The Port is In Place!

Steve finished his 7th round of Chemo last Friday and it went well.  He started eating more as his mouth sores healed and had a generally good weekend. I just heard from the doctor and he said the surgeon doesn’t think that there is any need to worry about what they saw in the CT scan and they are leaving his colon as it is.  They will just keep an eye on how he’s feeling and if he starts to have any problems. We are relieved because surgery means no chemo and we are not ready to stop because the tumors are still there. This past round of chemo the doctor reduced one of the meds to hopefully stop the mouth sores from coming back….

Today was Steve’s first day of chemo and it went well. We are getting chemo at the Infusion center at Kent Hospital and I have to say we really like them there.  Plus it’s nice and close to the house which is a huge plus. The doctor told us we’d be there for a couple of hours but when we arrived they told us that wasn’t true, we’d actually be there for about 5-6 hours.  Steve wasn’t very happy at first but it is what it is and nothing we can do about it.  Eventually we’ll be down to about 3 hours.  So perhaps that’s what he was thinking about. Since Steve had the port placed just 2 days ago, the area is still very…

Steve is going this morning for his first CT Scan.  We are pretty hopeful that it will look good because of how good his CEA number has been.  But seeing it will be good to reassure us that the Chemo is working. He will also have is CEA number checked on Monday.  We will have the results of both of those tests on Tuesday when we meet with his Oncologist. Steve has been getting mouth sores the last 3 cycles and they are unbearable for him.  We’ve been trying all sorts of ways to make them better and possibly avoid them but after talking to the doctor yesterday, we are thinking of pulling back on one of the Chemotherapy drugs a little bit.  There is…

We’ve been asked over and over if there were any signs or symptoms of Colon Cancer that we could have noticed? I asked the doctor how long this has been going on, for it to be at Stage 4 without really any warnings.  He said the polyp could have been there for years.  SCARY. A lot of people have asked us if Steve had any signs or symptoms.  According to Cancer.org the signs and symptoms of Colon Cancer are: A change in bowel habits, such as diarrhea, constipation, or narrowing of the stool, that lasts for more than a few days A feeling that you need to have a bowel movement that is not relieved by doing so Rectal bleeding, dark stools, or blood in…

A year ago today Steve and I sat at chemo for his “New Year’s Chemo”. I was grateful to have him for another year. After the new year we found out that chemo would end in the fall. The doctor estimated (at that time) he would probably have about 4-6 months after chemo ended. Of course that was without knowing how the last 6 months of chemo would work. He was being optimistic. When Steve and I talked about that, we figured we’d get through the holidays, have another new year’s eve together and then sometime in 2017, he’d pass away. Of course we didn’t know for sure, but we were being optimistic. From the day that we found out he was stage 4, I…

Steve had another CT Scan last week and it showed that unfortunately the cancer is still spreading in his lungs.  The liver is stable.  He also has some pretty swollen Lympnodes near his lungs.  His CEA is the same as it’s been the last 3 months – 11. We had a really good conversation with the doctor about what is happening and what we should do next.   So here is the plan right now: 1.  We are going to go to Dana Faber and talk to them about clinical trials.  It’s not very likely Steve will do a trail, but we at least want to talk to them about it. 2.  Steve will continue on the chemo he is on right now for 6 weeks…