Hello! Happy New Year everyone! 19 days into the year 2015 and I can’t say it’s been boring… recovery from surgery is good and I can see each day getting better and better with my “plumbing”. I still have off days and that’s to be expected (well, not by me, but apparently I expect too much). There is pain and discomfort but its sporadic and not a daily punishment. I have started introducing foods back into my diet. The low soluble fibre one I have been on has been draining and I am slowly putting some weight back on. Thank you one and all for your prayers, love, good wishes, flowers, food, gifts and generosity! My family and I are so blessed to have you in our lives. Thank you!
I’ve had my appointments and I am able to update you as to test results and progress. It’s all great news!
My appointment with the surgeon was on January 13th. He was very pleased with the pathology results, which I provided in my last blog update. He confirms that there is still residual cancer remaining in various areas, but they are small and it is my intention to keep them that way.
My appointment with the oncologist was this afternoon. This is the first time I went to an appointment “unarmed”. I was not able to obtain my test results from last week, so arrived having to wait to hear all the information from the doctor (it was a first for him too). The CT scan results from January 2nd are inconclusive. It shows that there is significant change due to surgery (no kidding) and although there is a “mild bowel wall thickening as well as haziness of the intra-abdominal fat”, this could simply be postsurgical inflammatory changes. They will not rule out early progressive cancer, but after seeing the results of my tumour marker this afternoon, the oncologist and I have agreed that this is just inflammation, not growth. I will have a repeat CT scan in approximately 6 weeks’ time and any postsurgical changes should be resolved by then. My tumour marker stayed steady at 0.5 and my neutrophils are at an all-time high of 2.8
The million dollar question: Am I going back to chemo? Well, to quote my surgeon, “I am now in uncharted territory”. There isn’t a lot of documentation for treatment and next steps for someone with my diagnosis. If you recall, I was diagnosed with Metastatic Colon Cancer –Krukenburg Tumour. It’s rare and I wasn’t expected to get this far. So it becomes a case of chemo treatment to ensure we contain the cancer or chemo treatment upon recurrence of cancer. Right now, no decision has to be made because we are going to wait for the next CT scan results (which I fully anticipate to show there is no new growth) and a decision will be made then. In the meantime, I meet with my Naturopath tomorrow and I have some time to heal, get strong and do some deep digging into the world of Krukenburg….
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