Chuck's Journey:
Survivor: Colorectal (Colon) Cancer
Patient Info: Finished active treatment more than 5 years ago, Diagnosed: almost 24 years ago, Male, KRAS mutation positive: Don't Know, BRAF mutation positive: Don't Know, Stage III
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Experience Icon Descriptions
Procedure: Drag this icon to show a procedure.
Radiation: Drag this icon to show a specific radiation therapy experience.
Drug Therapy: Drag this icon to show a specific drug therapy experience.
Clinical Trial: Drag this icon to show a clinical trial experience.
Side Effect: Drag this icon to show experience with a specific side effect.
Oh No: Drag this icon to show when something bad happened (e.g., cancer’s back, lost job).
Celebration: Drag this icon to show when something good happened (e.g., last treatment, hair is back).
Loss: Drag this icon to show a time of loss (e.g., lost hair, lost loved one).
Decision Point: Drag this icon to show a time when you had to make a tough decision.
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Diagnosed
Oh No
During my annual physical my doctor got a positive reading to a digital rectal exam and recommended I have a colonoscopy. That probably saved my life.
Removal of rectal tumor
Procedure or Surgery
The surgeon was able to use a titanium clamp device for the resection of the rectum. he said if it wasn't for that invention, I would have had a Colostomy.
Chemotherapy
Drug or Chemo Therapy
As a high school math teacher, I had to take a month off of school. I experienced minimal side effects from I believe it was called 9FU chemo. & radiation therapy (chemo, then radiation, then chemo). I got slighly naseous toward the end, but i believe I could actually smell the drug when I pulled into the parking lot.
External radiation
Radiation
I experienced no sexual problems until after the radiation started. I think the impact of radiation is felt in the long term.
Whether to have the chemo and radiation treatment
Decision Point
The surgeon who was excellent felt that he had removed all the cancerous tissue. He said a very diligent radiologist found a single cancerous cell in just one lymph node which is very unusual and that put it at a stage 3 vice 1. He said usually when it has spread there are thousands of cells and it almost jumps out at you under a microscope. My wife, who is a registered nurse, felt it would do more harm than goodd to go through with the chemo/radiation therapy recommended by my Oncologist who was also excellent. I asked my surgeon's advice. He said if I didn't go through with it and the cancer returned, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself. I agreed with him and went through with the recommended treatment.