing on my right foot and I'm going to try the Hypafix Tape over it. Hopefully it doesn't form a blister as that will sideline me for a few days. One of my problems is that my left foot is about 1/2 size longer than my right foot. It would be nice if you could get shoes in differing sizes. The usual approach is to get the bigger size and then modify using lacing or objects to get the smaller foot to fit.
6/17: ER rectal bleeding; Colonoscopy
7/17: 3B rectal. T3N1bM0. 5.2 4.5 4.3 cm. Lymphs: 6 x 4 mm, 8 x 6, 5 x 5
7/17-9/17: Xeloda radiation
7/5: CEA 2.7; 8/16: 1.9; 11/30: 0.6; 12/20 1.4; 1/10 1.8; 1/31 2.2; 2/28 2.6; 4/10 2.8; 5/1 2.8; 5/29 3.2; 7/13 4.5; 8/9 2.8, 2/12 1.2
MSS, KRAS G12D
10/17: 2.7 2.2 1.6 cm (-90%). Lymphs: 3 x 3 mm (-62.5%), 4 x 3 (-75%), 5 x 3 (-40%). 5.1 CM from AV
10/17: LAR, Temp Ileostomy, Path Complete Response
CapeOx (8) 12/17-6/18
7/18: Reversal, Port Removal
2/19: Clean CT

retiredteacher
Posts: 115
Joined: Sat Oct 21, 2017 1:34 pm

Re: Rectal cancer (Stage 3A) diagnosed late June 2017

Postby retiredteacher » Fri Jun 01, 2018 10:04 am

Congrats Mike on being done with the Oxi! Light at the end of the tunnel!
RC F 63 9/17
Adeno 7 cm MSS G2 PET
T3N0M0
2.5K Cap/RT x 25
"Near complete response" PET 1/18
CEA 0.5 10/17, 0.6 10/18
MRI 2/18 yT2N0 12 cm fr AV 3 cm
LAR 2/18 yT1N0M0 0/21 G1 0.3 cm
CAPEOX 3/18, reduced to 80% at cycle 3
Completed 4 cycles; stopped, gut issues, liver enzymes
CT/ colonoscopy 11/18 NED
4/19 NED Sacral fractures/osteoporosis
"Caregiver" to the Iron Man
Hubby CRC Stage 3 2004 NED, Small Cell Lung Cancer Limited 2011 NED, Non-small Cell Lung Cancer 2019 NED October 2019

Caat55
Posts: 694
Joined: Sat Dec 23, 2017 6:01 pm

Re: Rectal cancer (Stage 3A) diagnosed late June 2017

Postby Caat55 » Fri Jun 01, 2018 10:15 am

NHMike wrote:If you're ramping up on walking, you need to pay a lot of attention to your feet: toes, balls of feet, heel, etc. Those parts can take a real beating. One of my problems is that my left foot is about 1/2 size longer than my right foot. It would be nice if you could get shoes in differing sizes. The usual approach is to get the bigger size and then modify using lacing or objects to get the smaller foot to fit.


Yes I have very tired feet. And got a blister yesterday on one of my toes I've never done that in anything but hiking boots. We're going to be a little bit more lazy today. Left foot is also bigger than right foot, but I'm left-handed. Are you?
Do at 55 y.o. Female
Dx 9/26/17 RC Stage 3
Completed 33 rad. tx, xeolda 12/8/17
MRI and PET 1/18 sign. regression
Surgery 1/31/18 Ileostomy, clean margins, no lymph node involved
Port 3/1/2018
Oxaliplatin and Xeloda start 3/22/18
Last Oxaliplatin 7/5/18, 5 rounds
CT NED 9/2018
PET NED 12/18
Clear Colonoscopy 2/19, 5/20

NHMike
Posts: 2555
Joined: Fri Jul 21, 2017 3:43 am

Re: Rectal cancer (Stage 3A) diagnosed late June 2017

Postby NHMike » Fri Jun 01, 2018 10:50 am

Caat55 wrote:
NHMike wrote:If you're ramping up on walking, you need to pay a lot of attention to your feet: toes, balls of feet, heel, etc. Those parts can take a real beating. One of my problems is that my left foot is about 1/2 size longer than my right foot. It would be nice if you could get shoes in differing sizes. The usual approach is to get the bigger size and then modify using lacing or objects to get the smaller foot to fit.


Yes I have very tired feet. And got a blister yesterday on one of my toes I've never done that in anything but hiking boots. We're going to be a little bit more lazy today. Left foot is also bigger than right foot, but I'm left-handed. Are you?


