The surgery went well. From what the Surgeon has said, there were no complications, and everything got reconnected as it should. He did have to take a bit more than he thought at first, but all is well 🙂
I went in bright and early this morning for another colonoscopy so the surgeon could check things out before tomorrow. Â What we found out was that the tumor has shrunk considerably. That will make it much easier to be sure they get it all. Still won’t know until after surgery, but so far it looks really good. I just hope the surgery goes as easy as I am hoping!
I knew about this for a couple of weeks, but wanted to have all the details before posting. Starting tomorrow, the 3rd of December, I am on a liquid diet, although alcohol is not involved 😉
On Tuesday morning I have to be at the hospital at 6:30 AM for another Colonoscopy. After that, I will be sent home, but remain on the clear liquid diet until Midnight, with nothing at all after midnight. On Wednesday, I report to the hospital at 11 AM to be prepped, and then am scheduled for the surgery itself at 1 PM in the afternoon. I will be in the hospital for 4-7 days afterwards, and then sent home to finish recovering. I will post from the hospital when I can, or am coherent enough to after the anasthesia wears off. I am making no decisions for at least 4 days after lol.
I appreciate everyones support through this. Can’t wait to get all this done and be healed up, so I can schedule a Rochester visit! Love all of you 🙂
Well, finally done with the round of treatments as of this past October 24th. The side effects I did have are beginning to go away, although the DR said I would probably have them this week as well. Either way, it is nice not having to go into the hospital every morning before work and get radiated. I have follow up appointments in 2 weeks with the chemo and radiation DR, and we will see where it goes from there. The next step is going to be the surgery, and as soon as I know when that will be, I will post it. At this point I am just hoping for after turkey day! It appears that for the surgery, I will be out of work for 6-8 weeks, but that is about all I know for sure at this point.
Well, I have been really bad at posting I guess. Time just gets away from me! Week 5 of the treatments just ended, with today starting the last 4 days as I finish next Wednesday with this part of it all. Today started my last 4 days of chemo, so this is a repeat of the first 4 days. I did end up with a couple of the side effects from the radiation, one just being really tired, and the other having to do with bodily functions. I am making it through those, especially the unpleasant one, with out too many issues. From what the Radiation Doc said, I will probably get worse this next week, until the Monday after this part is done. Nothing I can’t handle, so nothing to worry about 🙂
From what both docs have said so far, is that after this is done, it will be approximately 4 weeks before the surgery will be performed. I will find out more when I speak to the surgeon, but ti looks like right around Thanksgiving time frame. I am going to try and talk him into the week after so I don’t miss the meal. If it happens before Thanksgiving, I wouldn’t be able to eat either that one or xmas dinner, and I am not going to give up 2 holiday meals if I can help it lol.
All in all things are still looking up with everything considered. I do know that I have to beat this thing so next year I can get up to Rochester for a garbage plate, and good wings 🙂
The second week of treatments went off without a hitch. It was only radiation, and so far I have none of the side effects, which is a good thing. The nutritionist wants me to get 3000 calories a day though, which is an extremely high amount. The reasoning is to put on weight while I still want to eat, as they expect that to ebb off in the next week or 2. I may be lucky and not have any side effects, so she claims we will adjust that if we need to. So far so good, so just hoping it stays on this course. At this rate, I may be done with the surgery and healed by Christmas, which is what I am hoping for.
The treatments so far are going well, have just been exhausted. I’ll try and get better about updating!
Radiation has been smooth, with each treatment only lasting about 2 minutes. I do that at 6:45 every morning, Monday through Friday.
I am not all that happy with the chemo doc, as the information he puts out for how long kept changing. He originally said chemo would be the first 3 days, and the last 3 days of the radiation, and that they would last about 1 hour. Well, Monday I get there and find out the treatments are going to take 5-6 hours. Luckily that was just Monday, and the last 3 days have gone for about 2 1/2 hours each for the actual chemo. I guess the first day they had more fluids, and were making sure I took the medicine okay. The chemo drug they put me on is Andrucil. Each day the doc comes down and makes his rounds, but there are 2 doctors that take turns. Dr Deshmukh, who is my doctor, does Mon and Wed, and gets there about 9 AM, which is a good time. Let me add they keep you hooked up until the Dr sees you (important for the next doc). On Tuesday it was his partner, so I get there bright and early like Monday and get hooked up. Dr Rashman doesn’t do his rounds until about 11-11:30. So, myself and 3 other patients were hooked up to empty IV’s for about an extra hour or so waiting for him to get there. Not too bad with the port really, but kind of nerve wracking knowing you are done, and just waiting on some guy to walk through. Then to top it off, on Wednesday was Dr Deshmukh again, and when I ask about the 3rd day, he said it has changed..I am now doing the first 4 days, and last 4 days, instead of just 3 and 3. The claim was that the Mayo clinic has changed it’s recommendations between when I saw him originally and now. So, I had to go back on Thursday as well. Chemo is now done for a little bit and I only do radiation for the next few weeks. I went back to work today, and all is well as it stands. I am just glad it is Friday though, as having 2 days with nothing will be nice.
Well, this was a quiet week. I called them on Tuesday to see what was going on, and the Dr let me know the reason for the wait. It seems the extra MRI was ordered as the PET scan had indicated the cancer had moved into my hip bone, which would have changed everything. The Dr said the MRI showed that is not the case, so he had just given the case off to have the plan developed. I got a call on Friday afternoon, and am on my way in now for the first set of treatments. I will be getting both radiation and chem for the first 3 days. Needless to say I took sick days from work lol. Hopefully I won;t feel too sick though, just have to wait and see.
Didn’t post last week, as there really isn’t much new right now. On Thursday I went in for another MRI, as they wanted to make sure that the cancer had not spread yet. I got a call on Friday stating that the MRI looked good, meaning nothing has spread, which is a very good thing. Now it is just the waiting game as the Chemo doc and the Radiation doc coordinate the treatment plan. I am hoping to know more about that tomorrow. I figure the sooner it all starts, the sooner it will all be over with!
Well, I had the surgery for the port yesterday. That went smoothly, with no issues. I had my apprehensions, as this was my first ever surgery. There is really no pain, although I don’t know if that is just me, or the Loritab helping it along lol.
I got a call yesterday from the radiation Dr, and he wants me to go in today for another pelvic MRI. He just wants to verify something for the placement of the marks for the radiation treatment. I am hoping they can be done with all these tests soon, as I really want to get the treatment plan started. All I want for Christmas is to be done with it, I hope that can happen 🙂
