#rivenbarkstrong

On November 18, 2017, my husband Scott Rivenbark was diagnosed with state 4 colon cancer.  I took him to the emergency room that Saturday morning because he had been up all night hurting on his right side.  The staff at the hospital said he probably had a kidney stone.  They did a cat scan and found a tumor in his colon and discovered that it had also spread to his liver and lungs.  I never dreamed that the doctor would walk in the room and tell us that my husband had cancer.  They admitted him to the hospital and did a liver biopsy and a colonoscopy.  He spent 4 days in the hospital having tests and seeing different doctors to start a plan of action to battle the cancer.  We immediately started chemotherapy and he received 6 treatments using a series of 3 drugs.  His doctor saw a slight increase in his tumor marker number and sent us to Chapel Hill Cancer Center to be seen by an oncologist there.  He advised us to continue treatment and he would monitor Scott's progress and let us know if any other treatments became available.  His tumor marker number continued to increase so his oncologist changed his chemotherapy medication to another series of drugs used to fight colon cancer.  Scott has had 3 treatments with the new drugs and his tumor marker continues to rise.  We also went to Duke Cancer Center and got a third opinion from an oncologist there.  She recommended that we go back to the first chemo drug that he received and give it another try.  She also recommended radiation treatment on the tumor.  We received a call on May 23, 2018 about a trial drug that had been approved for testing on colon cancer.  We have an appointment in Chapel Hill to run some tests and meet with doctors to see if Scott is a match for this trial.  Scott is working as much as he can in between chemo treatments every other week and trying to deal with all the side effects of the chemo.  His company, family and friends have been so supportive through all of this.  If he is a match for the trial in Chapel Hill, we will have to travel to the hospital once a week for 6 weeks.  Any donation that is made to Scott will help with travel, medical expenses and to supplement his income when he is unable to work.