Brian Noland

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Brian's story began in March 2018. He had some abdominal pain that would not go away. He went to Dr and was sent to have a CT scan. CT scan indicated inflammation in the intestines (diagnosis - diverticulitis). His Dr wanted to go ahead and schedule a colonoscopy to be safe.  On April 5th, our life changed. Brian was diagnosed with colon cancer. The mass was as large as your fist according to the Dr. He was sent to a surgeon and had surgery to remove the mass on May 2nd. During the surgery, the Dr found additional cancer in the small intestines and removed it as well as 37 lymph nodes. One week later, on May 9th, Brian underwent emergency surgery due to complications. They found a tear in the duodenum. 


Brian spent 9 weeks in CCU. He was on the ventilator twice during this time. I was told each time he was not going to pull through, but after a long talk with him, he did! He spent 99 days in the hospital. He came home on August 8th on 2 IVs, Feeding tube and 2 drains. Home Health trained me to care for him. He had nothing to eat or drink at this point since April 30. He was finally given the ok to start clear liquid diet on Sept 4th (his bday). He has slowly been able to get back to a regular diet with a few restrictions. 


Brian was unable to start chemo due to the complications from surgery. During this time, we had several CT scans and a PET CT scan. The scans show that the cancer has spread into the liver and lungs. It was too risky NOT to start chemo at this point. Brian had his first chemo treatment September 19th. He has a chemo pump that he comes home with for 2 days as well. Overall, the chemo went fine with only nausea and fatigue as a side effect. 


On September 27th, he had the drains and feeding tube removed. Later in the evening, he developed a fever and chills, and was admitted to the hospital due to possible infection. He was able to come home Sunday, September 30th. He is doing well and resting. He will have chemo again this week.  I will post weekly on how he is doing.


Thanks again to our family and amazing friends who have helped us so much during this journey. I only hope we can repay you one day for your generosity and kindness.