Pangea422's Journey with Colorectal (Colon) Cancer

Mom had the wrong type of insurance, so it didn't cover her colectomy surgery.

Mom lost a lot of weight and never gained it back even months after the surgery.

Started getting tons of bills from the doctors and hospitals in excess of $140,000 despite having "insurance."

Could never gain back weight after colectomy.

We were referred to an oncologist but her administrative staff was terrible and she didn't even recommend a PET scan so we had to go find a new oncologist. Waste of time.

Tired for the first week after Oxaliplatin and Avastin IV. 2 weeks of oral Zeloda to follow. Then 1 rest week for a total 3-week cycle.

On her second cycle of chemo, my mom experienced the inability to control her tongue for about 30 minutes as well as her right hand.

My mom just had a Petscan since starting treatment 3 1/2 months ago and the scan came back clean, meaning all the areas that were lit up before are no longer there! She was given the option to stop chemo, since she had such severe side effects, but doctor recommended a maintenance program, so she's still going to have Avastin infusion every 3 weeks, and take 2 pills of Xeloda a day for two weeks, then a week of rest. She feels better already, with this great news. She's stage IV, so doc says it's a matter of when it comes back, but I've heard stories of where it doesn't ever come back or it's taken years! Hopefully it never does. Thanks to everyone for their support on here!

mom went to the doctor back in february 2013 expecting to get scheduled for another petscan. her tumor markers came back at 4.0, the lowest it's ever been and within "normal" range. she's happy and doctor said, let's not scan since she's doing so well!