I took off my socks and have four blisters on my right foot and three on my left and one callous. I taped all of them and will go out for a walk to see what happens. I'm hoping that the taping helps. One of the blisters had broken open and two of them popped internally.

I'm right-handed. I think that it's time to change shoes too. The larger blisters on the bottom of the foot are probably due to lacing issues and the insole. The blisters on the toes is likely due to the shoe last - I get 4E shoes but New Balance has gone to narrower lasts which pinch my toes. They used to sell just about everything in wide lasts but they changed to most shoes with narrow lasts several years ago. So now I have to look through lots of shoes to find ones that are wide through the toe box.

I used to use Band-Aids on toes but they came off too easily. I'm hoping that the Hypafix tape performs a lot better.
6/17: ER rectal bleeding; Colonoscopy
7/17: 3B rectal. T3N1bM0. 5.2 4.5 4.3 cm. Lymphs: 6 x 4 mm, 8 x 6, 5 x 5
7/17-9/17: Xeloda radiation
7/5: CEA 2.7; 8/16: 1.9; 11/30: 0.6; 12/20 1.4; 1/10 1.8; 1/31 2.2; 2/28 2.6; 4/10 2.8; 5/1 2.8; 5/29 3.2; 7/13 4.5; 8/9 2.8, 2/12 1.2
MSS, KRAS G12D
10/17: 2.7 2.2 1.6 cm (-90%). Lymphs: 3 x 3 mm (-62.5%), 4 x 3 (-75%), 5 x 3 (-40%). 5.1 CM from AV
10/17: LAR, Temp Ileostomy, Path Complete Response
CapeOx (8) 12/17-6/18
7/18: Reversal, Port Removal
2/19: Clean CT

NHMike
Posts: 2555
Joined: Fri Jul 21, 2017 3:43 am

Re: Rectal cancer (Stage 3A) diagnosed late June 2017

Postby NHMike » Fri Jun 01, 2018 5:09 pm

I was at a local mall walking when I felt a large blister pop - really awful feeling - basically it's the fluid escaping though a break in the skin so you can feel it oozing out. Of course it was painful to walk on afterwards. I haven't had a look at it and hope that it's only fluid. I'm glad that I taped it up earlier or else it would have been a mess.
6/17: ER rectal bleeding; Colonoscopy
7/17: 3B rectal. T3N1bM0. 5.2 4.5 4.3 cm. Lymphs: 6 x 4 mm, 8 x 6, 5 x 5
7/17-9/17: Xeloda radiation
7/5: CEA 2.7; 8/16: 1.9; 11/30: 0.6; 12/20 1.4; 1/10 1.8; 1/31 2.2; 2/28 2.6; 4/10 2.8; 5/1 2.8; 5/29 3.2; 7/13 4.5; 8/9 2.8, 2/12 1.2
MSS, KRAS G12D
10/17: 2.7 2.2 1.6 cm (-90%). Lymphs: 3 x 3 mm (-62.5%), 4 x 3 (-75%), 5 x 3 (-40%). 5.1 CM from AV
10/17: LAR, Temp Ileostomy, Path Complete Response
CapeOx (8) 12/17-6/18
7/18: Reversal, Port Removal
2/19: Clean CT

NHMike
Posts: 2555
Joined: Fri Jul 21, 2017 3:43 am

Re: Rectal cancer (Stage 3A) diagnosed late June 2017

Postby NHMike » Wed Jun 06, 2018 7:29 am

I got in 61 miles the past seven days. I probably could have done more if I didn't have to manage all of the blisters.

Yesterday, a co-worker came in to ask me questions about colonoscopies and medical coverage here (he's an ex-pat from Germany). Later on, another co-worker came to ask me about investments and also wanted to talk about a medical issue with his wife. I told him that I had cancer and that I had been in treatment for a year and he was rather floored as he said that I don't look like I have cancer (we chat in the gym from time to time). Unfortunately these sorts of things usually mean that I have to work at home later in the evening to get my stuff done. His wife has a rare condition and he hasn't done research on it. I may ask my son to do some research on the condition if he can provide me with the name of the bacteria causing the infection. The likely outcome is comparable to Stage 4 cancer and finding expertise on it is difficult.

