I was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer
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I was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer
I don't think it's WIOT, but whatever, this is for the friends I have on here who aren't on facebook.
Several months ago, I noticed I was having a hard time keeping up with my wife on our morning bike rides. I assumed she was getting faster, or perhaps I was just falling out of shape. I was also unmotivated to go out to many shows, so I thought my lack of activity was contributing to me being out of shape. Figuring I just needed to exercise more, I bought some sneakers and pants, and started some nightly jogging with my wife. However, I noticed I really couldn't run at all, my legs hurt, my chest was pounding, and it was all kind of scary. I started noticing I was getting dizzier in general, and even had a hard time climbing stairs. We figured perhaps this wasn't just winter laziness, and that I should probably see a doctor.
I found a doctor in my neighborhood, and went in for a physical and some blood tests. My physical was fine, but when the tests came back, they showed I had a 5.3 hemoglobin level, far below the minimum of 12 or 13 that a healthy person should have. Since I wasn't shitting blood, and didn't have any noticeable pain, my doctor assumed that perhaps I just had a tiny tear in my intestine, and that I had slowly been leaking blood all winter. He had the same thing happen to him recently, but he's 89, and had colon cancer. I'm 37, so he never even thought that would be an option with me. Still, he ordered a colonoscopy.
The colonoscopy didn't find any tear, but instead found a 12 cm tumor. A couple days after my 37th birthday, I was getting the news that I had colon cancer. Further tests are scheduled, and two weeks later I had surgery scheduled as well, but a few days before surgery I had to be admitted early because the intestine around the tumor had become swollen, and I couldn't piss or take a dump. I was admitted Friday, May 18th. The couple of days before my pissing was slowing to a damn near stop, though I was still chugging water. I hurt so bad, when I was admitted I was given a catheter, where I immediately filled a 2000 ml bag with urine. Getting a catheter put in was no fun, but the relief was immediate.
On May 21st I underwent 90 minutes of laparoscopic colon resection, followed by 90 minutes of open surgery. They removed 3 feet of large intestine, some lymph nodes, and a tiny bit of my stomach. It was found that I had Stage 3 colon cancer. After a grand total of 11 days in the hospital, I'm finally home, and back on the Reeelapse board. I spent a while catching up on the Dutko thread! I missed it a lot!
Anyhoo, I'm slowly healing up. I'll have a gnarly scar to show off on the beach when my wife and I go to Maui. I can also say I have a new perspective on pain, as this was THE worst thing I've ever had to deal with. The six hours right after surgery were some of the worst I've ever experienced. Luckily my doc was awesome, and generous with the morphine, so the next few days were somewhat of a breeze. Sort of. I was on a clear liquid diet for all 11 days, and for five of them only drank tiny sips of water. Currently I'm working my way back up to solid foods. Slowly.
Here's a pic of me and my scar a few days after surgery:
Several months ago, I noticed I was having a hard time keeping up with my wife on our morning bike rides. I assumed she was getting faster, or perhaps I was just falling out of shape. I was also unmotivated to go out to many shows, so I thought my lack of activity was contributing to me being out of shape. Figuring I just needed to exercise more, I bought some sneakers and pants, and started some nightly jogging with my wife. However, I noticed I really couldn't run at all, my legs hurt, my chest was pounding, and it was all kind of scary. I started noticing I was getting dizzier in general, and even had a hard time climbing stairs. We figured perhaps this wasn't just winter laziness, and that I should probably see a doctor.
I found a doctor in my neighborhood, and went in for a physical and some blood tests. My physical was fine, but when the tests came back, they showed I had a 5.3 hemoglobin level, far below the minimum of 12 or 13 that a healthy person should have. Since I wasn't shitting blood, and didn't have any noticeable pain, my doctor assumed that perhaps I just had a tiny tear in my intestine, and that I had slowly been leaking blood all winter. He had the same thing happen to him recently, but he's 89, and had colon cancer. I'm 37, so he never even thought that would be an option with me. Still, he ordered a colonoscopy.
The colonoscopy didn't find any tear, but instead found a 12 cm tumor. A couple days after my 37th birthday, I was getting the news that I had colon cancer. Further tests are scheduled, and two weeks later I had surgery scheduled as well, but a few days before surgery I had to be admitted early because the intestine around the tumor had become swollen, and I couldn't piss or take a dump. I was admitted Friday, May 18th. The couple of days before my pissing was slowing to a damn near stop, though I was still chugging water. I hurt so bad, when I was admitted I was given a catheter, where I immediately filled a 2000 ml bag with urine. Getting a catheter put in was no fun, but the relief was immediate.
On May 21st I underwent 90 minutes of laparoscopic colon resection, followed by 90 minutes of open surgery. They removed 3 feet of large intestine, some lymph nodes, and a tiny bit of my stomach. It was found that I had Stage 3 colon cancer. After a grand total of 11 days in the hospital, I'm finally home, and back on the Reeelapse board. I spent a while catching up on the Dutko thread! I missed it a lot!
Anyhoo, I'm slowly healing up. I'll have a gnarly scar to show off on the beach when my wife and I go to Maui. I can also say I have a new perspective on pain, as this was THE worst thing I've ever had to deal with. The six hours right after surgery were some of the worst I've ever experienced. Luckily my doc was awesome, and generous with the morphine, so the next few days were somewhat of a breeze. Sort of. I was on a clear liquid diet for all 11 days, and for five of them only drank tiny sips of water. Currently I'm working my way back up to solid foods. Slowly.
