My first blog. Where to
begin? I will start at the beginning. Bear with me as I share some details that
I think are important.
A few months ago, the
exact number is fuzzy, I began to see some slight changes in my bowel habits.
Some diarrhea, a little bloating, some very light bleeding that I attributed to
a possible external hemorrhoid. I was so very busy at work, I chose to ignore
them as they were not extreme and could be dismissed as nothing important. In
addition, I had met the most amazing man ever and really didn’t want to be
distracted with little, unimportant issues. I decided to stick with my life
philosophy: ignore it and it will go away.
It didn’t. On February
16th, I went to the bathroom and was shocked to see a toilet filled
with blood. Was this just a bad hemorrhoid? Yep…no! Wait!! What’s going on?
That’s an awful lot of blood. Don’t panic, I’m sure it’s normal…those were the
thoughts that ran through my mind. The next morning I called and made a doctor
appt. My doc was out for the week, so I saw his PA (Physician's Assistant).
At my appointment with the PA, I answered
several questions about why I was there. Then the PA did a
DRE (digital rectal exam) and she said she felt an internal hemorrhoid. She
prescribed a steroid suppository and said to call her if the bleeding didn’t
stop and she would script a colonoscopy. I asked her to script a colonoscopy
that day so I could get it scheduled as I wanted to get this handled quickly.
She begrudgingly complied. Well, the suppositories worked and the bleeding
stopped. Whew!! Crisis averted!! But, I decided since I was 57 and 6.5 years
from the last colonoscopy, I would just get one as a precaution. I
called and requested that she script for that, but she pushed back because my
last colonoscopy June 2007, was completely clean. Not one polyp. I pushed, she
relented. On March 6th I had a preventative colonoscopy. As I
was waking up from anesthesia Dr. North came and shared with me and Mike that
she found a polyp in the sigmoid and removed it and she announced that I had a
tumor. A cancerous tumor. Inside my body. My body. Really? I eat healthy,
exercise and had a perfect colonoscopy in 2007 and was told to come back in 10
years!!! She referred us to a surgeon.
The next day we got a
call from Dr. North saying the type of cancer had changed based on the pathology
report. Instead of rectal cancer, it was anal cancer. It was a squamous cell
carcinoma. Yes, it’s what Farrah Fawcett had…and died of. She now referred us
to an oncologist. Damn! It’s officially cancer! No telling myself I just had a
growth that needed to be removed. I had my first melt down. But, I recovered
quickly and decided to go dancing with my sweetheart that night. What a surreal
evening that was. I had cancer and I was dancing. I felt fine. How could I have
cancer? That’s what happens to other people…not ME!!
Well, the whirlwind
began. Mike and I were on a path of learning about cancer. There is so much we
never knew and I’m going to share all of it with you.
Our first meeting was
with Dr. Moore, an oncologist in Fort Collins on March 11. Everything seemed to
move at a snail’s pace. No one, absolutely no one had the same sense of urgency
I did. I have cancer!!! Get this damn thing out of me!!! Dr. Moore was a unique
individual. He told us that based on the size of the tumor I was at stage 2. He
ordered more tests including a PET scan, that was scheduled for March 13th and
he wanted us to meet with the radiation oncologist. He explained that anal
cancer was very, very rare (less than .05% of all cancers diagnosed each year
are anal cancer) and that the treatment had not changed much in many years. I
would receive radiation every day for 6 weeks and two rounds of chemo. I went
to the PET scan appt and was enthralled by the process. Pretty easy…
The next day, Friday
March 14th, we met with Dr. Moore. He said the PET scan showed a 3.5
cm tumor right where the rectum and anus merge. That’s why it was difficult to
determine which one it was. But, the pathology report showed squamous cells,
which meant it was anal. He also noted that my lymph nodes were enlarged, but
they did not show cancer. So, he wanted another test. A transrectal
unltrasound. Ok….
The following Monday we
met with Dr. Petit, the radiation oncologist. He explained the radiation
process. It’s quite interesting. They make a mold of me from my waist down,
they line me up and place 4 tattoo’d spots on me so that they can align the
machines the exact same way every day. He said the transrectal ultrasound was
not needed as it would not impact his treatment protocol. He cancelled it. Ok….
While I was setting up
these appts and meeting with docs, I also set up appts for a second opinion at
University of Colorado Hospital. The primary oncologist, Dr. Messersmith, was
on vacation. So, I set up an appt with him, upon his return, and also set up one
with a radiation oncologist. We met with her on March 17th. Because
it’s a teaching school we saw the Chief Resident first. She was delightful and
provided far more info than Dr. Petit. Then Dr. Schefter came in. She was
wonderful. She checked me physically and determined that I was Stage 3 with a 4
cm tumor. She recommended a different chemo, as the Mytomicin C that Dr. Moore
wanted to use is very hard on the bone marrow and required close monitoring.
She was THOROUGH in her description and communication about what would happen during
and after chemo and radiation. Dr. Schefter said they treat 30+ cases like mine, each year compared with less than 5 per year at Dr. Moore's office in N. Colorado. With such a rare cancer, Mike and I decided, even though it was a very,
very long drive to University of CO hospital, I would get better treatment
there. Decision made.
