Hello everyone,

I'm on a lung blog here at MAYO and I was diagnosed with Stage 3b colon cancer about 2.5 years ago. It came as a huge shock, since I had retired one year earlier and I had no symptoms . . . in fact, I had not felt so well in a dozen years. The strange thing is first they thought the cancer was under my right rib, and 10 days later they thought it was over my left hip. So surgery involved both sides of my abdomen, and lots of uncertainty. I was in such great physical condition that I went home from the hospital after 3 days - my surgeon said I could leave after 48 hours. I started chemo 3 weeks later, 2.5 days of chemo, 11 days off, for 6 months. It drained me of every bit of energy I had - the feeling was inexplicable and at times I slept for 14 hours at a crack.

Today, I am 26 months post-chemo, which has left me with some real nerve damage that I've learned to live with - it's quite difficult to type this accurately because of the sensations in my fingers. I have a colonoscopy every year. At my last one in December, the doc found a different fast growing precancerous polyp that he called me about when the path report came in. So I am still plugging along with a colonoscopy each year until I have a 'clean' one with no polyp - this is that the doc and I have agreed to, as extreme as it may sound.

If I can offer comfort or suggestions to anyone based on my experience, I would be happy to help. God bless you all in our journey with cancer.

Paula

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