Friday, December 18, 2009

Starting the fight

I had the colonoscopy today. Yesterday's prep was a bit fraught - I threw up the the first lot of prep medication, so contacted the specialist. I had to go to hospital to have the rest of the prep stuff under supervision with anti-nausea meds and a drip. 32 hours of clear liquids only, followed by a 6 hour complete fast before the procedure. I'm home now and have had FOOD!

The procedure showed the bowel cancer is quite small and could be surgically removed, but this would mean I couldn't start chemo for 6 weeks. The surgeon recommends attacking the liver cancer with chemo first, because this may also result in reducing the bowel tumour. Of course I agreed - he has already said the liver cancer is inoperable because it is too diffuse.

We are seeing the oncologist on Monday. I will keep you posted on what happens next.

1 comment:

Nia Tilley said...

Dear Joan,
I was sorry to read the results of your tests and hope the treatment goes well. I have been follong your blog and love your work.
Have you heard of a fellow called Ian Gawler, he writes books on meditation and curing cancer? I find them really helpful just with the normal stresses of life so you may find them useful. He had an osteogenic tumor and is in complete remission. He runs a centre I think in Melbourne for people fighting cancer.
My thoughts are with you. All the very best, Nia