Dairy of Cancer Recovery Pt 2
Please note: This is my personal story, that will be in several installments, about being diagnosed and currently in treatment for colon & liver cancer. I am not a doctor, this is not medical advise, and everyone as well as every human body is different. However, if my story helps in anyone in any way, let’s consider that a victory.
Looking back over the past 5 weeks and after my first meeting with my oncologist, my wife and I have learned some valuable lessons. One of the major ones, which has been expressed by every doctor, nurse, and professional at the hospital where I’m receiving treatment, and has been expressed a million times over; have a positive attitude and outlook. This mindset goes leaps and bounds over a negative one in regards to healing. Going hand in hand with that, is having a sense of humor. And this includes not only yourself and your loved ones, but also friends as well as the staff treating you. Case in point, when I had my MRI performed after a rather disappointing CT scan result, one of the technicians joked with me when I asked him about the micro-fiber undergarments I was wearing, as some micro-fiber clothing can contain metal particles. These particles (like spandex) can burn the skin during the MRI procedure. He looked things over and said I would be fine. “Besides,” he added, “we have fire extinguishers just in case…”
Get Nomadic Americans’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
Another aspect of this journey thus far, is the limitations of what I eat. My current diet is not doctor ordered, but is what my stomach can currently tolerate. What I eat, on a daily basis, three meals a day, is yogurt, jello, applesauce, a slice of bread with one slice of cheese, and water. For some reason, my stomach tolerates two cups of coffee a day, one in the morning as well as in the early afternoon. Another curious factor that I have discovered over the past three months is being able to eat cheese or veggie pizza. Evey doctor, nurse, and nutritionist I’ve spoke to over the past three plus months have been perplexed by that last one. Eating anything else can literally feel like my stomach is being torn apart anywhere from two to six hours. Not very much variety, but at least I enjoy those foods. From what I’ve been told, having an upset stomach after eating is one of the side effects of the colon cancer. Loved ones and friends may offer countless nickels of free advise of what to eat — foods they ate when “they were sick”. Just bare with them. They love you and are only trying to help.
As a result of my current diet, I have been told that I am somewhat of an abnormality when it comes to my particular cancer treatment — but then looking at the grand scheme of things, who isn’t? Aren’t we all abnormalities in some way or fashion? We all have different peculiarities as well as idiosyncrasy’s when it comes to the human condition and our health. Since my diet is very limited, nutrition as well as iron are at a very low premium. Then add in the diabetes, and there’s that to consider. However, my cancer care team has told me they have seen this before and have seen worse. That is yet another valuable lesson my wife and I have learned — things could always be worse.
Some of our family and friends have asked about the particular treatment in regards to my diagnosis. Why straight to the chemo, instead of radiation therapy, surgery, or just medications? The main and almost sole reason is because the cancer has spread to my liver. My doctor wants to treat the liver and hopefully shrink the tumor that’s in my colon at the same time. Hopefully, after six months of chemo, the tumor will have shrunk enough for surgery to be performed in addition to either radiation therapy or what the hospital calls a maintenance recovery program. While we have learned so much since the beginning of May, we still have to face numerous unknowns. The best answer we can look at is, “we’re optimistic for the best.”
In part one, I talked about communicating and sharing with people who are currently going through a similar cancer situation. About two weeks ago, we had an appliance repair man come to our house and diagnose our leaking washing machine. To fix it or purchase a new one — that was the main question, especially since our machine (and matching dryer) are now 22 years old. After about thirty minutes, it was determined a seal was leaking and a bearing was shot. It was fixable for less than $250 dollars. However, that wasn’t the best news of this service call. It turns out, that this individual was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer of the face and neck. He was given approximately 12–18 months to live. He started with chemo and medications anyways, and he is proud to report that the cancer, as of this juncture, is gone, and has been for over four years. Another lesson my wife and I have learned — you just don’t know, but we’ve got to forge ahead anyways.
I totally agree. I’m almost 61 years old and I’m not going out this way. Way too early.
