A Cautionary tale with a capitol C

[Jeff Matthews]

2 hours ago, JL Sargent said:

My goodness. Just diagnosed with a Neuroendocrine (cancer) mass in my Mesentery and constricting my small bowel. I've been having trouble eating and now I know why. Apparently this is rare. Cancer touches everybody.

 

 

Oh, wow!  Sorry you just got this bad news.  I just read that this type is definitely beatable.  I'm praying for you!  What is your treatment plan?

[JL Sargent]

44 minutes ago, Jeff Matthews said:

What is your treatment plan?

Had a PET scan last week. Having another CT next week. Mass is 2"x2" and my doctor who is a Surgical Oncologist specializing in Neuroendocrine at UAB. He pretty much said it has to come out. As far as whats the plan after that, I'm sure we'll discuss it.  

[Jeff Matthews]

8 minutes ago, JL Sargent said:

Had a PET scan last week. Having another CT next week. Mass is 2"x2" and my doctor who is a Surgical Oncologist specializing in Neuroendocrine at UAB. He pretty much said it has to come out. As far as whats the plan after that, I'm sure we'll discuss it.  

I've heard PET scans are the bee's knees in detection.  (Where does that expression come from, anyway?)

 

Was only a single mass detected?

 

In some cancers, but I don't know about yours, chemo is introduced in order to shrink tumors to make surgical removal easier.  Sometimes, it might be chemo - surgery - more chemo.  In some cancers, it's just surgery.

 

Please continue to post.  That goes for the rest of you guys, too.  

 

Wishing all of you the best!  

[sunburnwilly]

7 hours ago, JL Sargent said:

My goodness. Just diagnosed with a Neuroendocrine (cancer) mass in my Mesentery and constricting my small bowel. I've been having trouble eating and now I know why. Apparently this is rare. Cancer touches everybody.

 

Good luck , kick it's butt !

[Dave1291]

Cancer sucks!  Slow progress it seems but with today's knowledge they're making some progress.  I hope everyone touched can be cured asap but that's always been the plan.  It's just sad to here.  I wish everyone the best and you're all in my prayers.

[Marvel]

Had a visit with second radiation oncologist yesterday. Pretty much the same answers, but a little more detailed, but some of that is understanding more the farther we get.

 

Plan is to have approximately 8 weeks of photon radiation, five days a week. I can eat whatever I want, and just try to have a normal life (work, etc...) Will have a hormone shot to lower testosterone levels, so the prostate cancer has less to feed on. Decided to go with the second doc as I can make a five minute walk to the hospital from my work and not a 15 minute drive further downtown. This radiation oncologist looks like he's about 20 years old, but he's Asian. Went to Stanford and then Harvard Medical School. He has the creds and he has great people skills.

 

Tomorrow I have a CT so they can program the equipment to guide the radiation to hit what they want.

 

 

[the real Duke Spinner]

Uuugggh ...

Hoping for the best possible outcome Bruce ..

Health Care in general scares me

Of course

I am just an old farmer. 🙃

 

[Jeff Matthews]

On 4/11/2023 at 11:21 AM, Marvel said:

Tomorrow I have a CT...

 

I hope it went well, Bruce.

 

Cancer... it comes in so many types and behaves so differently in different people.  I lost my GF to cancer a short while back.  I would have done anything - and tried many things - to keep her well and with me.  

 

Here's one thing I really want people to know because we learned it the hard way.  I don't know that it would have made an iota of difference in our case, but If any of you are ever put to the hard decision of continuing or stopping treatment, all I can say is, "Fight with everything you have."  Don't give up early. 

 

On Li's 2nd recurrence, she was adamant about not going through chemo again, and this was because it was hard on her (even though to everyone else, it seemed like she tolerated it so well).   The doctor sympathized and respected her decision, as did I and everyone else.  What the doctor didn't say is that letting the cancer have its way can be even worse than chemo.  When she decided to quit, I don't think she fully appreciated what it was going to be like.  I know I didn't.   I think she figured somehow, it would take her gracefully, but it did not.  I was fully ignorant.  When her symptoms started becoming unbearable, she had second thoughts and wanted to get back on board.  At that point, it was too late.  She never had the chance, and she had to ride it out.  I still cry... and just started again.  

 

Don't give up too early.

 

Li had ovarian cancer, which is very aggressive.  I didn't post all of this to bring fear, and I hope it is okay for me to say what I said.  I hope and believe that you all have far less aggressive forms.  But still, I wanted to share because I will never forget.

 

May you all be with God and He be with you!

[codewritinfool]

y'all are scaring the heck outta me.  i'll be 57 this year.

[sunburnwilly]

1 hour ago, codewritinfool said:

y'all are scaring the heck outta me.  i'll be 57 this year.

If you feel somethings not right get it checked . I procrastinated thinking a lot of guys have the same issues and I'll get around to it . I waited too long and now I have to fight . Don't be like me .

