Konda Kaiser Konnie Kaiser

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This is my story. My journey through my life with stage iv colon cancer. I promise to be as open an honest with emotions and effects this has had one me. Feel free to come back and visit as often as you like. I promise to update this as long as I am able.     My story began August 17th 2016.  I went into the Er after a few days of stomach cramps that progressively got worse.  And no bowel movement in a week.  Upon getting there they took a ct scan of my abdomen. As we waited it took about an hour for results. A PA came in and bluntly told us ( my husband and i ) That I had colon cancer stage iv because they could also see lesions in my liver.  Honestly I had a bad feeling this was what it was but not as bad as it was.  My grandpa Red died of Colon cancer.  Roger and I sat and cried for awhile as we called our parents.  I was to have surgery on the 18th to remove my colon. On the 17th my life changed for good.  My parents arrived at the hospital that evening. I had to call my sister and brothers. I made my mom do it. I could not. Ann my mother in law arrived the day of surgery.  The night before surgery my son Roger III stayed with me. We talked of his life and promises of moving on with life together. It was night I will forever remember.  So on the 18th I had a colon resection done that left me with a colostomy. My first major issue with this cancer.  The Surgeon Dr. Cain left enough colon to reattach at a later date if approved. ( Not Yet)  The oncologists that kept coming in kept saying I would be on palliative chemo the rest of my life. Sounded so bad but I still did not fully understand the meaning.  So anyways  I went home after 4 days of recovery. I was not to return to work. I was to start Chemo as soon as I got medical insurance. It took 2 months to get insurance. Medicaid would not approve me til my disability was approved. Those 2 months Were the scariest for me not knowing if i was going to die before I got any treatment.  But I was lucky and all worked out. I think some of the scariest medical term  are cancer related.  My first day of Chemo I was scared!!!  No lying there. I didnt know what to expect but that I was feeding my body poison to kill the cancer.   But Southern Cancer Center in Foley put me at ease. If it weren't for my Chemo nurses talking me through everything it might have been worse.  Sorry I jumped the gun. I had to have another minor surgery before Chemo. I needed a power port placed. For those of you that dont know a power port is a port placed under the skin kinda like a pacemaker but it is to put a IV directly into a main vein.  Mine is placed on my left chest where a pacemaker would be placed.  My first day of Chemo I learned this is where they will draw my blood every Chemo session. If my blood counts were good I would have Chemo if not they would postpone it a week and try again.  I have been very lucky and this has only happened once so far.  I am on Folfox Chemo which is nausea meds, steroids, Avastin, oxilipatin , and 5 fu pump that goes home with me. and iv attached for 48 hrs at home.  I am one of the few that tolerated this Chemo with no real side effects.  The Oxi causes neuropathy in hands and feet and cause freezer burn when touching something cold.  My body got use to this drug and the sensations went away after a few sessions.  Oxi is one of the CHemo drugs that effect everyone different and people are usually taken off by cycle 8.   Anyways after 6 Chemo sessions they did my first scan after diagnosis. Everything had shrunk. Not majorly but enough to know this Chemo was the right one for me.  Even tho this was good news to me my Oncologist continued to tell me that I will still and always be palliative Chemo. Still I  thought my  cancer would go into remission. I continued Chemo and after my 12th another scan. Things were still shrinking but I still got the same reply,   So this time we got a copy of the scan and read through it. Roger read it first before it dawned on me what i was reading. And now we understood better.  I am on Palliative Chemo because I have several tumors.  in my liver. They told me multiple in the beginning but I truly never thought I had more then 3 at max. But no I had 10 larger ones and several small ones that can not be measured.