Cancer Recurrence Part 2

OK, the VA doctor missed the cancer. How do I know, the oncologist, the surgeon and the radiation doctor who actually felt the tumor with his finger all said it had been there for quite a while. The tumor had grown right along the anastamosis which is the incision line from the original resection. It was round the entire colon and was causing a partial blockage hence the IBS like symptoms. Tumors bleed which accounted for the bleeding. The radiation guy said that the cancer was probably at the cellular level and undetected for some time. However, once it became apparent there was no other recourse but surgery.

The doctors quickly outlined a treatment plan. First I had a "power port" implanted in my chest, upper left. It is a port with a titanium floor that you use to stop a needle from a infusion set. It is permanently attached under the skin, it can only be removed by a surgeon, and it serves as a port to supply chemo or even a regular IV drip. It is quite handy but needs to be flushed every two months.

Next came appointments with the other doctors on the "team." The oncologist appears to be the lead doctor and schedules all the tests. I had a PET scan which is similar to a CT scan but they have you drink a slightly radioactive dye and it is transported through the stomach via the blood stream to the major organ areas. Its use is to illuminate any hot spots that may mean the cancer has metastasized to an organ. It is kind of like waiting for the jury to come in, you hope there is no guilty verdict but you don't know yet. 

The PET scan proved negative. Then came blood work and the CT scan with dye. Then I started a 25 day regime of 24/7 chemo and daily radiation treatments Monday through Friday. The chemo was delivered through a pump that I wore in a fanny pack at my side and was attached to the "power port." The radiation treatment meant having your hips and lower back marked with a marking pen to show the site the radiation was to penetrate my body. 

The radiation guy said that the beam is not a pencil thin beam and destroys not only the cancer but good cells so it is rather destructive. When I started radiation/chemo for the first week I felt pretty good. One of the nurses gave me an ointment in the radiation center and told my that by the second week I may begin experiencing some irritation around the anus. If it got worse I was to tell her and she would give me some ointment that had a numbing effect. I continued to go to work feeling quite good and quite at ease.

By week three I was starting to experience some pretty severe pain around the anal area. Still two weeks to go. By the end of week three I was in constant pain and my bottom felt like it was on fire. Going to the bathroom was and exercise in controlled pain. I started to experience severe cramping in the abdominal area that I could only relieve by standing up. The cramping became so bad it made me call out. My wife was upset to say the least. My wife was a "brick" through the whole thing, she helped me, she sympathized when I needed it, she cleaned up messes I made because I was too sick to do it myself and made a worse mess in my attempts.

The beginning of week four found me begging the Doctors for relief. They sent me to the surgeon thinking maybe he might do an emergency colostomy to stop stool from being passed out the back end. Finally we settled on pain pills and stopped the radiation and chemo for a few days until the pain subsided. However, not before I had an absolutely humiliating experience in the radiation treatment center and the oncologist's office. I had accident after accident, almost continuous and my wife had to get me a pair of scrubs from the radiation nurses as I had soiled my clothes. We still had to go over to the oncologist to have the chemo pump removed. I had to go so often that I would come back in the examining room while the doctor waited for me and he was asking Terry about my symptoms. Then he'd talk with me a little more trying to find out the severity and out I'd go into his little bathroom where I would be put through enormous cramping, pain and bleeding. Toilet paper felt like sandpaper. 

Finally we left there and drove home. I did not make it. We stopped at the community center, I had an accident, I cleaned it up. We started for home again and just at the head of our drive way all hell broke loose. Poor Terry, driving with me screaming in the back seat area because I could not stand up enough to get the cramp to ease. It was a nightmare.

For the next two weeks I lay on a bed out in the trailer so I didn't disturb Terry and frankly so my screaming did not make her a nervous wreck. I lived on pain pills and some food. One period I went to the bathroom about every 15 minutes for about two days and was so exhausted I was just beside myself with emotional and physical pain.

Finally the radiation stopped. I went every day and the pain pills got me through it, but I had one hell of a fricasseed ass!

Thus ends stage two. It doesn't get better yet, but it does get better.