UpstateSC_Papi
Platinum Member
Married to a survivor! They are the best! Stronger than I think I'll ever be! She doesn't fish though... Bummer...
Eddie, glad to hear things are so much better. Your story strikes close to home: my grandson went through many of the same issues and procedurs but for a different type of cancer. To support your suggestion on getting a colonoscopy, the prep is a bit easier to handle than it used to be. I had one in January 2017 during which some questionable polyps were found. I changed my diet then repeated the test six months later. Now I do not have to get another for two years.Thank you for all the kind words.
She was cancer free after treatment ended, but remained hospitalized for another month due to the damage done to her by the chemo and radiation. The radiation caused second degree burns that where just horrible. The chemo destroyed her immune system. To visit her in her hospital room, everyone had to put on a mask, sanitize your hands and you couldn't have a cold, or even a cough. That was just a very slow process getting everything working again. Then months of bed rest and more pain and suffering then I thought possible.
Every month, she could do a little bit more. Now she is walking over 2 miles a day, doing light exercise and trying to be super healthy. She lost 40 pounds and has gained back about ten pounds to 120 pounds. This seems to be her new normal. Food is a problem that comes and goes. She still has issues with her gut, and every couple of weeks, she's living in the bathroom for a day. We're told that this could last a year, but in some cases, it's for the rest of your life.
She had a port installed in her chest for IV's, that she is keeping for at least a year. Every month she goes in to have it flushed. She has had two PET scans since being told that she is cancer free, and both have confirmed that she is indeed, cancer free.
For those that do not have any cancer in your family history, go get a colonoscopy. Everyone in her family has died of heart disease. It's why she specialized in that when becoming a RN. Late last year she started having cramps and diarrhea that would get so bad that she would spend days dealing with it. One day last December she was so dehydrated that I took her in to the hospital and she had to get to IV's of saline. In February, her doctor told he to get a colonoscopy just to rule out cancer since nothing else was making sense. During the procedure, they found a large tumor, which they immediately cut out. This was not planned for, and she was never prepped for this type of surgery. They just did it because it was so large. Then there where two more surgeries to get a good sample of the tissue to be 100% sure of what type of cancer it was. A specialist for Colon Cancer from MD Anderson was her doctor, and she wanted to attack it super aggressively. They caught it early, and they went after it without mercy. She is the first person in her family history to have cancer. She was 53 years old when this started. It can happen to anyone, at any time, for no reason.