I'm going to ping my surgeon on my chemo end date to see if she has a proposed schedule for the reversal.
6/17: ER rectal bleeding; Colonoscopy
7/17: 3B rectal. T3N1bM0. 5.2 4.5 4.3 cm. Lymphs: 6 x 4 mm, 8 x 6, 5 x 5
7/17-9/17: Xeloda radiation
7/5: CEA 2.7; 8/16: 1.9; 11/30: 0.6; 12/20 1.4; 1/10 1.8; 1/31 2.2; 2/28 2.6; 4/10 2.8; 5/1 2.8; 5/29 3.2; 7/13 4.5; 8/9 2.8, 2/12 1.2
MSS, KRAS G12D
10/17: 2.7 2.2 1.6 cm (-90%). Lymphs: 3 x 3 mm (-62.5%), 4 x 3 (-75%), 5 x 3 (-40%). 5.1 CM from AV
10/17: LAR, Temp Ileostomy, Path Complete Response
CapeOx (8) 12/17-6/18
7/18: Reversal, Port Removal
2/19: Clean CT

mpbser
Posts: 953
Joined: Wed Apr 19, 2017 11:52 am

Re: Rectal cancer (Stage 3A) diagnosed late June 2017

Postby mpbser » Wed Jun 06, 2018 3:53 pm

From what I have heard, there seems to be an upsurge in young, otherwise healthy people in the US who are being diagnosed with colon cancer. I was listening to a podcast about this and apparently there are a number of studies underway to look into the cause. None of the studies appear to be examining GMOs which are now known to alter the DNA of the human microbiome. My lay person's belief is that GMOs are playing a role, if not are the culprit for this new phenomenon.
Wife 4/17 Dx age 45
5/17 LAR
Adenocarcinoma
low grade
1st primary T3 N2b M1a
Stage IVA
8/17 Sub-total colectomy
2nd primary 5.5 cm T1 N0
9 of 96 nodes
CEA: < 2.9
MSS
Lynch no; KRAS wild
Immunohistochemsistry Normal
Fall 2017 FOLFOX shrank the 1 met in liver
1/18 Liver left hepatectomy seg 4
5/18 CT clear
12/18 MRI 1 liver met
3/7/19 Resection & HAI
4/1/19 Folfiri & FUDR
5/13/19 HAI pump catheter dislodge, nearly bled to death
6-7 '19 5FU 4 cycles
NED

heiders33
Posts: 363
Joined: Sat Nov 04, 2017 11:08 am

Re: Rectal cancer (Stage 3A) diagnosed late June 2017

Postby heiders33 » Wed Jun 06, 2018 5:59 pm

I’m also pretty convinced that it has something to do with the altering of the microbiome, since it’s so connected to our immune system. That’s an interesting connection to GMO’s. I would not be surprised if that was at least part of the story.
40 year-old female
May 2017: Dx rectal cancer T3N2M0
MSS, KRAS G12D
6/17: 28 days chemorad
9/17: LAR/loop ileostomy, CAPOX six rounds
3/18: reversal
9/18: liver met, resection/HAI pump, 11 rounds 5FU, 1 round FUDR
11/19 - local recurrence, brachytherapy, 3 weeks targeted radiation
12/21 - end colostomy

NHMike
Posts: 2555
Joined: Fri Jul 21, 2017 3:43 am

Re: Rectal cancer (Stage 3A) diagnosed late June 2017

Postby NHMike » Wed Jun 06, 2018 6:53 pm

I'm pretty sure that mine was due to the flu. My work environment has a lot of Type A workaholic personalities and I had the flu for a very long time (may have been one or a series) and that likely weakened my immune system. I was working through the flu which probably wasn't a good idea. I think that it will be challenging to find the root causes. I think that it would be cool to see mutations actually occurring but it's hard to imaging the kind of imaging that you'd need to see it taking place inside the body. It's kind of like reading a crash dump. You have the contents of the state and the code that got you there but you don't necessarily know what caused the crash. I'd guess that reading this with chemical software and states is harder but I'm used to reading crash dumps.
6/17: ER rectal bleeding; Colonoscopy
7/17: 3B rectal. T3N1bM0. 5.2 4.5 4.3 cm. Lymphs: 6 x 4 mm, 8 x 6, 5 x 5
7/17-9/17: Xeloda radiation
7/5: CEA 2.7; 8/16: 1.9; 11/30: 0.6; 12/20 1.4; 1/10 1.8; 1/31 2.2; 2/28 2.6; 4/10 2.8; 5/1 2.8; 5/29 3.2; 7/13 4.5; 8/9 2.8, 2/12 1.2
MSS, KRAS G12D
10/17: 2.7 2.2 1.6 cm (-90%). Lymphs: 3 x 3 mm (-62.5%), 4 x 3 (-75%), 5 x 3 (-40%). 5.1 CM from AV
10/17: LAR, Temp Ileostomy, Path Complete Response
CapeOx (8) 12/17-6/18
7/18: Reversal, Port Removal
2/19: Clean CT

