Howdy!! Sit down, get a cocktail (or ten) and enjoy. I’m about to slip you a long one.
Since April… things have changed slightly or a lot. As I recall, I had surgery to remove a lymph node back then, and a soft tissue nodule. Breaking NEWS: I survived…
I also completed something amazing. My quest for American citizenship has finally ended. Early April, I was sworn in as an American citizen. I have successfully naturalized. I did not have to give up my Canadian passport, but I took an oath to one country “The United States of America”. I do not hold dual citizenship. I am now considered American. If by chance I needed to return to Canada, I can. I just use a new passport. WELCOME TO AMERICA:
I had my bile duct stent changed 4 times in 3 weeks in the spring. Normally, I was having this done every 12 weeks or so. We have had to bump this up to every 10 weeks now, because I seemed to have had multiple infections and other BS that cut our trip short in March and put me in and out of the hospital numerous times from March through May.
In June, it was found that I had a small cluster of lesions in my liver (growing along one of my surgical margins I believe). Lucky for me (not really), I went back onto FOLFIRI chemo, with Avastin, in July. I had scans in mid August, after three treatments, and we saw that the little cluster had shrunk some. This was pretty exciting news. TINY CLUSTERS!!!
Near the end of August, Kim and I spread our wings and headed to Italy (with Melissa and Marsha). We discovered that Melissa missed her calling:
We also consumed countless carbs and found a couple of new LOVES:
Upon our return, I resumed my delicious chemo. I also travelled down to the thriving metropolis of Springfield, MO for my FightCRC Ambassador training mid September. It was there that I learned my new role for eternity. With my head high and my pants low (at times), I realized that the only way to combat colon cancer is by getting the word out and spreading the knowledge and education that I have stumbled upon throughout this bee-otch of a disease.
I met some pretty amazing individuals, that have in some way had their lives changed by colon cancer. The FightCRC staff is simply amazing. They humbly connected us patients and care givers and informed us of their role in the colon cancer community. I am so thankful for everyone I met over this amazing weekend. I felt pretty terrible while I was there, as I had just had chemo on Wednesday. The effects of chemo are starting to take their toll on my tired ass body. LOL. I actually got sick for the first time from chemo on that Friday. WTF. Not bad for six plus years of poison off and on.
From Springfield I returned to St. Louis, with numerous new friends for life. We were now back to chemo and work (Kim-haha). I is retired. LOL. We learned of new possible options for colorectal patients. Years ago, I read about places in Europe that were performing liver transplants on colon cancer patients. Guess what… they have started doing them here in the United States over the last couple of years. They have actually performed a few transplants here in the STL. With pretty damn good success, I might add. Either way, I had a consult with a doctor at Barnes/WashU to see if I could someday be a candidate for liver transplant.
We took in a lot of information and learned how thoroughly these candidates are screened for this process and how they are often ruled out. Patients to be considered must have LIVER ONLY disease. As you know, FROM ABOVE, that I have had a couple of lymph node involvements in the last year. Last node was removed in April (23rd?). I found out that if I do not have anything else come up OUTSIDE of my liver, I “could be considered” a candidate for transplant in April 2022. One year from my last occurring lymph node tumor. This was pretty exciting news, as I believe this to be “curative intent”. Meaning, if this transplant surgery was performed, I could possibly be cancer free, provided I had no cancer elsewhere.
Liver transplant surgery requires some pretty taxing steps. You receive a liver from an individual who is no longer living or has recently been removed from life support and had organs harvested in a timely fashion. This liver is then placed in a sort of “infirmary”, where it is given circulated nutrients (like sugar-which is perfect, since I live off of gummy bears) and basically whatever needed to keep it healthy until matched transplant. Crazy right? Recovery takes time in the hospital, as you are then given anti-rejection drugs. You basically need your own immune system to accept this new organ and not attack it. Hence the anti-rejection drugs… with a lengthy recovery in the hospital you are later released and hopefully can continue to recover from this process for a few months, including being very careful to not succumb to infections and complications, as your immune system is VERY COMPROMISED.
Over time, a patient receiving a liver could hopefully live a long time. However, if by chance you had any cancer growing outside of the liver (undetected), it could then kick into high gear, as your immune system could not do it’s job, while being somewhat “sedated” during this time of hopeful anti-rejection. This is a big risk and certainly something to be considered if I were ever a candidate.
As I mentioned, at this time I’m not the best candidate. I’ll revisit with the consult team later, provided I do not grow any damn tumors outside of the liver.
We attended a KC Chiefs game. It’s always bittersweet to attend an NFL game in October as it’s their Crucial Catch, cancer awareness month. But fun fun fun none the less!!!!
PS, the Chiefs got their asses kicked by Buffalo and there was a major storm delay, but we had a blast at the game with friends and of course made new friends that weekend in the Walter family. Barb, we love you. Mike, keep on trucking with me. We can do this. Kids, we will kick your asses at Kubb next year too. LOL.
It’s now November. We just returned from a lovely time in the Turks and Caicos. If you have the opportunity to go, do it. The water rivals some of that of Tahiti. Simply breathtaking, constantly. It may have been the storms around, but it made for the perfect backdrop of paradise, while again we were met with old friends and new. We love meeting new people on these trips. Genuinely amazing people cross our paths on these trips, we are so thankful for that.
We returned from Turks and quickly we were thrust into reality, as it was time for scans. Unfortunately, my scans showed that the shrinking cluster f&#k of 3 nodules, was actually four and they had grown since August. Sneaky bastards. They also made note of a lymph node located in front of the liver.
We scheduled a PET scan Wednesday, to determine if this lymph node outside the liver was going to reset my clock for possible liver transplant or not. My beekeeping buddy (Jennifer), brought us the good news Wednesday night, that preliminary findings were positive. The node outside the liver was not cancerous. Yahoo.
However, the growth in the liver will need addressing. It’s not crazy growth (like my ass the past two years), but it’s growth. Dr. Tan has decided to add my old nemesis Panitumumab (Vectibix) back to my regimen in future (Nov. 30th). Watch out, the skin rash is coming back!!! Oh and teen wolf. Oh well. No big. In the grand scheme of things, if we can have some response to this drug again, I’m game.
I will also be in touch with departments at the NIH (Maryland) and Sarah Cannon (Nashville-I was there in January). I’m going to inquire about possible clinical trials at both and try to find some other options to have in future. Stay tuned on that. Always good to have a few “planes on the runway”.
Thank you for your constant support and kind words as always.
If anyone is looking for more information on colon cancer I’m a big fan of FIGHTCRC. We are hoping to find a cure for colon cancer together. There are too many lives lost by this disease. Get your ass checked. Schedule your colonoscopy if it’s time. The age has been reduced from 50 to 45. If you’re feeling bad or strange, you know your body best, see your doctor. I can only make so many jokes on these blogs, colon cancer sucks guys, trust me. Ha.
Happy holidays to everyone.
CHEERS.
ILM BJD
<3
