Colon cancer survival rates?

seriousperson

Replying 5 months later, but, in case you're still interested:
January 10, 2016 (almost 5 years ago) I was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer.
I was given a 20% chance of living with treatment and was told I would be dead in 6 months without treatment.
My daughter told me to think of it as being 1 of 10 people in a room of which only 2 would walk out. I just had to be one of those 2.
And I was.
My last colonoscopy in February was clear, and my labs and CT scans have shown no signs of cancer.

However, my cancer had "only" spread to my liver, not my lungs, which made it easier to treat, because, in addition to chemotherapy, I could have a large chunk of intestine removed and most of my liver removed without impacting my quality of life or bodily function, whereas losing a lung affects breathing and then oxygen supply to the blood, and, unlike the liver, lungs do not grow back. Plus, the part of my colon removed was not near either end.
Also, I did not drink, smoke, or eat highly processed foods; I rarely ate meat and was not overweight; and I exercised regularly.
And my body responded extremely well to the chemotherapy, that is, the tumors began to shrink immediately.
And now I no longer live in the place I lived in for 10 years right before moving out and then being diagnosed --a place where the next resident also contracted colon cancer and died (he was in his 80s and a lifelong chainsmoker).

dmtinker

Thank you for the reply. I've been told I'm now in remission. I've had a bowl resection and an ileostomy to allow the surgery to heal. I've recently had an endoscopy to check the surgery and my surgeon told me I was healing 'better than expected'. Haven't heard from him since. I'm hoping he'll call me on Tuesday with more detailed info. I'd like to get the ileostomy reversed before the end of the year due to insurance reasons.

My surgeon told me after the resection that both tumors in my colon were 'desicated and absolutely destroyed'. He told me he was sure the ones in my lungs were killed as well. I'm getting a CT scan soon to check.

My only concern is that my CEA marker has jumped up. When I started chemo it was at 8.4 then steadily dropped. At one point, it was at 2.4. The last test is was at 6.7. I don't know if this was a result of the surgeries I had. I'll have to ask my oncologist.

As you can imagine, I'm also going through a lot of psychological issues. Severe depression with periods of severe dread. I'm looking for a psychologist now.