NHMike
Posts: 2555
Joined: Fri Jul 21, 2017 3:43 am

Re: Rectal cancer (Stage 3A) diagnosed late June 2017

Postby NHMike » Wed Jun 06, 2018 8:22 pm

A friend's wife is dying from a lung infection from Mycobacterium abscessus which is an antibiotic bacteria. I asked my kids to do some research on it including current treatments and I'll need to go through the stuff that they found but my son did explain to me how older generation antibiotics work and how newer ones work. There are a lot of scary things out there besides cancer and a lot of them don't have the research money that cancer has.
6/17: ER rectal bleeding; Colonoscopy
7/17: 3B rectal. T3N1bM0. 5.2 4.5 4.3 cm. Lymphs: 6 x 4 mm, 8 x 6, 5 x 5
7/17-9/17: Xeloda radiation
7/5: CEA 2.7; 8/16: 1.9; 11/30: 0.6; 12/20 1.4; 1/10 1.8; 1/31 2.2; 2/28 2.6; 4/10 2.8; 5/1 2.8; 5/29 3.2; 7/13 4.5; 8/9 2.8, 2/12 1.2
MSS, KRAS G12D
10/17: 2.7 2.2 1.6 cm (-90%). Lymphs: 3 x 3 mm (-62.5%), 4 x 3 (-75%), 5 x 3 (-40%). 5.1 CM from AV
10/17: LAR, Temp Ileostomy, Path Complete Response
CapeOx (8) 12/17-6/18
7/18: Reversal, Port Removal
2/19: Clean CT

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O Stoma Mia
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Location: On vacation. Off-line for now.

Re: Rectal cancer (Stage 3A) diagnosed late June 2017

Postby O Stoma Mia » Wed Jun 06, 2018 8:56 pm

NHMike wrote:A friend's wife is dying from a lung infection from Mycobacterium abscessus which is an antibiotic bacteria. I asked my kids to do some research on it including current treatments and I'll need to go through the stuff that they found but my son did explain to me how older generation antibiotics work and how newer ones work. There are a lot of scary things out there besides cancer and a lot of them don't have the research money that cancer has.

You mentioned antibiotic bacteria above . Did you mean "anaerobic bacteria"?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28874407

NHMike
Posts: 2555
Joined: Fri Jul 21, 2017 3:43 am

Re: Rectal cancer (Stage 3A) diagnosed late June 2017

Postby NHMike » Wed Jun 06, 2018 9:06 pm

O Stoma Mia wrote:
NHMike wrote:A friend's wife is dying from a lung infection from Mycobacterium abscessus which is an antibiotic bacteria. I asked my kids to do some research on it including current treatments and I'll need to go through the stuff that they found but my son did explain to me how older generation antibiotics work and how newer ones work. There are a lot of scary things out there besides cancer and a lot of them don't have the research money that cancer has.

You mentioned antibiotic bacteria above . Did you mean "anaerobic bacteria"?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28874407


I meant an antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

It's Mycobacterium Abscessus. It's really nasty to go through treatment and a lot of people don't survive, even with treatment.
6/17: ER rectal bleeding; Colonoscopy
7/17: 3B rectal. T3N1bM0. 5.2 4.5 4.3 cm. Lymphs: 6 x 4 mm, 8 x 6, 5 x 5
7/17-9/17: Xeloda radiation
7/5: CEA 2.7; 8/16: 1.9; 11/30: 0.6; 12/20 1.4; 1/10 1.8; 1/31 2.2; 2/28 2.6; 4/10 2.8; 5/1 2.8; 5/29 3.2; 7/13 4.5; 8/9 2.8, 2/12 1.2
MSS, KRAS G12D
10/17: 2.7 2.2 1.6 cm (-90%). Lymphs: 3 x 3 mm (-62.5%), 4 x 3 (-75%), 5 x 3 (-40%). 5.1 CM from AV
10/17: LAR, Temp Ileostomy, Path Complete Response
CapeOx (8) 12/17-6/18
7/18: Reversal, Port Removal
2/19: Clean CT

Caat55
Posts: 694
Joined: Sat Dec 23, 2017 6:01 pm

Re: Rectal cancer (Stage 3A) diagnosed late June 2017

Postby Caat55 » Wed Jun 06, 2018 10:21 pm

NHMike wrote:I got in 61 miles the past seven days. I probably could have done more if I didn't have to manage all of the blisters.

