Last week on St Patrick's Day I was diagnosed with rectal cancer. I have not been told what stage it's in, but one doctor guessed Stage III. From my laymen knowledge on cancer and what the Internet tells me (thank you oh wise Internet), I'd guess I'm at Stage IIIa or Stage IIIb.
The tumor in my rectum was so large it prevented the colonoscope from safely passing by during my first colonoscopy. The doctor was able to get an endoscope into my colon and go about as far as the proxima colon which looked normal.
The tumor is located roughly from 10cm to 14cm inside my rectum. The CT scan suggests that it has not metastasized, though there are two lymph nodes that seem to be inflamed. Perhaps also cancerous. The CT scan found another mass in my colon near the ilececal valve, which doesn't look like it's physically too far from the rectal tumor.
Saturday morning I have a PET scan which should shed some more light on the mass near the ileocecal valve. I'm also hoping this will help reconfirm that the cancer hasn't metastistized.
It's been a week and a day since I found out and in that time I have met the gastrointerologist who was cordial and nice. I met the surgeon on Monday who is a young crunchy surgeon and obviously brilliant but detached. Tomorrow I meet my oncologist.
The big day is next week, April 2nd @ 3pm when I go in for surgery. From what I've read, the average hospital stay is 5-7 days, but I'm hoping since I'm relatively young and otherwise healthy that maybe I can come home a few days sooner. I also hope I can be back to work after two weeks or so.
Other than the personal relationships in my life, work has really helped me keep focus and get my mind off my cancer. I've been working a lot more since my dx.
I'm thankful.
I will use this blog from time to time to talk about my surgery, my chemo and radiation and my recovery. I'll also use it as a place for family, friends and people from work to check in on me and see how and where I'm at in my recovery.
Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not a spiritual person, I'm an atheist. Oddly, I have always believed in the power of prayer. Attitude and support is a large part of your recovery and knowing that there are people praying for makes me feel good. I may not believe in God, but I do believe in the power of support, kindness and love. To all my religious friends, please pray for me.
Everyone else can just piss off!
Or buy me a beer.
