Hi, everyone. Welcome to my website and thanks for stopping by. We are using it to keep family and friends updated as we embark upon this journey. I want to be sure everyone, especially those just learning of my diagnosis, are able to get the facts directly from me so you are not forced to rely on social media or word-of-mouth conversation. For those of you who have been in contact with me ahead of the site, I want to personally thank you for the abundance of prayers and words of encouragement. Your support is more than appreciated, it is fuel for the fight! 💪
I guess you could say life has changed for me very quickly. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I had trouble passing a bowel movement, in fact, I couldn't go at all. This, coupled with the fact that I had irregular bowel movements for the past several months, proved to be a good indication to get it checked out. On November 29th, I visited a stand-alone emergency care facility and they found a 7.5cm abscess in my sigmoid colon. I was immediately admitted to the Stone Oak Methodist Hospital. I personally thought I would undergo a simple procedure to drain the infection, take a few antibiotics, and be on my way. How wrong was I? After a CT Scan and a Flexible Sigmoidoscopy (partial colonoscopy), not only did they see the abscess, but they also found a large mass which appeared to be isolated, otherwise known as stage 1-2 cancer. The plan was to remove the infected area (approximately 12" to include the abscess and cancerous mass), reconnect the colon, and send me on my way. Wrong again. 🙄 12" of my colon was removed as planned, however, it was at this time they were able to inspect the entire cavity which indicated the cancer was, in fact, stage 4, as it had spread to the small intestines. 😳 The formal diagnosis is called COLORECTAL SIGNET-RING CELL CARCINOMA, very rare and very aggressive type of cancer. So rare, this cancer makes up less than 1% of all cases as it commonly goes unnoticed as there are no symptoms. It also likes to attach itself to younger individuals, primarily without a history of cancer.
So, what I thought would be a simple outpatient procedure, ended up as stage 4 cancer, 2-surgical procedures, 11-days in the hospital, 1-colostomy, dozens of antibiotics, prescriptions, blood draws, and an undetermined number of chemotherapy sessions to look forward to. Wow! Right? It is just now registering that this is real.
