A little over a year ago my family adopted a little boy from China. This was supposed to be an exciting time for us, but around that same time I was diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer. We were all shocked including the doctors. I was only 37 years old and I had not had that many symptoms.
My main symptoms were severe cramping and I could not eat and was losing weight. The amazing thing is that my cancer was all surface cancer and was not in any of my organs. This was a good thing. The oncologist told me that he wanted to do the most aggressive chemo for my cancer. After doing chemo for a few months he wanted me to have a surgery called the HIPEC. Only 10% of patients qualify for this surgery and I was one of those 10%. In this surgery they remove all the non vital organs and scrape away all of the cancer that they can see in the abdominal cavity. They then pump hot chemo that is 105 degrees into the abdominal cavity for 90 minutes and then pump the chemo back out and close the patient up. In November of last year I went in for the HIPEC surgery. When the surgeon went in he found that the cancer was a lot worse than what they thought. The surgeon decided that he would treat me differently than any other patient he had treated before. He decided to debulk my cancer which means he took out 70% of my cancer and he pumped in the hot chemo. Only the omentum wall was removed, no other organis. He then said that best case scenario was for me to start chemo again in 2 weeks and see if chemo would kill more of the cancer. If the chemo worked then the surgeon planned on doing the HIPEC surgery again.
I went back on chemo 2 weeks after surgery and then in February of this year went in to have another HIPEC surgery. In the 2nd surgery the surgeon decided not to take any of the cancer out, as he felt that to get all of the cancer risked me never recovering from the surgery. The surgeon had a pathologist in the Operating Room with him and the pathologist said that my cancer was still responding to chemo. The surgeon then decided to go ahead and do the hot chemo again, and remove no organs. Two weeks after surgery I again started back on chemo. About a month ago, the surgeon felt it was time to go and do surgery again. He said that he had a feeling that the cancer had probably spread all over my abdominal cavity, but he wanted to go in a look and if nothing else he would do the hot chemo. When he started the 3rd surgery the cancer was a lot better than what he expected. In fact the cancer had not spread at all. He took all of the cancer out that he could without taking away quality of life. He was able to remove 80% of the cancer. I am to restart chemo in the next couple of weeks, and the doctors currently believe that I will live many years.
This has been a very stressful journey for my family and I, but we know that this is all part of God's plan.
My main symptoms were severe cramping and I could not eat and was losing weight. The amazing thing is that my cancer was all surface cancer and was not in any of my organs. This was a good thing. The oncologist told me that he wanted to do the most aggressive chemo for my cancer. After doing chemo for a few months he wanted me to have a surgery called the HIPEC. Only 10% of patients qualify for this surgery and I was one of those 10%. In this surgery they remove all the non vital organs and scrape away all of the cancer that they can see in the abdominal cavity. They then pump hot chemo that is 105 degrees into the abdominal cavity for 90 minutes and then pump the chemo back out and close the patient up. In November of last year I went in for the HIPEC surgery. When the surgeon went in he found that the cancer was a lot worse than what they thought. The surgeon decided that he would treat me differently than any other patient he had treated before. He decided to debulk my cancer which means he took out 70% of my cancer and he pumped in the hot chemo. Only the omentum wall was removed, no other organis. He then said that best case scenario was for me to start chemo again in 2 weeks and see if chemo would kill more of the cancer. If the chemo worked then the surgeon planned on doing the HIPEC surgery again.
I went back on chemo 2 weeks after surgery and then in February of this year went in to have another HIPEC surgery. In the 2nd surgery the surgeon decided not to take any of the cancer out, as he felt that to get all of the cancer risked me never recovering from the surgery. The surgeon had a pathologist in the Operating Room with him and the pathologist said that my cancer was still responding to chemo. The surgeon then decided to go ahead and do the hot chemo again, and remove no organs. Two weeks after surgery I again started back on chemo. About a month ago, the surgeon felt it was time to go and do surgery again. He said that he had a feeling that the cancer had probably spread all over my abdominal cavity, but he wanted to go in a look and if nothing else he would do the hot chemo. When he started the 3rd surgery the cancer was a lot better than what he expected. In fact the cancer had not spread at all. He took all of the cancer out that he could without taking away quality of life. He was able to remove 80% of the cancer. I am to restart chemo in the next couple of weeks, and the doctors currently believe that I will live many years.
This has been a very stressful journey for my family and I, but we know that this is all part of God's plan.