Hi everyone !!

I am so sorry I haven't been on to do this sooner. It's been pretty busy in our lives the past week.
My husband had his resection on the 22nd. it went very well. Two nodes were hard according to the surgeon and in all likelyhood are cancerous. We find out the biopsy results on monday along with staging and all of that. The complex cyst is still in the adrenal gland. The doc called it a adenoma. Not cancerous . He said that he did not want to put my husband thru anymore than he had to and will watch the adenoma and take it out if it becomes a problem. My husband did really well, he came home yesterday morning. He has only had to take his vicoden twice. He is experiencing ALOT of painful cramping and wanted to know if it's normal and how long he should expect it to hurt like this? He is eating normally and not having any problems but the cramping. He even drove today to see a friend for a while and talk to his friend's father who lost his wife a year ago.He was walking really well buy the third day ater surgery. He was on full diet by monday. I was absolutly amazed. He even walked out of the hospital. When I had my c-sections it took me two weeks to walk as well as he is. His color is back and he looks alot healthier already. He is still mostly off the cigarettes. He snuck one last night when he went and saw guys at work though.:mad: He knows I am not happy about him doing that. I know he's really trying hard though. He's smoked for about 25 years.while I am thinking of it, any advice about caring for the incision? I have had him putting on Neosporin several times a day. Hope that is ok. It was looking very red and now is much better.
I want to thank all of you from my whole family especially my hubby from the bottom of our hearts.. He is extremely thankful for all the outstanding help and advice you all gave him/us during all of this so far. I dont know how this would have went if I hadn't found all of you. He wanted me to thank you all for the prep advice,after the incident with the antibiotics making him ill for a while he did manage the golitely really well because of the getting it cold hint and the wipes idea helped him alot too. He thanked me a couple times because he was so sore during all of that. They made him feel tons better. The thanks belongs to all of you not me.All of you are such a blessing to have. I know we are far from done with all of this . I know all the thoughts and prayers helped give me and him strength during all of this. I wish I could hug each and every one of you. I tear up when I think of all the kindness and caring all of you give .
I had better go get some sleep. My best to all of you. I'm sending my love and prayers to you too. Sherri

I'm so glad things went so well for him! He is doing extremely well compared to most surgeries of this type. I hope his recovery continues to go well. Please keep in touch as we're all rooting for him. It's so nice to get positive feedback as all everyone here wants to do help someone else through a similar experience. Thanks for your thanks!!

It is good to hear your husband is doing well. It is interesting that you mention he is doing better than you did with your c sections. We had the same thing. My wife would walk the steps slowly as few times as possible, and I was walking up and down all day. I would guess the cramps your husband is feeling are his insides working and probably gas. Your husband drove?? Didn't they tell him not to do that for a while? This really is time for him to take it easy. He just had major surgery. He needs time to heal, both physically and mentally.

Wow! He is doing brilliantly but as edinaman says, he should not rush into things. I am sure he is appreciating your support and as we said earlier, this may be the turning point in your relationship. You have been wonderful and he knows it!

Keep posting and let us know the treatment plan when that is available. i am glad we have helped you....that is what we are here for!

Love and prayers,

Hi everyone, Thanks for the replies. Hi Allison nice to hear from you. Been thinking about you lately. Actually had a weird dream you called me about my husbands cancer...... Short but even in my dream you were very supportive and caring. Hope you are having more good days than bad.

We went to my husband's post surgery check up ,got the staples out ect. Got his staging too. :( Not as good as we had hoped. Doc said he's C2 Stage 3 with 6 of 16 nodes involved. My husband said"why quit smoking now....it won't change anything". He's written himself off even though the doc said he has a 80% survival for 5-10 years. I told him that quiting will help him heal and do much better than if he smoked. I know anger is part of the dealing process of this horrible disease.He is having his port put in next week. I'm doing my best to help but I think he needs help from the cancer center counselors. I haven't cried, weird I know. Just went into problem solving mode I guess. Just thought of what I need to do next. One of my first thoughts was to tell you and everyone what we found out. I'm scared , really scared now. I am going to contact my comp lawyer and see what he can get as my settlement. We are at half his pay now and thing are tight to say the leas. If I can get my settlement it will ease the money worries and that will help the stress.

I haven't looked up info about the staging yet. Scared to a little. I know it is really good that he has no liver involvement. Don't know what chemo he'll have either.Guess we'll find out soon enough. I appreciate everyone's info and caring so much. I'm so thankful for this board and all of you.

Love and hugs, Sherri

I'm glad to hear your husband came thru surgery with flying colors. I was diagnosed 2 1/2 yr ago with stage 3 rectal cancer. I had 6/13 nodes positive for cancer. So far everything is doing fine. Please tell your husband not to give up. They are new chemo treatments available that are proving successful when dealing with this type of cancer.