Here's a pic of me and my scar a few days after surgery:
- monsterod
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Re: I was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer
wait so is it gone totally or what? fucking scary shit. glad all is at least better.
turn these off meatman.
- The Torsion
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- Tony Twist
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Re: I was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer
Wow, that seemed to have gone from point A to point B so quick. Good to see you're OK. Are you all in the clear now or is there a bunch of followups still to come?
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- Sweet Lord _______
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Re: I was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer
i care bro. just cause we don't know each other don't mean nothin.
get better.
get better.
- hipster holocaust
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Re: I was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer
SHIT. To say you're a fucking trooper is an understatement. Colon cancer at 37? Jesus Christ. Stories like this make me realize how much I need to see a doctor.
Good luck on the road to recovery man
Were/are you covered at least?
Good luck on the road to recovery man
Were/are you covered at least?
- riley-o
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Re: I was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer
hope things stay positive for you dan.
HEAD BOPPAZ RECORDS YOU BITCH-ASS HOES
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Re: I was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer
To the naked eye, it's all gone. But it had started spreading to lymph nodes, so that's kinda scary. I start chemo in a few week, maybe a month, just as soon as I'm well enough to handle it. I'll probably get a port put in my chest before I start. Hopefully the chemo will kill any cancer that's too small to be seen by my surgeon.
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Re: I was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer
do it, dan.
- hipster holocaust
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Re: I was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer
And by the way if you're looking for a good thread to get into look no further
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=47808
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=47808
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Re: I was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer
Yes, I have insurance luckily. And my general doctor has been a real help at handpicking out my surgeons, they were the ones he chose to do his operation. My hospital was as awesome as I could hope. I had a private room and was allowed to have my wife stay with me, my nurses were all incredibly nice, and like I wrote, they were very generous with the morphine.hipster holocaust wrote:SHIT. To say you're a fucking trooper is an understatement. Colon cancer at 37? Jesus Christ. Stories like this make me realize how much I need to see a doctor.
Good luck on the road to recovery man
Were/are you covered at least?
- monsterod
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- hipster holocaust
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Re: I was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer
What would you compare the worst pain to? (sorry I'm forcing you to revisit old memories but to say it was the worst pain you've ever felt is pretty intense)
- The Torsion
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Re: I was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer
Maybe this makes me a bad person but I lauhed a little bit when I saw "some" in your first post.
Haha,
- DanBehavingBadly
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Re: I was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer
Too soon for "badass" jokes?
- the awesome Assassin
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Re: I was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer
Nobody cares about you... You could stop posting (please do) for 3 years and no one would give a shit...
- hipster holocaust
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Re: I was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer
Thanks for quoting him DICK!
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Re: I was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer
Holy hell, man, I hope they got it all and you're on the road to a long healthy life.
- hipster holocaust
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Re: I was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer
I expected this post from you (or at least a similar board troll), which is part of the reason I never posted this before. Whatever you may think, this whole thing has blown me away with the amount of support I got. I'm usually one to think that no one would care about me or my problems, but I've been proven wrong, far, far wrong. Anyway, you have a melted face and only Erkdick13 cares about you. Get the aids and die already.the awesome Assassin wrote:Nobody cares about you... You could stop posting (please do) for 3 years and no one would give a shit...
- hipster holocaust
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Re: I was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer
I wonder if anyone actually gets insecure after reading his brilliant posts
- Wang Mandu
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Re: I was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer
Fucking cancer, man. Get well and I hope everything works out for you.
BUNGVOX wrote:solo hanneman / solo mengele
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Re: I was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer
hipster holocaust wrote:What would you compare the worst pain to? (sorry I'm forcing you to revisit old memories but to say it was the worst pain you've ever felt is pretty intense)
I don't know what to compare it to, except it humbled me greatly. I was expecting to be in the recovery room for an hour after surgery, but instead was in there for over 4 hours, waking up to what felt like the worst pain ever and no pain meds at all. Every breath was shallow and hurt like fucking crazy. I would have cried if I was the crying sort. They cut me open and took half my intestine, and then I didn't get the right pain meds. I couldn't move, and felt like I couldn't breathe. After a while, my anesthesiologist came and realized something was wrong, and I think got me on something different. Then I was wheeled to a room, and had to move onto my regular bed. This involved tilting me, which killed and was not something I could do on my own, a board was wedged under me, and then I was slid into my proper bed. It all hurt so bad, even though the nurses were as gentle as could be. I still couldnt take deep breathes, and still hurt once I was on the morphine. I got a steady dose via a epidural, as well as a button I could push every six minutes for a 1mg dose. That wasn't cutting it, I still felt like I was ripped wide open, but my doctor doubled my dose. I got 2mg every six minutes, and double the dose in my epidural, and finally was able to get ahead of the pain, and could even sleep for short bursts. A couple days later I was just having fun sometimes with the morphine, I was a bit loopy one day. My wife thought it was pretty funny. I was stoned as fuck off that stuff. Things have calmed down somewhat, I still ache like crazy. I'm nervous about sleeping at home for the first time tonight. Every time I cough it feels like I'm getting short, quick punches right in the incision. My doctor gave me vicodin, but really I'm done with it all, unless things REALLY start hurting again.
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Re: I was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer
Of course...HASHTHRASH wrote: I was stoned as fuck off that stuff.
- the awesome Assassin
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Re: I was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer
Of course...HASHTHRASH wrote:I was just having fun sometimes with the morphine, .