Haven't posted on here in like a year, so wanted to give an update. I finished chemo and radiation last April (it sucked about as much as you could possibly imagine). When my surgeon did the scope to see if she could still see a mass she could not find one (good news) but on the MRIs they could still see a spot where the mass was (bad news). Now, this could have meant there was still some cancer cells left there (all of the cancer cells that had entered my lymph nodes and moved to different parts of my body were eradicated by the chemo and radiation) OR it was just some scarring left behind. Either way, the only way to know for surgery was surgery and to remove that small area.
Now, this is where gross (and to me, embarrassing) stuff comes into play. So, I'll hide it in spoilers for those that want to read it. It was rectal cancer, so that meant they had to remove a part of rectum - not a very large part but still some of it - and that meant a very serious and very difficult surgery and recovery. My surgeon was Dr. Jamie Cannon at UAB, one of the best in her field so I was pretty confident. We did, she removed that area and it got back negative for cancer when they biopsied it. The surgery meant they had to remove part of the rectum, so essentially they had to drop my colon down and it would serve as both the colon and rectum (both jobs). That meant I had to have a temporary (hopefully) ostomy while it healed. I would not wish that experience on anyone, it was a nightmare and 10 times worse than the chemo and radiation for me. I was miserable for the entire eight weeks, unbelievably depressed and had multiple full blown breakdowns. Without my wife, I can pretty confidently say I would have been suicidal and I don't have any doubts in that and I'm not a suicidal type of person. We did the reveal surgery after the 8 weeks and since then it's been pretty harsh go of it with my body pretty much have to re-learn (and in the colon's case learn) how to do things. It wasn't working at all after the surgery and I ended up having an NG tube stuck down my throat for four days, literally the first week of football season. I legitimately do not remember much at all during that four days, that's how dark of a place I was in.
I feel like I'm coming out on the other side now, though and feel as close to as normal as I have in two years. So, long story short, I can't say cancer free yet (because they say you're not cancer free until 5 years down the road) but officially no sign of disease after that surgery. I have my first post-op scans this month. So, fingers crossed for more good news there.
Now, this is where gross (and to me, embarrassing) stuff comes into play. So, I'll hide it in spoilers for those that want to read it. It was rectal cancer, so that meant they had to remove a part of rectum - not a very large part but still some of it - and that meant a very serious and very difficult surgery and recovery. My surgeon was Dr. Jamie Cannon at UAB, one of the best in her field so I was pretty confident. We did, she removed that area and it got back negative for cancer when they biopsied it. The surgery meant they had to remove part of the rectum, so essentially they had to drop my colon down and it would serve as both the colon and rectum (both jobs). That meant I had to have a temporary (hopefully) ostomy while it healed. I would not wish that experience on anyone, it was a nightmare and 10 times worse than the chemo and radiation for me. I was miserable for the entire eight weeks, unbelievably depressed and had multiple full blown breakdowns. Without my wife, I can pretty confidently say I would have been suicidal and I don't have any doubts in that and I'm not a suicidal type of person. We did the reveal surgery after the 8 weeks and since then it's been pretty harsh go of it with my body pretty much have to re-learn (and in the colon's case learn) how to do things. It wasn't working at all after the surgery and I ended up having an NG tube stuck down my throat for four days, literally the first week of football season. I legitimately do not remember much at all during that four days, that's how dark of a place I was in.
I feel like I'm coming out on the other side now, though and feel as close to as normal as I have in two years. So, long story short, I can't say cancer free yet (because they say you're not cancer free until 5 years down the road) but officially no sign of disease after that surgery. I have my first post-op scans this month. So, fingers crossed for more good news there.