Yesterday, a co-worker came in to ask me questions about colonoscopies and medical coverage here (he's an ex-pat from Germany). Later on, another co-worker came to ask me about investments and also wanted to talk about a medical issue with his wife. I told him that I had cancer and that I had been in treatment for a year and he was rather floored as he said that I don't look like I have cancer (we chat in the gym from time to time). Unfortunately these sorts of things usually mean that I have to work at home later in the evening to get my stuff done. .


I did no less than 15000 steps but no more than 22000 this trip to New York. 7 Days of walking, eating and family. I know I wouldn't have been able to do it had not my Oxi been postponed. I did do the Xeloda though, it doesn't cause me problems. One of our daughter's posted some pictures on Facebook of us at brunch, her boyfriend who we had not yet me was shocked that I had hair, looked so healthy. Some one else was complained today about how stressful it was for her to visit her ex-husband, caused her to have colon issues. I laughed so hard, she was complaining to me about colon issues. People either forget or don't know what to do with a "healthy person" with cancer.

Strange place we all find ourselves.

Susan
Do at 55 y.o. Female
Dx 9/26/17 RC Stage 3
Completed 33 rad. tx, xeolda 12/8/17
MRI and PET 1/18 sign. regression
Surgery 1/31/18 Ileostomy, clean margins, no lymph node involved
Port 3/1/2018
Oxaliplatin and Xeloda start 3/22/18
Last Oxaliplatin 7/5/18, 5 rounds
CT NED 9/2018
PET NED 12/18
Clear Colonoscopy 2/19, 5/20

User avatar
O Stoma Mia
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Joined: Sat Jun 22, 2013 6:29 am
Location: On vacation. Off-line for now.

Re: Rectal cancer (Stage 3A) diagnosed late June 2017

Postby O Stoma Mia » Wed Jun 06, 2018 11:21 pm

NHMike wrote:... It's Mycobacterium Abscessus. It's really nasty to go through treatment and a lot of people don't survive, even with treatment.

This sort of thing can happen with other cancer treatments, too. There is a case study on record of a Xeloda patient with HFS who developed a rare infection that became septic and would not respond to any of the known antibiotics at the time:
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamadermatology/fullarticle/1105187

NHMike
Posts: 2555
Joined: Fri Jul 21, 2017 3:43 am

Re: Rectal cancer (Stage 3A) diagnosed late June 2017

Postby NHMike » Thu Jun 07, 2018 6:21 am

O Stoma Mia wrote:
NHMike wrote:... It's Mycobacterium Abscessus. It's really nasty to go through treatment and a lot of people don't survive, even with treatment.

This sort of thing can happen with other cancer treatments, too. There is a case study on record of a Xeloda patient with HFS who developed a rare infection that became septic and would not respond to any of the known antibiotics at the time:
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamadermatology/fullarticle/1105187


The hospital I used had a low infection rate and that stuff that I had to rub all over for three days is part of that. It's pretty scary on all of the potential illnesses, diseases and infections out there that are possible. One lesson learned: my son explained how antibiotics work though at a dumbed down level for me. I think that I'll ask him for a slightly deeper dive. We've had the benefit of antibiotics for a long time but it seems like the bad bacteria has been winning the war.
6/17: ER rectal bleeding; Colonoscopy
7/17: 3B rectal. T3N1bM0. 5.2 4.5 4.3 cm. Lymphs: 6 x 4 mm, 8 x 6, 5 x 5
7/17-9/17: Xeloda radiation
7/5: CEA 2.7; 8/16: 1.9; 11/30: 0.6; 12/20 1.4; 1/10 1.8; 1/31 2.2; 2/28 2.6; 4/10 2.8; 5/1 2.8; 5/29 3.2; 7/13 4.5; 8/9 2.8, 2/12 1.2
MSS, KRAS G12D
10/17: 2.7 2.2 1.6 cm (-90%). Lymphs: 3 x 3 mm (-62.5%), 4 x 3 (-75%), 5 x 3 (-40%). 5.1 CM from AV
10/17: LAR, Temp Ileostomy, Path Complete Response
CapeOx (8) 12/17-6/18
7/18: Reversal, Port Removal
2/19: Clean CT


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