June 1st - a colonoscopy revealed I had a 7cm "apple core" shaped mass in the distal sigmoid colon
June 6th - biopsy was confirmed as cancer
June 8th - I met with my surgeon (Dr. Rex Joyce) and he laid out the plan
- a collaborative team approach involving him, an Oncologist, and a Radiologist
- Dr. Joyce's thoughts on treatment
- Start with surgery on June 20th to install a Groshong for chemotherapy
(http://um-jmh.org/body.cfm?id=1578)
- Administer radiation in conjunction with the IV drip of chemotherapy
this is all to shrink the tumor before surgery later this summer (date TBD)
All of this is not 100% confirmed as I have a Monday appointment (June 12) with the Oncologist and a Thursday (June 15th) appointment with the Radiologist.
I will continue to post so check back whenever you wish.
4 comments:
At least you're going to get a groshong. That should make you feel better about the neelde thing. Also, great link about the groshong it's got very useful info and excellent pictures. Thanks for putting this page together. It will help keep us all straight! xxxooo, sister :-)
Darin - 90% attitute and you WILL beat this. You will be in my family's prayers. We will add you to our Church's prayer list and we will be knowing you will win. By the way - my wife said hello to you.
Darin,
You and your family are in my thoughts and my prayers. You will beat this!
Much love!
Great Positive Attitude, Unquestionable Faith, Desire to Live, Daily Dose of Humor, Understanding Friends, Loving Family............all the things that are common in cancer survivors. My Father died of Esophogeal cancer, my aunt (Dad's sister) died of esophogeal cancer, my uncle (Dad's brother) died of multiple myeloma. In 2002, my sister (2 years younger than I) was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. I assisted her for over one year by going with her to MD Anderson Hospital in Houston for treatments, appointments, etc. In December of 2003, my sister was pronounced to be in remission. Late the very same month, I was diagnosed with B-Cell, non-Hodgkins lymphoma. My diagnosis was a discovery of a 15 cm tumor just inside the rib cage on my left side. I was considered a Stage III patient. Ironically, I was treated by the same team of doctors on the very same floor of the very same hospital as my sister. Needless to say, I was not afraid of what I was about to undertake as I had been with my sister for almost 18 months doing the "routine". My cancer was deemed inoperable as a primary treatment option. I started RCHOP chemotherapy in late January. At about the same time, I began to hemmorage from internal bleeding caused by the size of the tumor. I started receiving blood and took about 4 units before I started the road to recovery. I can go on and on, but the bottom line is to go back and look at the top line, this was the real medicine that I believed saved my life............Good luck and I believe you will win your battle with cancer.
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