Many of you who are my Facebook friends have seen my latest status update shouting out the news about my 6 month CT scan....that (and I quote) according to the Radiologist report from my enhanced contrast of pelvis, abdomen, liver, lungs etc. "there is no convincing evidence of metastasis". And I know that it is just six months in but I will rack up this milestone as a first round victory.
What an emotional, thought-provoking, anxiety-laden process this has been since Monday's scan. You see this represents the first real surveillance of my cancer...in combination with the CEA (carcinoembryonic antigen) blood tests recently which came back normal (no elevation of a specific protein/antigen that is positive in 75% of colon cancer patients). The CT scan from this past Monday would be compared with the CT scan done in-hospital March 16 2012 just prior to the colon resection surgery and with a scan done a few days later after surgery when fluid was detected in my colon near the resection site and I had developed an infection / fever. It was at THAT scan that they detected a 3mm shadow/spot on my liver. Shock and fear immediately flooded through me at that time. These kinds of findings can touch at the very darkest fears for cancer patients as it very well could indicate spread of the primary cancer to other systems/ organs. In my case my tumour was staged at Stage IIIb with 2 of 17 lymph node samples taken from surgery come back positive for cancer. So the fear of spread and infiltration into the lymphatic system consumed me.
Within seconds of coming in the door to my Oncologist's office on Thursday she turned to Victoria and I and smiled and said it all looks good, she is not worried and does not see any evidence of spread. Her positivity immediately put me and Victoria at ease. She pulled up the final report from the radiologist and after reading it I swallowed hard and asked for clarification. You see the latest scan showed 3 small (4mm) spots on the left lung - which I was never aware that had been detected in March. However, Dr. Lingas described them as abnormalities (actually "normal" imperfections like skin pimples, scars, etc.) which are rather normal. More importantly there was no clinical change / visual change whatsoever in terms of these spots from 6 months prior which indicates no growth, no change, no malignancy. The spot on my liver that had been at the focus of the second scan in March was exactly identical as 6 months ago - again indicating no malignancy or spread. I will repeat the final sentence of the Summary paragraph of the report: There is no convincing evidence of metastasis.
Yeahhhhhhh!!!! F$@#ing right!!!!! Let's celebrate this first significant milestone. Next surveillance will be a colonoscopy at 1 year from surgery -next March - or almost 6 months from today. In terms of my future and surveillance I need to put this all into context. This scan was the first surveillance...there will be many more over the next 3 to 5 years. Pretty much every 6 months or so whether it is CEA bloodtests or colonoscopies or CT scans I will be monitored for the next 5 years. Remember 5 years is the end goal to be completely cancer free, no recurrence, no metastasis. Statistically with colon cancer a huge percentage of recurrence rates occur within the first 3 years. So this will be my life for the next few years.
Using a boxing analogy I have decided to break down this 5 year period into a 10 round fight - 10 Rounds of 6 months surveillance. The end goal is a TKO (technical knock-out) over this cancer. And as far as I am concerned Round 1 goes to Dave Brown...I am still in the ring fighting and will continue to fight, to punch, to kick the crap out of this cancer.
I cannot end this post without sending a shout out to all of you who bless me with your support, your encouragement, your positive energy. Believe me when I say that even though I may not respond to every text message, email, blog comment, Facebook message etc. I read and receive every single message and they continue to give me strength.
Thank you, thank you, thank you all. You are all honourary members of The Kicking the Crap Crew!!!!
What an emotional, thought-provoking, anxiety-laden process this has been since Monday's scan. You see this represents the first real surveillance of my cancer...in combination with the CEA (carcinoembryonic antigen) blood tests recently which came back normal (no elevation of a specific protein/antigen that is positive in 75% of colon cancer patients). The CT scan from this past Monday would be compared with the CT scan done in-hospital March 16 2012 just prior to the colon resection surgery and with a scan done a few days later after surgery when fluid was detected in my colon near the resection site and I had developed an infection / fever. It was at THAT scan that they detected a 3mm shadow/spot on my liver. Shock and fear immediately flooded through me at that time. These kinds of findings can touch at the very darkest fears for cancer patients as it very well could indicate spread of the primary cancer to other systems/ organs. In my case my tumour was staged at Stage IIIb with 2 of 17 lymph node samples taken from surgery come back positive for cancer. So the fear of spread and infiltration into the lymphatic system consumed me.
Within seconds of coming in the door to my Oncologist's office on Thursday she turned to Victoria and I and smiled and said it all looks good, she is not worried and does not see any evidence of spread. Her positivity immediately put me and Victoria at ease. She pulled up the final report from the radiologist and after reading it I swallowed hard and asked for clarification. You see the latest scan showed 3 small (4mm) spots on the left lung - which I was never aware that had been detected in March. However, Dr. Lingas described them as abnormalities (actually "normal" imperfections like skin pimples, scars, etc.) which are rather normal. More importantly there was no clinical change / visual change whatsoever in terms of these spots from 6 months prior which indicates no growth, no change, no malignancy. The spot on my liver that had been at the focus of the second scan in March was exactly identical as 6 months ago - again indicating no malignancy or spread. I will repeat the final sentence of the Summary paragraph of the report: There is no convincing evidence of metastasis.
Yeahhhhhhh!!!! F$@#ing right!!!!! Let's celebrate this first significant milestone. Next surveillance will be a colonoscopy at 1 year from surgery -next March - or almost 6 months from today. In terms of my future and surveillance I need to put this all into context. This scan was the first surveillance...there will be many more over the next 3 to 5 years. Pretty much every 6 months or so whether it is CEA bloodtests or colonoscopies or CT scans I will be monitored for the next 5 years. Remember 5 years is the end goal to be completely cancer free, no recurrence, no metastasis. Statistically with colon cancer a huge percentage of recurrence rates occur within the first 3 years. So this will be my life for the next few years.
Using a boxing analogy I have decided to break down this 5 year period into a 10 round fight - 10 Rounds of 6 months surveillance. The end goal is a TKO (technical knock-out) over this cancer. And as far as I am concerned Round 1 goes to Dave Brown...I am still in the ring fighting and will continue to fight, to punch, to kick the crap out of this cancer.
I cannot end this post without sending a shout out to all of you who bless me with your support, your encouragement, your positive energy. Believe me when I say that even though I may not respond to every text message, email, blog comment, Facebook message etc. I read and receive every single message and they continue to give me strength.
Thank you, thank you, thank you all. You are all honourary members of The Kicking the Crap Crew!!!!
Congrats mate. This is fantastic news. Looking forward to the mega party in 5 years when the bout is officially over!
ReplyDelete1st round is always the most important. Get in and hit-em hard. Show your opponent you mean business. It appears you have done just that!
Cancer is one of the most dangerous disease.But it can be cure if its symptoms found in its early stages.So never neglect a single symptoms.Thank you for your information.
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