In April this year I had a funny symptom and I chose to ignore it. But only for about 3 months. I noticed blood in my stool but I didn't think it was nothing.but it would not go away........I eat alot!!!!!of licorice and figured that's all it was. Well it wasn't.
It is stage 4 FAP colon cancer. It is a rare form of cancer that puts polyps all throughout your colon. I had hundreds of them and some of them were malignant. I also had a tumor that covered half of my lower rectum. It had just started to metastasize, and more testing (and not fun test) showed spots on my liver and another one in my back. After having a heck of a scare about my liver, they ended up not being malignant. What a relief. The lump in my back ended up being a Schwanoma Tumor. It is not cancerous and probably wont turn that way but we still have to watch it close.
The surgeon that we chose(and it was hard for me to decide between two) took my case to the tumor board several times. I really liked that. They decided that I would do 6 weeks of chemo and radiation together and then surgery. My chemo was actually not to bad this time but my radiation was "HELL". I burned really bad and not in a good spot. I would about die every time I had to visit "Mother Nature", and it was often. I was so excited for that last day to end. It took about 3 weeks for the burn to feel better.
Next was surgery on July 18, 2008. Because of my type of cancer they had to remove my whole colon. The surgery is called J-Pouch surgery. They take part of my small intestine and pull it down and form a J-Pouch. It is a small pouch that has to heal for 6 months and then we do a Take Down Surgery. (Cant wait) The Pouch will hold my stool and sort of take the place of the colon. I cant eat very much and will have to watch what I eat but it is better than the bag the rest of my life. Following is some more information on my surgery. My cute Nathan laying on the bed with me.
2 comments:
Wow, it is great to hear how you are doing. I have wanted to sende you aqre a card or call you. but i have to tell you that with all the cancer that is in my family it has takin awhile to get myself to see how you are doing, it sounds like you are doing alot better and i am thankful for that. I wanted to tell you thank you so much for helping me get started with the gel nails and letting me take care of your cliants, it helped so that i didn't and don't have to work as many hours but still make some money. And i love your clients. they always ask how you are and they all really care about you. I had my baby he is really cute and really big, he was 9lbs. 2oz. but you can read more on my blog if you feel up to it. take care and if you need anything let me know. even if it is just a visit or a phone call.
Hi,
I came across this looking up infor for FAP, I was daignosed August of 07, had surgery in Sept. of that year it was stage 4 we did not know. I had my colon, rectum removed and a J-pouch put in and was reconnected 7 weeks later. I can eat everything and a year and a half later I am back to my normal life, however I do have problems with veggies some not all, they do not digest some and cause great pain to get out. I get gas from time to time. Chemo was 7 months long and I did not go through radiation. I had over 200 in colon and over 26 in rectum it became stage 4 cancer because when they opened me up I had a grapefruit size sitting on my overy they told my husband and they had to give me a total hysterectomy. I had a pet scan in August 1 month after chemo ended and was NED's. I would love to talk to you and share stories and what not I am learning and am new with all this. No one has taled to me or told me a thing I am winging all this on my own for the most part. We did go to John hopkins for my son and met with the doctor that helped discover the testing for FAP mine unfortunatly came out neg with genetic testing I had my 4 children tested with a colonoscopy and 1 came out poitive so far and will have to endure this surgery as well. We are praying for a year from now so he can finish high school. There is so much I want to say but let me know first if that would be o.k. There is no real support out there and it is nice to find someone who can relate with me. It has been a crazy year and half but I depend on God and God only for my healing he is my strength. I am Blessed to have crossed this. I will be praying for you and your healing. Thank you Kelly
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