Colon Cancer update, the week at the U of W Hospital

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One thing I do know about scar tissue too Terry is as in my case and which might apply to yours or others here, with the same problem, is that scar tissue is also, as I was told, dead disease. As in my case, with nodes, they are nodes which was taken out by the chemos. And, I was told, nothing to worry about because they will be there, probably forever. So, my show up on Cats, but never change in size. I was told they are scar tissue. Just wanted to add that note, in hopes it might help anyone.
 
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Thatguy

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And surgery can cause adhesions which may make trouble later on.
Nothing is simple any more. Maybe it never was.
 

Terry

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June 2011 Update

Here is my June 2011 update.

Since the first surgery wasn't done right, the University of Washington Hospital has decided to redo the surgery. Of course I have to pay for the second, third and forth surgery, as they say,

"These things happen".

It's not like doing a plumbing job, messing it up, and then turning it into my insurance and fixing my screw-up.
No. Not so simple. It's a good thing that "my" insurance covers most of it.
I can't imagine though, messing up a customers home, and then telling them that there is a co-pay.

"my mistake. Oops!"

Don't you love it.
So anyway, this Fall I go in for Surgery number three, and if all goes well, Surgery number four to put me back almost, but then wait.........there's more. I asked about a little bump in my stomach that nobody had mentioned to me, and yes, the doctor knew right away what it was.

"That's a little perforation with a stint. That can be fixed after we are done with the rest."

So that is why they were asking me with worried faces about that part of my body?
They knew there was a problem, but weren't going to mention it?

So anyway, since they fried me with so much radiation, they've been waiting for about a year for that to heal before they can redo their mistake. Happy thing for me, I don't have to pay for everything; just the copay. It does kind of suck missing work and having to take pain meds for a while. I hate pain medication. I'm so glad when I don't need it. At least in the last year, I've taken only a few pills, but just for skiing or softball. Otherwise I can go months right now without pain meds. I really don't like em anyway.

There was a period of time in the Winter of 2010 though, when 8:30 at night meant I would be crying from the pain. That sucked, and the doctors kept telling me I shouldn't be in that much. But then they found that the stitching had failed and I had an infection. That was the second surgery. Thank God I was at SCCA and the doctor there could see I was fading in and out of coherence and sent me to the emergency room. There they added the ileostomy since the lower colon was useless at that point, and pierced my right buttocks with a rubber tube that collected puss from the interior that had been filling up with the infection. Needless to say, when you have a tube piercing your skin, right where you would like to sit, it hurts. It hurts a lot.

But then I noticed that the bag collecting the puss started to smell, permeating the bag and making my home smell. When I asked the doctors about the smell, they argued that plastic is impervious to smell. Funny. It made my entire home smell, and when people came over, they would start opening windows and doors in the dead of Winter and start airing out the home with frigid outside air.
After a month of that nonsense, I begged the doctors for a new bag. They said I could use the old bag, plastic bags are expensive you know and don't bother them. But I bothered them until I got the new bag. They sent me downstairs for the bag, and the guy there told me the same thing. Bags don't smell. So I told him, that he could keep my old bag and hang it on his kitchen wall for decoration. By the way, smell this ridiculous thing.

"Oh wow! Yeah, that smells."

Okay, give me an extra bag then, and when this one starts to drive people out of my home, I can change the bag myself. I'm a plumber and I should be able to unthread the connection and rethread the new one. It's not like I'm a doctor, I can do these things.

So anyway, If I treated my customers that way that I get treated, I wouldn't have any.
It will be nice though if the next three surgeries turn out okay.
I think my new doctor is supposed to be the best.
It's a Russian technique and I think he's Russian. I have a good feeling this time about it.
 
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Dunbar Plumbing

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Good luck with your upcoming surgeries Terry. Hope all goes well in the recovery. I would definitely say that plastic bags leach smells all the time. Garbage bags, even the thickest ones.

Going without pain meds is a good thing. They cause just as many problems as they do comfort. It's just a cover, nothing else.

I've been meaning to call someday soon and shoot the bull.
 

Terry

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I would like that. I have a cooling fan that you sent me, and everytime I see it, I think of you.
I'm so glad that you survived your mishap with medication.
 

Ballvalve

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Jimbo,
I found this explanation on the livestrong.com site
Colon Cancer Symptoms

So to answer some of your questions,
Family history, my father died of pancreatic cancer, and one of my uncles had either colon or pancreatic cancer.

What I personally noticed, was that my bowl habits had changed.
I was a creature of habit for 56 years.
I would have coffee in the morning, then have a bowl movement, and I was good until the next day.
It was that way for decades.

Then, at some point, like mentioned in the article above, I started getting diarrhea and bowl movements were taking place several times a day.
I was feeling bloated, and full.
That Fall, I started noticing blood in the stools.
At first, I thought it was red wine. No such luck. When things are working right, the red wine would be taken off as clear urine.
It was blood.
I did have less energy. I noticed that hiking. I was losing some of my "edge".

When I went for a full check up in December, the attending doctor said I was fine, but that my cholesterol was a bit high and blood pressure was high.
And I asked,

"So after 56 years I have the same eating habits, the same bowl habits, and one year it changes, and there is nothing wrong?"

I was scheduled to get a colonoscopy that Summer. I delayed that until September.
It was during the colonoscopy, that the doctor doing the procedure explained that I had been having symptoms of Cancer.
It wasn't red wine, it was blood,
It was fullness, I had a tumor that would require surgery and some polyps that they were able to remove that day.
If I go in for this at 50, then they snare a few polyps and ask me to come back in five years.

I did feel that there was something very wrong last year, I let my brother talk me into buying a new car.
It was my way of admitting to myself, that I may not have much time left.

I never told anyone why I was buying it though.

Now that the surgery is over, and the Cancer taken out, it looks like I will have plenty of time now. That's right, I'm 100% free of cancer.

Now it's just a matter of getting my sea legs back.
I picked a perfect time to go in, watching the Winter Olympics while I'm recovering.
The funny thing is, Bode Miller and Lindsey Vonn are winning on the same skis I use, the Head Chip Super Shapes.
Now I just need to get to feeling better.

One thing I changed last year, was my eating habits.
I've cut beef way down.
Maybe once a week.
I used to have beef pretty much every day.
Since I have cut most of the beef out, and eat more chicken, turkey and fish, my blood pressure is in a good range.
I also started taking a fish oil capsule purchased at Costco.



Studies show, that if you reduce beef consumption to two times or less a week, you dramatically cut your chance of getting colon cancer.

Terry, have a look at a very important website that tests supplements like consumer reports, [but BETTER] without compensation.

The fish oil is great, but there are many that are garbage. Sort of like toilets. Also, SYlymarin, or milk thistle extract has many studies as a fantastic cancer prevention and even repairing drug. Also take a look at Borage and other GLA oils.

http://www.smart-publications.com/a...oxidant-liver-protector-and-anti-cancer-agent

http://www.consumerlab.com/index.asp

http://www.smart-publications.com/a...xidant-liver-protector-and-anti-cancer-agent/
 
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