[JL Sargent]

17 hours ago, Jeff Matthews said:

Don't give up too early.

Jeff, I totally get where you are coming from. Lost my mother to cancer (Non Hodgkins Lymphoma). She did everything possible to fight it and there was nothing graceful about her death. A drug called Vidaza took away her mobility/independence months before her passing. See, my mom didn't die from NHL, but rather Leukemia. A side effect from her many chemo/radiation treatments over the years.

 

Mom was house supervisor (RN) at the hospital near us. Having witnessed so many people come and go. She told us what was about to happen to her before it happened right up to her last day.  She told me one day as her time neared "It's not always easy coming into this world, it's not always easy leaving it either". Boy was she right. We live out in the sticks. When I put an old dying dog down it is very quick,  simple, and humane. My mom was tortured for months. Hate to say it, but when it's my time, I want to go like my dogs.

[Jeff Matthews]

1 hour ago, JL Sargent said:

Jeff, I totally get where you are coming from. Lost my mother to cancer (Non Hodgkins Lymphoma). She did everything possible to fight it and there was nothing graceful about her death. A drug called Vidaza took away her mobility/independence months before her passing. See, my mom didn't die from NHL, but rather Leukemia. A side effect from her many chemo/radiation treatments over the years.

 

Mom was house supervisor (RN) at the hospital near us. Having witnessed so many people come and go. She told us what was about to happen to her before it happened right up to her last day.  She told me one day as her time neared "It's not always easy coming into this world, it's not always easy leaving it either". Boy was she right. We live out in the sticks. When I put an old dying dog down it is very quick,  simple, and humane. My mom was tortured for months. Hate to say it, but when it's my time, I want to go like my dogs.

 

Yes!  Glad you can relate, but I don't mean I'm glad you went through it.  I see most reactions to my post were "Sad."  It wasn't intended to be that way, but I can see why.  Crying because you miss someone is healthy, and I'm doing well.  In many respects, it left me with a whole new perspective and strengthened me.  

[OO1]

1 hour ago, JL Sargent said:

Hate to say it,  

  no one should die of cancer   they invested billions  and billions across the planet   to  cure  C.......d   ,   they  can do the same for cancers  , no doubt in my mind at all .

[JJkizak]

2 hours ago, OO1 said:

  no one should die of cancer   they invested billions  and billions across the planet   to  cure  C.......d   ,   they  can do the same for cancers  , no doubt in my mind at all .

Remember that there are over 5 million variations of cancer. (Cleveland Clinic Lectures, PBS) Might be kind of hard to come up with one cure for all.

JJK

[OO1]

2 hours ago, JJkizak said:

 one cure for all.

JJK

priority should be   Breast Cancer   no 1 ,  Prostate Cancer no 2  ,  lung , colorectal , Leukemia , pancreatic cancer as no 3  

 

[Jeff Matthews]

I really believe they are trying hard.  Go to any cancer website or forum and read about all the clinical trials.  They are pumping big money into looking for cures.  The problem is it takes time to get definitive results, and you can only imagine how much time is spent testing something to find it doesn't help.

 

[Travis In Austin]

Tomorrow I get a pelvic mri of the prostate and a biopsy next Wed. My psa is slightly elevated going on 12 months but steady. Urologist said that it remaining steady like that is consistent with nothing going on.

 

After reading this thread I told him let’s just know for sure and do a biopsy.

 

I scheduled a screening colonoscopy for next month, 10 years overdue for one.

 

Thinking of everyone in here going through these things and sharing your stories. Got me to get everything scheduled.

 

Travis

[Travis In Austin]

5 hours ago, Jeff Matthews said:

 

Yes!  Glad you can relate, but I don't mean I'm glad you went through it.  I see most reactions to my post were "Sad."  It wasn't intended to be that way, but I can see why.  Crying because you miss someone is healthy, and I'm doing well.  In many respects, it left me with a whole new perspective and strengthened me.  

Yea but you are a Zen Master, health and exercise aficionado, and world traveler. 
 

I wouldn’t say it would be “easier”

for you to turn lemons into lemonade, but certainly gave you the right framework to do it. I’m sincerely glad you are at a place where you can type the last sentence of your post.

[Travis In Austin]

21 hours ago, sunburnwilly said:

If you feel somethings not right get it checked . I procrastinated thinking a lot of guys have the same issues and I'll get around to it . I waited too long and now I have to fight . Don't be like me .

I did, see two posts above. Wishing you God’s speed

[sunburnwilly]

5 hours ago, OO1 said:

  no one should die of cancer   they invested billions  and billions across the planet   to  cure  C.......d   ,   they  can do the same for cancers  , no doubt in my mind at all .

Ain't no money in the cure , the money is in the treatment !

 

I have my second round of chemo tomorrow . Almost $20K a pop but my insurance covers around $2.5K so I've got that going for me 😳 . Been looking at medicaid and their website mentions most hospitals can help getting the ball rolling . Will try to get something started after my infusion is complete .