RE: three months break

[Guest guest]

Glad to hear your Doc told you to go away for awhile. LOL. Great news.

Prayers to stay CLEAN. I get my CT scan in Jan. but duh that is for my back.

Now why nothing for my colon area. Doc did not seem to be worried. My CEA

numbers are under 2, and he was happy with that. The Colonoscopy will be in

Dec so that should tell us something. I am hoping it is clean. He ordered

another bloodtest as my wbc is still low. I asked about my potassium but he

forgot to go back and look. He is one who ordered the MRI for my back and

never told me about it, CT scan guy told me it was in computer. Aaargh..

Scares me when docs forget to tell their patients things. Makes me wonder

what else they forget to tell me. Primary doc never told me he switched my

HBP meds either.

Not good. Well anyway. The good stories from survivors are definitely

heartening for those just coming on board here. Stay well. Jolene

three months break

Surgery 4/7/04- stage 3b with 1 poisitive node. Six months folfox 6. I keep

track of medical milage for tax purposes and am almost at 11,000 miles for

the

year. I live in Norht Al and go to Vanderbilt for treatment. After a lot of

scares this year I now have a good CT and PET and 4 consecutive good blood

samples. Onc said to go away for a while . I will go back in Feb for cea and

blood work. It will be great not driving to the doctor all the time. Based

on

current conditions Onc siad we should only be doing an annual CT now but we

agreed on cea every 3 months and CT every six months. I went to Vanderbilt

today and got there early --9AM - so I would have results for 11:20

appointment.

CEA was below 2 again which made me glad I got there early so I would not

have to wait.

Onc and I discussed neuropathy. With more data the neuropathy is worse than

originally thought. Latest data is 5% of people with grade 3 or 4 neuropathy

and 25% with grade 1 or 2. Data originally thought improvement during first

6

months after chemo and stopped after 12 months. Latest data shows continued

improvement out to 18 months after chemo.

Checked cancer survivors network tonight and noted a couple of stage 4

posters -colon and liver- who were now NED . Encouraging. We need positive

post to

remind people it is possible to survive.

[Guest guest]

Wow. Thanks for posting this . Your dx is the same as mine (5/05) so I

feel like there is hope for me too!!!

asorr55555@... wrote:Surgery 4/7/04- stage 3b with 1 poisitive node. Six

months folfox 6. I keep

track of medical milage for tax purposes and am almost at 11,000 miles for the

year. I live in Norht Al and go to Vanderbilt for treatment. After a lot of

scares this year I now have a good CT and PET and 4 consecutive good blood

samples. Onc said to go away for a while . I will go back in Feb for cea and

blood work. It will be great not driving to the doctor all the time. Based on

current conditions Onc siad we should only be doing an annual CT now but we

agreed on cea every 3 months and CT every six months. I went to Vanderbilt

today and got there early --9AM - so I would have results for 11:20

appointment.

CEA was below 2 again which made me glad I got there early so I would not

have to wait.

Onc and I discussed neuropathy. With more data the neuropathy is worse than

originally thought. Latest data is 5% of people with grade 3 or 4 neuropathy

and 25% with grade 1 or 2. Data originally thought improvement during first 6

months after chemo and stopped after 12 months. Latest data shows continued

improvement out to 18 months after chemo.

Checked cancer survivors network tonight and noted a couple of stage 4

posters -colon and liver- who were now NED . Encouraging. We need positive post

to

remind people it is possible to survive.