Lee

Your husband has such a good chance, that he shouldn't give up. I think he is just going through the process of accepting what is going on. Right now you have lost some control over your lives. It takes a while to adjust. The thought of chemo is frightening. We all know the stories of people so sick they were throwing up on the way home. Fortunately, today there are many drugs to control the side effects. It's easy to say, don't worry, but of course that won't happen. You just have to take one day at a time, be there for support, accept help if others offer. Keep posting and let us know how things are going.

Hi Sherri, I am sorry to hear your husband is discouraged but please remind him that he is still SO treatable! It WILL be worth it! My husband had 11 out of 18 positive lymph nodes and is presently doing his morning exercises before going off to work! I am sure your husband will be given a more intensive chemo regimen than my husband had and stands every chance of doing well. Maybe your dreaming I called you was a message to encourage you and your husband. I would like to think so.

I do hope you get your compensation...financial problems are the last worry any of us need at this time but it happens often. I have good medical insurance for my own illness but dealing with it still causes me alot of anxiety.

Keep encouraging your husband...you are a wonderful wife! He will have his bad days but he came through surgery amazingly well and that bodes well for his future.

Keep us posted. I am doing OK, tho still in my post chemo yucky phase...I hope it will be over soon and I can enjoy a couple of weeks of feeling more normal!

Love and prayers,

I am adding on here with a question, for Lee and others ... my surgery is coming in another month and I have a lot of questions.

I just finished my last radiation treatment yesterday - when some of you say that there was cancer in the nodes found in surgery, does that mean it is "live" or active cancer, or that the radiation killed it but they could tell it did have the cancer ?

It seems I hear it expressed two ways - some saying that there was cancer in the nodes but it was knocked out by the chemo/radiation, and others saying that live cancer was found in some nodes upon surgery - I believe Cancer Dad said he had live cancer even after neoadjuvant therapy.

I am just curious about this, for obvious reasons - also, how do they know
how many nodes to remove ? Do they "guess" beforehand based on scans ?
It seems like some folks have a lot more removed, why ?

Thanks to Lee and all for answering --
Jeni

Sherri, please focus on what your dr told you - "Dr said 80% still alive in 10 years." He still has chemo ahead, which adds powerful healing to what is going on.

Yes, he must quit smoking - the thing is, our cancer treatments can set us up longterm for other problems as we age. It is in our interest to keep as healthy as we can. It is harder to get treatment if you have high blood pressure or something else going on.

Lee is so right, don't let him overreact, of course its scary.

Remember, there are so many new treatments - the vaccine stuff looks promising too, with estimates that vaccines for our cancer may be on the market in 3 years, as one company is aiming for - plus so many other therapies. Our kind of cancer is on the brink of great discoveries.

Please keep us posted - please let us encourage and support you -

Jeni

Jeni,

When I was first diagnsed, I had several tests, one showed 4 swollen nodes, that is how they were able to determine I was stage 3. But I was also aware surgery would be the conclusive diagnoses.

During surgery, they biopsied a suspious spot on my liver. Upon release from the hospital my surgeon informed me that the biospy was clean, but that 6 nodes tested positive for cancer. I felt she had more to say, but I cut her off, I did not want to know what my prognoses was. I looked her straight in the eyes, said I wanted to be treated aggressively with chemo, and that I was going to fight this. I have not looked back since. And as I stated before, I will not look at my records. Thus I do not know if they were active or dead cancer cells they found.

I should point out, when I started my chemo treatment, Oxyplatin had not been approved by the FDA yet (for stage 3), it was coming up for approval. I was scheduled to start a different chemo regiment. The short version is I started chemo a week later than expected (thankfully the folfox regiment), and that I had my first treatment in my left hand for 3 days. My Oncologist had to fight the insurance company (tooth and nail) for me to get this chemo regiment and for me to have a port installed. Three months into my treatment, the FDA approved Folfox for stage 3 cancer victims. Thanks to my oncologist, I was ahead of the game. I remember reading about other people, who were switching over. Also when I started the regiment, I was told I would be on it for 4 mths, can't remember when I realized it would probably be 6 mths instead.

I am forever greatful to my surgeon and my oncologist for ALL that they have done for me. I believe one of the smartest decision I made was giving my surgeon carte blanche to remove as much as she wanted. I put my faith in God, in my Surgeon and my Oncologist. I followed there directions to the letter. When you start chemo, remind me tell you about a project I decided to work on to keep me busy (while on chemo) and how it would have a MAJOR IMPACT in my life, especially in regards to the past meeting the present.

I will be here when you have your surgery, I will happy to help anyway that I can. You will make it, I know it.

