Chuck's Journey:

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.

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.

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.

I experienced no sexual problems until after the radiation started. I think the impact of radiation is felt in the long term.

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.