Almost 8 years update

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kiwiinoz
Posts: 1170
Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2013 11:44 pm

Almost 8 years update

Postby kiwiinoz » Fri Sep 18, 2020 1:16 am

Hi Ho All,

Hope that you are well in this COVID world. Interesting that we have all had the thin veneer of "certainty and stability" ripped from us when we all had the luck of being diagnosed with cancer, and now the rest of the planet is finding it hard that the certainty that they all had has been taken from them with COVID taking all certainty away from them.

I have had an interesting year and have been really busy with work, and am fortunate that I have not had to worry about job security, more managing with a greater volume of work with reduced staffing numbers. I have thus avoided going for check ups this year but finally designated some time to this, even if it was 6 months later than I should have.

My Oncologist always used to tell me that I was "interesting" but this time when I met him he smiled and called me boring. We had a number of discussions over the last few years and I had a very good inkling but he said I was so boring that he no longer wanted to see me as I had the same chance as anyone in the general population of having a new cancer, and the chances of my lung having a recurrence was very low. If it made me feel better, he would continue to see me on a yearly basis for CT Scans and bloods, or I could see my own GP for chest x-rays in relation to a lung recurrence. I will need to ponder on that.

I had a follow up colonoscopy at the end of last month and my dr (who was also my colorectal surgeon) found 3 polyps and 1 pre malignant polyp. The Australian government changed regulations on NOV2019 so that it was much harder to get colonoscopies as they had so much success with campaigns to educate the public it was costing them too much. Thus under Medicare (meaning our government pays for it $750 of the $1000 that it costs) will only allow 1 colonoscopy every 5 years. Given that I have developed 4 in just under 3 years I am not happy with that but my surgeon has said that he has ways around it.

I did have an issue in that I had secondary bleeding several days after I had the scope and lost a lot of blood. I should have gone to the hospital for a transfusion but I didn't as I stopped bleeding and didn't want to get stuck in ER for more scans and tests but it has taken me about 3 weeks to get back to normal.

I hope that all of you on this site are well, and a big hello to all those I know, and a bigger hello to those that I don't.

Almost at the 8 year mark now so feeling more comfortable with life.

Cheers
Kiwi
Stage IV Rectal Cancer (39 Year old male at dx)
pT3N0M1 (wish that was M0)
Diagnosed 05 Dec 2012
LAR 05 Jan 2013
VATS 27 Feb 2013
FOLOFX April 2013 - Sep 2013
Clear Scan 03 Dec 2013 - August 2020
Port Out 26 March 2015

I_will_fight
Posts: 148
Joined: Mon Jun 29, 2020 3:38 pm

Re: Almost 8 years update

Postby I_will_fight » Fri Sep 18, 2020 6:33 am

Congratulations on accomplishing the 8 year mark.

I cannot imagine a better person to call you "boring" than your oncologist.

Thanks for the update.
46 yo male Spain
06/2020 - 6cm T3N0M0 CC splenic flex
3 and 4 mm lung ground glass
lymp 0/37
dMMR MSH6
KRAS mt G13D
V/LNI absent
PNI present
07/20 - hemicol surg, optimistic surgeon.
11/20 - 4 x CAPOX completed.
12/20 - Clear colonoscopy
02/21 - MRI liver lesion unchanged.
11/21 - Clear CT
02/22- Colonoscopy: Sessil polyp 3mm
05/22- Clear CT
06/22- Negative Signatera
12/22- Negative Signatera
01/23- Clear CT
07/23- Clear CT, normal markers.
09/23 - Negative Signatera
01/24 - Clear CT

User avatar
CRguy
Posts: 10473
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:00 pm

Re: Almost 8 years update

Postby CRguy » Fri Sep 18, 2020 10:25 pm

Boring IS good my friend !!!