Lee

Thanks so much everyone,
Jen I know you'll do just fine with your surgery. The waiting for it was the worst part besides the wondering about what else may be found. My husband is still VERY pessimistic about his chances. He has so much cancer in his family it's frightening. I found out tonight that his uncle died at 36 from colon cancer!!! Several others died that young too in his family from that and other cancers.. It sure makes me have a lot of hope for that vaccine to help the next generation .
My husband has his port put n on monday morning . He has the cancer center appointment on the 12th. He will see a hematologist and a doc about the chemo. I understand the chemo doc but what all does the hematologist do?
My husband is still having a good amount of pain but not the cramps so much now. He gets backaches alot as well as a feeling of being "kneed" and I have no idea what that could be from. He said he has no trouble going to the bathroom. The first thing I thought was a urinary problem. He also said he has a pain that feel like his stomach(adbomen) is eating itself. He couldn't describe it better than that for me. I can't picture what he is talking about. The doc said the back pain is normal because he has been protecting his abdomen and using muscles that he hasn't used much before and now they are sore. I told my husband to try walking more and making an effort to contract his stomach muscles to help support his back more. It was the only thing I could think of. If ayone has any idea about the other weird things going on I'd appreciate it cause I'm at a loss about it.
What can he expect on monday when they put the port in? He's anxious about it. He's got himself really convinced he will not beat this cancer. He won't quit smoking either no matter how much I tell him or plead with him to quit. When you go for the talk about the chemo do they give you choices or options about things at all? What should we ask them ?

Thanks everyone so much for reading my posts and answering and being so wonderful. I am exhausted so I am going to head off to try (easier said) to get some sleep. Take care all.

Hugs and prayers, Sherri

Hi everyone,
Well the port is in. He did well. He's getting really anxious about needles though and never was before this. They had to try three times to get the IV in him. Not sure what happened with the veins. He had the vein collapse just before he had it taken out in the hospital after the resection. My sis in law said their Mom had the same problems with veins. Made us thankful for the port.I talked to his surgeon about the anxiety my husband has been having. I think it has alot to do with the his pain. He just cannot relax and I know that creates more pain first hand. He suggested he be put on a antidepressant and I am going to see our reg doc about it today.Maybe he can get off t he cigarettes with it's help.He smokes when he hurts alot. The pain med was changed from vicoden to darvecet (SP?) and it seems to help him more .He can sleep alot better now too.Before he slept maybe 45 minutes at most at a shot and he was exhausted. He did get reassured that all the pain he is experiencing is completely normal. We go to the cancer center on thursday. Is there anything we should be sure and ask ? Since he is C2 Stage 3 I imagine the chemo will be a strong one wouldn't it?

I had better go. Got calls to make . All my best to everyone.Hugs and prayers, Sherri

Sherri,

FWIW, the drug Bupropion (brand name Wellbutrin) is used as an antidepressant AND as a stop-smoking aid. I'd ask the doctor if it would be appropriate. :)

Sherri, I am thinking of you and your husband. Until you have been through this, you have no idea of what it is really like. If you have any questions for the oncologist, and I'm sure you will have many, write them down. By the time you get there, so much will be going through your mind that you won't remember all of them. Take along a note book. There are so many things happening that you can't remember what they tell you. Maybe the oncologist, hemotologist or chemo nurses will convince him to stop smoking. Right now the smoking is probably giving him comfort. I was amazed at the people going through chemo who smoke, let alone the chemo nurses who smoke! Try to keep a positive attitude-let your husband know there are plenty of people on this board who have been through the same thing.

Thanks for the thoughts. You are absolutly right about a thousand things going on in my head. I talked to a close friend of my husband's tonight who had thyroid cancer a few years back and thankfully is fine now. He has been trying to talk my husband about dealing with all of this. He said the cancer center where my husband is going to is pretty awesome and the paple are wonderful and they will be very direct with my husband about the smoking too. I told him about the welbutrin and he is thinking about it. It's so hard to get my husband to see that what he is going thru could be so much worse. That in some respects he got lucky. He feels better some though with the new pain med and slept for about 6 hours straight today which no doubt will help him feel better. He has family and friends that have been very supportive of him and the family too. Although I tell people about my husband having cancer it is so strange to hear that come out of my mouth. Like it is someone else saying it. Hope that makes sense. My husband has been saying how much I have been keeping everything together, how I'm a real trooper. I don't feel like that though. I feel like I'm on autopilot, doing what needs done. I worry about my boys . My oldest keeps things inside. The youngest doesn't quite get it and maybe that is a good thing. Having the people here to write to and get info and support from has been invaluable to me. Certainly a light in the darkness. I don't have the words to express how thankful I am.........

I had better go get some sleep. Love and hugs to all, Sherri