I've Got What?

So after I was diagnosed, appointments came flying at me from every direction. They immediately set up a CT scan so they could check if my freakin cancer has spread. I’ve had one CT scan before when I was 18 and got my appendix out and they made me drink two bottles of pure crap to light up my insides for the scan. Surely, things have improved in ten years. Nope. I got to drink the same stuff as last time. But I will say that it was cold and I’ve been drinking a lot of weird stuff lately so it wasn’t actually too bad. I realized then that I’m going to have to just get used to weird or painful sensations on this trip through cancer lane. Also, they hooked me up to an IV that would put more contrast into my blood stream so it would show up better on the scan. The contrast makes you feel warm and it also makes you feel like you peed your pants! It was AWESOME!

While we were waiting and drinking the butt drink, I declared Megan as my cancer assistant! She has been so awesome so far so I knew she would be perfect for the job. But really, she has been so organized. I have tons of appointments, tons of paperwork, tons of pictures of the inside of my body that I wish didn’t show the tumors they show, and lots of things to keep track of and she jumped right on everything. Every appointment we go to we have to fill out the same paperwork about my health history and Megan just grabs it and starts filling it out. And honestly, it helps me out so much. I get to just sit there and relax for a minute before I go in and see a doctor and find out more about my 60 year old man’s disease. I am Benjamin Button. Megan was all over appointments and all I had to do was go with her and she would make sure I did what I was supposed to.

Megan’s dad has opened so many doors for me. He is a doctor down in St. George and right when he found out about my condition he started making phone calls to make sure I saw the best doctors possible. For example, we started researching surgeons and found a Dr. Kim who specializes in Colon and Rectal surgery. He is also one of the best in Utah. Megan called his office and they didn’t have an opening until May. WHAT?! My cancer can’t wait until May! Well Megan’s dad contacted a director at IHC and what do you know, Dr. Kim’s office called me on Monday and set up and appointment for Wednesday. Same thing happened with my oncologist.

So on Monday I got my rectal ultrasound that took a look at my lower tumor. Man, it was uncomfortable being awake during that. But there was nothing but good news from it. The tumor hadn’t spread through my colon, they couldn’t see any lymph nodes having cancer (which means it hasn’t spread), and there is enough room that they can hook me back up after my surgery so I can poo again. Monday was the day we started feeling way more positive about this whole situation.

Tuesday was a great day too. We met with my oncologist who told me that they expect to cure me. He said he wouldn’t be surprised if my cancer has spread to some lymph nodes and that would mean 6 months of chemo after surgery. He also warned me that my surgeon, Dr. Kim is thinking it is best to remove my entire colon. I had never heard or even considered that so that scared me. They also told me that I would probably do radiation before surgery. I had a rough night coming to grips with losing my entire colon.

Tuesday was also the day I realized something very important. The doctors can do lots of things to me and they can take a lot out of my body, but please, please don’t take my hands!

On Wednesday I met Dr. Kim. He is awesome. I feel so much better about everything after having met with him. He explained that they are going to do 5 days of radiation on me, then let me rest a week. Then I will have surgery on March 23. I will be in the hospital about 4 days. They are going to remove my colon and attach my small intestine down there so that eventually I will be able to go to the bathroom. But until everything heals down there I will have a temporary port coming out of my stomach with a bag attached to catch all of my stool. That is going to be so weird to get used to. I will have the bag for 2 months or 6 months if I have to do chemo.

On Thursday I went into the radiation clinic and got measured and set up so that they can start doing radiation on Monday.

So that was my week. We are all feeling so much better about the outcome of this. It’s going to tough to get there but everything looks so positive. Thanks to all of you for your support. We couldn’t do this without you. So just know that your prayers on my behalf are getting answered and I notice them.

The Longest Day of My Life

I created this blog so that I could share my journey fighting cancer with others. I’ll try and keep any gross details out of this but I can’t promise it. I guess I’ll just have to pull the cancer card on you and say “hey, I have cancer, give me a break.”

On March 1, 2012, I was diagnosed with colon cancer. In September of 2011 I had quite the surprise when I went to the bathroom. Now, maybe I’m not normal but I check the toilet paper (you know you do too). Well the toilet paper was all bright red! I panicked and thought the worst. I told family members and they helped me feel a little better about. Blood could mean a lot of different things. I went to the doctor and the initial diagnosis was hemorrhoids. He said, you can’t be positive though and if the bleeding happens again I should go get a colonoscopy. Well what do you know, in December I saw some blood again. It wasn’t nearly as much though as last time and I said to myself that it can’t be anything too bad. But I decided that if it happened again at all I would go in and get a colonoscopy. Well a few months later there I was looking at some strange toilet paper. I also had been experiencing quite a bit of bloating right before I was going to have a BM. It was time to go to the doctor. I went to my primary care physician and he told me all the things that it could be but that the only way to really know was to get a colonoscopy. He got one set up for me two days later, March 1, 2012.

For those of you who don’t know, preparing for a colonoscopy is by far the worst part. I had to buy some laxative at the store. Lots of laxative. The day before the appointment I wasn’t allowed to eat anything. I could only drink clear liquids. That night I had to drink a bunch of the laxative. About an hour later I was running to the bathroom and that kept up for most of the night. My appointment the next day was at 7 AM. I had to wake up 4 hours before my appointment and take the rest of the laxative. So I stayed up from 3 until 7 back and forth to the bathroom.

We got to the hospital and they put me on an IV. They rolled me into the procedure room and put a solution into my IV. They told me I would start to feel tired. A second dose and I was out.

I woke up while they were rolling me back into my room and I was feeling good! It was the best nap I’d ever had. And I was positive, feeling optimistic about the outcome of the test. I was happy and joking with Megan. That nap was great!! I could use a little bit of that stuff right now.

Then the doctor walked and spoke the words that will follow me for the rest of my life. “I’ve got the results of your exam and it’s not good.” WTF?!!!

He proceeded to show me some pictures of two tumors that were supposedly inside my body. Uh, are you sure those are the right pictures cause I’m 28? Yep, those were pictures of me. Now they said they did a biopsy on the tumors but they told me straight, this is cancer. I had never quite understood what it was like when in the movies they say to themselves that it must be a dream and they needed to pinch themselves to wake up. But that is exactly how it felt. This can’t be real!

Megan and I were blown away and held each other. It was unreal, we’d never felt worse in our entire lives yet we’d never felt closer to God at the same time. I was literally staring death in the face and I have to admit, I was scared.

We then setup like 5 million appointments and we were off on the race to beat cancer. The beginning of the race though is slow. There are so many unknowns initially. So many appointments to figure out exactly what needs to be done to beat it.

We got my blood tested a few hours later. A CEA blood test. I was told that a normal person gets a result of 0-3, mine was at 22. I met with a surgeon who told me that my condition was too complicated and that I would need a specialist. A colorectal surgeon. So there Megan and I were, too busy to think about it, sitting there wondering if we could count how many different doctors I had to see, trying to wrap our heads around all the information.

I couldn’t ask for a better family. A family who has already been through a lot of trials, especially recently. There words were just what we needed. 

The longest day of my life was over. And it only gets better from here.

Lesson learned: if you have any changes in how your body functions no matter how small you may think it is, go get checked.