Scott Benoot Scott's journey to health

For those new to the site, here's the brief backstory....  Scott began to feel unwell earlier this year - abdominal pain and not fully digesting his food.  He saw his regular doctor, adjusted his diet, yet nothing helped.  In March he went to the ER with severe vomiting; upon being released and seeing his doctor, he was scheduled for a colonoscopy in May.  During this time (March - May), Scott was unable to truly eat - he had soft foods, small meals and often had a meal replacement drinks - all to avoid the pain that followed eating.  At the time of the colonoscopy, it was discovered he had a mass blocking the colon that prevented completion of the procedure.  They biopsied, and we learned that Scott had colon cancer.  We met with an oncologist and surgeon, both of whom recommended removal of the tumor as a first step.  Scott went in for surgery the first time two weeks later.  The approach was to be performed robotically; unfortunately, the tumor was too large to remove robotically and that the cancer had spread throughout his abdomen and peritoneum - the mass was too large to remove and the surgery was not completed.  Scott was scheduled for a second surgery two weeks later, at which time they resected the sigmoid colon and performed HIPEC (hypothermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy) in a 9-hour procedure.  They removed the surrounding lymph nodes, spleen, appendix and scraped his peritoneum.



The surgery was successful; Scott was discharged home where he experienced a very high heart rate and labored breathing for 3 days before being re-admitted to the hospital.  On Saturday, July 3, Scott returned to the ICU and was sedated and intubated to assist his breathing while numerous specialists were brought in to consult on Scott's case.  They've run countless tests and scans to determine what was causing his heart to race and his breathing to be so labored - sepsis, Empyema, Pneumonia, other infection.... it was all possible.  It was during his second stay in the ICU while sedated and ventilated that I began this site to track his progress and provide updates to family and friends.   You will see from my posts that the journey has been difficult and inconclusive - he completed 4 weeks of antibiotics to treat possible Empyema and shows no signs of infection at this time.  Scott now has a trach to support his vent; he will soon be moving from the ICU to a specialty care facility where they provide holistic care in hopes of restoring health and independence.... they will try to wean Scott from the vent, should his body be able to tolerate breathing on his own.


Thank you for your support along this journey, 
Scott and Stephanie