Thursday, October 18, 2007
A little about my journey so far.....
I know I am late getting this blog started, maybe I am a true member of the procrastonators club after all. Maybe a bit about my road so far.
My name is Kevin, 36 years old, married for 13 years to my wonderful wife Brenda. We do not have any kids, consider us DINKS- Dual Income No Kids. I am a Christian, saved by the Grace of God when I was 12 years old. Hobbies include playing and coaching softball for Crossfire Ministries and lots of time spent on 2 wheels on one of my motorcycles. I am an Assistant Parts Manager for MR Cycles, surrounded by machines that I do enjoy all day.
In late July I was having some going to the bathroom issues. After a couple of trips to my General and being doubled over in pain on August 12th, I was finally scheduled for a colonospocy on August 14th. Being my 1st time I could actually remember being put to sleep, I was terrified so to speak. Everyone told me the prep was the hardest part...I wish that had held true in my case.....
Two tumors were found with a 80% block of my colon, now I see why I was having trouble. My GI doc told me I would be having surgery with in a few days. My 1st meeting with my surgeon was on August 16th. Great, put to sleep again I thought......I was more at ease after leaving the Surgeons office though. Surgery was scheduled for August 20th. On August 14th, I layed this Cancer issue at my Saviours feet, his response "I will get you through this son". I actually have a peace about having cancer......thank you Jesus!
My surgeon believed from looking at the pics from the scope that the turmors were contained in the colon. Once I was opened up, susprise...one was outside the colon wall and against my small intestine. So long 19cm of my colon, synoria 9cm of my small intestine. Does that make me a "Semi Colon twice removed"?
Path results were back on Wednesday. Margins clean but 18 of 18 nodes positive. More tests would be scheduled once I was home and recovered. I was released from the hospital on the 27th and what a relief to be home. My road to recovery had started. My lower abdomen was still very sore and the staples were pulling bad. The worst pain I experienced....a sneeze, ouch.
I actually went back to work on September 5th, right at 2 weeks after surgery. I was able to plug along for about 6 hours. On September 6th, I had my follow up visit. My staples were removed and Doc wanted to know how my time at home was going....wife commented I went to work yesterday. He looked at me and said "I havent cleared you for work yet"........my response "its easier to ask for forgiveness than permission".......
I continued working for about 4 hours each day, building strength getting ready for the start of chemo. During this time, I had a PET scan and a MRI.......results....5 spots on my liver. Now I am a stage IV with mets to my liver. After the initial shock, I took a step back and resumed my I am still gonna beat this attitude.
Port surgery went well and the 1st round of chemo was on Oct 5th. Folfox with Avastin was the mix. The watching the drugs go in my body was hard for me, wondering what my body was gonna do. On Friday, the day of after treatment, I felt fine. I was able to eat. Saturday, was a little worse, not as much eating finda in a fog so to speak. On Sunday, well, it was rough. Maybe like the worst day of the flu. Once the pump was taken off, my spirt was lifted, relieved I was done for 2 weeks.
I experienced very little side effects. Not much nasuea and I even was able to drink cold stuff Sunday afternoon. Tomorrow is treatment number 2 of my chemo cocktail. I know how the last one made me feel and I hear many different stories of what to expect. Ryan, a friend here locally who is on the same treatment plan but 5 treatments in, says his has gotten better each time. Others have said it gets worse each time.
I pray daily for strength as my wife and I both battle this beast!
Believe,
Kevin
Posted by vman1300 at 6:44 AM
*******************************
Kevin's blog can be found here
Vman's battle with colon cancer
A little about my journey so far.....
I know I am late getting this blog started, maybe I am a true member of the procrastonators club after all. Maybe a bit about my road so far.
My name is Kevin, 36 years old, married for 13 years to my wonderful wife Brenda. We do not have any kids, consider us DINKS- Dual Income No Kids. I am a Christian, saved by the Grace of God when I was 12 years old. Hobbies include playing and coaching softball for Crossfire Ministries and lots of time spent on 2 wheels on one of my motorcycles. I am an Assistant Parts Manager for MR Cycles, surrounded by machines that I do enjoy all day.
In late July I was having some going to the bathroom issues. After a couple of trips to my General and being doubled over in pain on August 12th, I was finally scheduled for a colonospocy on August 14th. Being my 1st time I could actually remember being put to sleep, I was terrified so to speak. Everyone told me the prep was the hardest part...I wish that had held true in my case.....
Two tumors were found with a 80% block of my colon, now I see why I was having trouble. My GI doc told me I would be having surgery with in a few days. My 1st meeting with my surgeon was on August 16th. Great, put to sleep again I thought......I was more at ease after leaving the Surgeons office though. Surgery was scheduled for August 20th. On August 14th, I layed this Cancer issue at my Saviours feet, his response "I will get you through this son". I actually have a peace about having cancer......thank you Jesus!
My surgeon believed from looking at the pics from the scope that the turmors were contained in the colon. Once I was opened up, susprise...one was outside the colon wall and against my small intestine. So long 19cm of my colon, synoria 9cm of my small intestine. Does that make me a "Semi Colon twice removed"?
Path results were back on Wednesday. Margins clean but 18 of 18 nodes positive. More tests would be scheduled once I was home and recovered. I was released from the hospital on the 27th and what a relief to be home. My road to recovery had started. My lower abdomen was still very sore and the staples were pulling bad. The worst pain I experienced....a sneeze, ouch.
I actually went back to work on September 5th, right at 2 weeks after surgery. I was able to plug along for about 6 hours. On September 6th, I had my follow up visit. My staples were removed and Doc wanted to know how my time at home was going....wife commented I went to work yesterday. He looked at me and said "I havent cleared you for work yet"........my response "its easier to ask for forgiveness than permission".......
I continued working for about 4 hours each day, building strength getting ready for the start of chemo. During this time, I had a PET scan and a MRI.......results....5 spots on my liver. Now I am a stage IV with mets to my liver. After the initial shock, I took a step back and resumed my I am still gonna beat this attitude.
Port surgery went well and the 1st round of chemo was on Oct 5th. Folfox with Avastin was the mix. The watching the drugs go in my body was hard for me, wondering what my body was gonna do. On Friday, the day of after treatment, I felt fine. I was able to eat. Saturday, was a little worse, not as much eating finda in a fog so to speak. On Sunday, well, it was rough. Maybe like the worst day of the flu. Once the pump was taken off, my spirt was lifted, relieved I was done for 2 weeks.
I experienced very little side effects. Not much nasuea and I even was able to drink cold stuff Sunday afternoon. Tomorrow is treatment number 2 of my chemo cocktail. I know how the last one made me feel and I hear many different stories of what to expect. Ryan, a friend here locally who is on the same treatment plan but 5 treatments in, says his has gotten better each time. Others have said it gets worse each time.
I pray daily for strength as my wife and I both battle this beast!
Believe,
Kevin
Posted by vman1300 at 6:44 AM
*******************************
Kevin's blog can be found here
Vman's battle with colon cancer
