Living with colorectal cancer - Meet others & come say hi

Hello @minabird

I'm so glad to hear that your surgery went so well. I'll also be hoping for good pathology reports for you.

Teresa

Dear Minabird, thank you for sharing your good news with us. I am so glad the surgery went well. I haven't seen this DaVincci Robot yet. How amazing and advance the technology and medical equipments are. Did the surgery take long? You are so fortunate that you did not have a colonstomy bag. Can you walk now? The doctors suggested my Mom to walk 3-4 days after the surgery. My Mom has to be carful with the food. She has constipation time to time. But the doctor did not prescribe any medication. Wishing you a speedy recovery. All the best for the holidays season. Soul

I am 2 weeks post surgery and doing very well! My pathology report came back with wonderful results, surrounding tissue and lymph nodes are clear. This was my best Christmas gift!!! I am seeing an oncologist in a few weeks to see what he suggests for treatment if any.

I cannot say enough how wonderful the robot assures surgery went for me. It was a 5 hrs surgery and I was walking the next day. I am recovering so well, and have very few dietary restrictions. Plan to return to work on Tuesday, may go half days for a bit. Thanks so much for keeping in contact and hope all had a wonderful holiday!!

Hi. I'm Ray from Fort Worth, Tx. Diagnosed in Dec 2010 with colorectal cancer. Underwent six weeks of radiation. Doctors said they killed it off. Three month CT and all's well. Six month CT and the camcer is back. Time for surgery and a osotomy! Sep 2011, sixteen hour surgery remove rectum, six inches of colon, and prostrate. Osotomy on left side of bellybutton. Sucks. 13 lymph nodes removed. One showed signs of cancer. MRI showed cancer spread to lungs. Nov 2011 started chemo for metastized colorectal cancer in my lungs. Have been on chemo every other week ever since, less a few "chemo breaks" now and then to let my body rest. Multiple nodules in both lungs. Cancer is rare. Less than 1% get it. Aggressive, rare, and no cure. CT scans every three months. Cancer grows 2 - 3 mm each scan. Luckily it's not spreading, just continues to grow. I'm on the last chemo known to help control it. I'm running out of options... and time. Really infuriating thinking money controls cancer cures. Hopefully I'm wrong, but when your days are numbered you start blaming, even God. I'm a Christian and know it's God's plan for all of us to be going through our ordeals. God loves us and never gives us more than we can handle. WE ARE ALL STRONG WARRIORS IN OUR FIGHT AGAINST CANCER. Maybe there's a purpose we have this disease. Hopefully someday it will reveal itself. I'm just glad it happened to me and not someone I love. I can handle it, just wish doctors could find a cure, or at least a way to stop it's growth. Blessings to you all.

Welcome new members, @sherriehanna @mri8191 @ronaldrea @brenz and @ajknu, to the Colorectal Cancer group. I look forward to learning more about you and introducing you to other members. I invite you to start by posting a message to tell us a bit about you and what brings you to Mayo Clinic Connect.

Simply click VIEW & REPLY in the email notification and REPLY to this message.

Welcome @rayleemorris and thanks for sharing a bit of your story. Given you multi-year experience with an ostomy, I hope you'll provide tips and experiences with other ostomates in this discussion:
- Ostomy: Adapting to life after colostomy, ileostomy or urostomy https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/ostomy-adapting-to-life-after-colostomy-ileostomy-or-urostomy/

What chemo "cocktail" are you on? What side effects do you find to be the most prevalent or challenging?

I am glad to be a part of the group. My husband was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer 6 1/2 years ago. We have been fortunate to have great doctors who have been able to assist over these years. We look forward to hearing about the journies of others to hopefully help us and we hope we can help others.

Hi, I’m new to the discussion group. I was diagnosed almost a year ago with stage 4 colon cancer with metastasis to the liver. I am currently receiving chemo therapy and glad to say, I only have 1treatment to go. Just wondering where do I go from here. My life has surely been different from what it has been, but needing to know how to stay on a good diet once the treatments are done? My appetite is not all that great at times, and l have only been able to eat certain foods. These foods have not been of a very healthy nature, but it’s what I could hold down. I also had breast cancer 5 years ago and underwent 30 rounds of radiation. Thank you in advance for your advice.

Hi Missmary. My hubby had the same problem during chemo. He seemed to keep sweets down better than other things. He couldn’t eat fish any more during the chemo. He is back to eating it now. Our oncologist told us to eat whatever he liked with lots of water during the chemo week. My husbands next phase after chemo (because he had Mets to liver too) was to have his liver resected-both aides within 6 weeks of each other and the diseased piece of the colon taken out during that time. Hope this helps.