Keep kickin' colorectal BUTT and takin' names

Cheers and best wishes
CRguy
Caregiver x 4
Stage IV A rectal cancer/lung met
17 Year survivor
my life is an ongoing totally randomized UNcontrolled experiment with N=1 !
Review of my Journey so far

DarknessEmbraced
Posts: 3816
Joined: Sat Nov 01, 2014 4:54 pm
Facebook Username: Riann Fletcher
Location: New Brunswick, Canada

Re: Almost 8 years update

Postby DarknessEmbraced » Sat Sep 19, 2020 9:59 am

Congratulations! :D
Diagnosed 10/28/14, age 36
Colon Resection 11/20/14, LAR (no illeo)
Stage 2a colon cancer, T3NOMO
Lymph-vascular invasion undetermined
0/22 lymph nodes
No chemo, no radiation
Clear Colonoscopy 04/29/15
NED 10/20/15
Ischemic Colitis 01/21/16
NED 11/10/16
CT Scan moved up due to high CEA 08/21/17
NED 09/25/17
NED 12/21/18
Clear colonoscopy 09/23/19
Clear 5 year scans 11/21/19- Considered cured! :)

stu
Posts: 1613
Joined: Sat Aug 17, 2013 5:46 pm

Re: Almost 8 years update

Postby stu » Sat Sep 26, 2020 3:18 pm

Delighted to hear your update.
The same thoughts have crossed my mind about corona . Think the survival strategies are never far from the surface and used to taking life in smaller chunks , not looking too far ahead at an unpredictable future . Roll with the punches and making the most of the good times . People on this forum have it down to an art form for sure.
Take care,
Stu
supporter to my mum who lives a great life despite a difficult diagnosis
stage4 2009 significant spread to liver
2010 colon /liver resection
chemo following recurrence
73% of liver removed
enjoying life treatment free
2016 lung resection
Oct 2017 nice clear scan . Two lung nodules disappeared
Oct 2018. Another clear scan .

User avatar
Rob in PA
Posts: 2022
Joined: Wed Dec 09, 2009 9:16 pm
Location: Pennsylvania

Re: Almost 8 years update

Postby Rob in PA » Sun Oct 04, 2020 5:18 am

Cheers Kiwi!!!

Here's to another trip around the sun!!! 8) 8) 8) 8)

Rob
dx 11/07 crc IIIb @ 39
Xelox/Rad/ temp colostomy
LAR/J-pouch/ temp ileo
Folfox-8
Failed reversal
2/09 liver mets; liver resect/ileo reversal
Folfiri/Avastin - 12
2/11 5 lung mets
Folfiri/Avastin 2011
SBRT 3/12
Lung met 5/13/ said NO to more chemo
SBRT 8/13
2 lung mets 5/14, VATS 8/14, NED

User avatar
Atoq
Posts: 412
Joined: Wed Oct 25, 2017 9:31 am

Re: Almost 8 years update

Postby Atoq » Mon Oct 05, 2020 1:09 am

Congratulations! Really nice with 8 years mark!

Best

Claudia
1972, 2 kids
Dx rectal cancer 10.2017
T3N2aMX (met left lung 8 mm)
Lynch neg
CEA 1.8
Neoadjuvant chemoradio Xeloda + 25x2 Gy
05.12.17 laparotomic surg. for blockage, colostomy
25.01.18 laparotomic lar, hysterectomy, ileostomy
05.03.18 core needle lung biopsy
07.05.18 CAT scan, lung met 11 mm
04.06.18 ileo reversal
26.06.18 wedge VATS
24.08.18, 31.02.19 CAT scan
12.09.18, 06.02.19 scope, CEA 1.6
19.11.18 scope
20.08.19 CAT, eco
13.09.19 scope, CEA 1.2
18.03.20 CAT, eco, scope, NED
29.11.20 CAT, NED
2023 NED

User avatar
horizon
Posts: 1669
Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2011 10:10 pm

Re: Almost 8 years update

Postby horizon » Wed Oct 14, 2020 4:05 pm

My man! Wow, that bleeding sounds really scary. I'm glad that you're ok.
I'm just a dude who still can't believe he had a resection and went through chemo (currently 13 years NED). Is this real life?

Lee
Posts: 6207
Joined: Sun Apr 16, 2006 4:09 pm

Re: Almost 8 years update

Postby Lee » Wed Oct 14, 2020 4:42 pm

I agree, boring is good, congratulations.

I got scoped earlier this year before this virus spread, thank goodness.

Lee
rectal cancer - April 2004
46 yrs old at diagnoses
stage III C - 6/13 lymph positive
radiation - 6 weeks
surgery - August 2004/hernia repair 2014
permanent colostomy
chemo - FOLFOX
NED - 16 years and counting!


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