The Challenge Ahead!

  Hello Again!!! July 18, 2017.....Tuesday Wow, can you believe this weather!! What winter?? Bad??? Wha?? Anyway, had my appointment with the radiation oncologist today, Dr Terry Stucklass. She was fabulous, exactly what I want in a doctor. A great communicator, explained things, options thoroughly, straight to the point, and a genuinely nice person. The Coles Notes version of the meeting is that I am going to have 5 straight days of intensive radiation. One week to rest up, then surgery is booked ( as of now) for August 16th.  I have to have a CT scan within the next 5 days to pinpoint where I will exactly receive the radiation. I will be tatooed and those markings will be used for each session. She confirmed that this is Stage Three cancer, which I already knew. Hopefully when the nodes are removed during surgery and sent to pathology, it will remain Three. She did say that on my prior CT Scan and MRI cancer was not not detected in other areas. She said our go...

                                                                  Hello Again Sorry to take so long between posts but there hasn't been anything to report. Things are moving too slowly for my liking but I have to be patient. Anyway, yesterday I had another colonoscophy. This was done by the surgeon, Chris Smith, he is a nice guy and instills confidence in me. He talked to Sharon and I after and indicated that this is a very complicated surgery, very serious indeed, but he believes it is doable. During the surgery he may have to change plan as he sees fit, this could include the possibility of a colostomy. At this point, whatever it takes I am willing to ...

                                                                Tempus Fugit !!!!!   Hello again everyone!  My oh my, the above photo wasn't taken yesterday....that's for sure, more like 40 years ago in Montreal..... Anyway back to business, this past Monday I had my MRI done which finished the required testing. It was a waiting game as to when I would get to see the surgeon. I finally got the call and the appointment was set for Thursday morning at 10:15. I had no idea what to expect going in. I was hoping for the best but I was prepared for the worst. It was a pretty good meeting, about 45 mins. It was definite that the biopsies confirmed that it was cancer, and also in the nodes. It won't be ...

Hi Everyone, Sorry I have been so long between posts but I am really still waiting for the data to be gathered. Sharon was talking to Dr Felix this morning and the CT scan shows there is some Lymph Node involvement but no spread to the liver, which I am to interpret as being on the good side of news. The results of the biopsies are still not back, seems like a long time but what do I know! Hopefully they will be back next week and I will have a meeting with the surgeon soon. Otherwise life goes on as normal! I have been spending time with Adrienne and Jennifer, they have been excellent, in touch with their dad every day. Sharon and I have been carrying on as normal, and I must say, that at this point, I feel really calm about it all ( you never know how you will react until it hits you ), I sleep well every night, I do not dwell or think about it much at all, whatever is going to happen is going to happen....it's out of my hands and I have 110% confidence in our health system...

I received a call from the  Cancer screening program and my sample was abnormal. So they scheduled a colonoscopy for me on June 9, this past Friday. The results were not good, I talked to the doctor after and I was informed that I had colon cancer. So there is somewhat of a struggle ahead but with all your support we will deal with it.  I will post updates as they become available. Thanks for all your concern. Cya John