Fight of a Lifetime

Now that Ray and I are 5 months into his battle against Stage IV Colon Cancer, my heart breaks each time I hear from someone who just received the same diagnosis, or has a loved one who just received the same diagnosis. They are desperate for information, wanting to know who to turn to, and where to look, and wanting to know what all these new words really mean.

Being thrust into the world of colon cancer feels like someone plucked you out of your life and dropped you into a land where everyone speaks a foreign language. Even the most caring and considerate oncologist cannot give you all the information you want and need, along with detailed explanations, at your first appointment. 

Explaining Stage IV Colon Cancer is relatively easy. You understand, when the doctor tells you there is a primary tumor, one tumor that started the whole ordeal and that it is located in the colon. You hear the dreaded word 'metastatic' and understand it means cancer that has spread to distant organs. (Ray cannot stand to have that word used in his presence. It was the first 'cancer word' he had to learn.) You understand, most of us for the first time, that the cancer in the liver, the lymph nodes, and/or wherever else it has spread, is all colon cancer.

Hearing the prognosis is another matter altogether. Suddenly, the life you had planned to live, your future, your hopes and dreams, are gone. You are left with a very short window in which to live out your life. By the time the doctor gets to the treatment part, your brain is already on information overload and your heart is about to burst from the pain of it all.

Even the simplest of terms send questions screaming through your brain. Chemo? What exactly IS chemo? There are different kinds of chemo? We have chemo options? What are our options?

The first time Ray's oncologist wrote down the different chemo treatment options, she went through each one, telling us the names of the drugs and how they were administered - some in IV form, some in pill form, some with a combination of both. We had never heard the names of the drugs before. How could Ray choose an option when neither of us had any idea, what any of the options meant? Ray asked her, "If you were in my position, which option would you choose for yourself". That was how he chose his course of treatment.

I spent the better part of each day researching colon cancer, researching treatment options, and trying to put it into terms I could understand, and in turn, explain to Ray and to our family and friends. Now, we're proactive. We ask informed questions and make informed decisions.

Getting to this point however, has been a fear-filled and arduous journey. We're still fearful of the road ahead. To date, there is no cure for Stage IV Colon Cancer. But there is a ton of research money in this field and the longer Ray is alive, there is a chance that a cure, or a life-extending drug will come down the pipeline.

Until then, we will remain diligent and up to date on everything related to Stage IV Colon Cancer.

Terri McPherson Buckley

Email:  terri@wisehearts.com