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Hello to all of my friends at Top Shelf!! --___--
I must ask for prayer from my friends here. My dad who turned 75 last June. Has been in the hospital for the last week. They discovered he has colon cancer. I just had a chat with my brother on the severity of it. It is stage 3 or so. They have yet to look at the liver. They did take a 2' section out of the large intestine today on the 18th.
This is serious. I will be informed each day almost. It looks like I could be heading down South from the Orlando area where I live and take the four hour drive to Fort Myers this weekend. We are expecting the results of the biopsy of the liver on Friday afternoon. How much longer he has is not known at this moment. I will let you know with another blog entry tomorrow. Apparently there are limits to our bodies, provided we take care of them right.
This confirms that on both sides, mom's and dad's, we have colon cancer. I will be doing my first colon scope in a couple of months. I will be 52 in August.
My dad has had colonoscopy before. The doctors could have missed a polyup last time. It is not one hundred percent proof. Because the cleansing preparation is so evasive of the colon surface, it weakens it. Especially if you are older. It is only done every five years or so.
I will be out of contact with my friends here at Top Shelf for awhile. I am trying to contact as many as I can now. I will leave a message with my sisters at my Tri-Ess group as well here in Central Florida. I figure this blog entry will be the best way to leave this message to all my friends here.
Erin, I don't what the limit is for displaying responses here. But please stop when it does get there. I will print them out to read them later when I get back.
Plans can change. My first plan is to leave this Wednesday on the 24th after a half-days work. I was just informed I can us my vacation days between Christmas and New Years. They decided to close the business during that time. Then stay down there through New Years.
I do want to make another blog entry for the story that I am writing. Some of my friends here know what is going on. It has really blossomed to be an epic adventure with three books so far.
So, until tomorrow then. Take care everyone. Have a great Holiday time. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Drive safe, fly safe and be with your loved ones. Count your bleesings each day.
Rachel
(Rick)
Comments
Scoping - not too fun
I've had three now... My last found my first polyp... They've recently (in our area) changed what they were using to clean things out... It may be MUCH gentler on the system... But drinking the gallon of Go Lytly was NOT fun... And, the result, well I was clean. Leave it at that. (I'm also a little younger than you, though not much. *sighs*)
Sigma scopes are less fun - cause you're awake for them... But less uselful.
Finding a polyup doesn't imply cancer... My dad's had polyups removed almost every scopy - for over 30 years. Can they miss things.. Yeah. But, Colon cancer can be very agressive. My uncle had a 6 inch section of his colon removed over a decade ago, and is still going strong as a result - and still cancer free. So, despite the diagnosis your family and dad have hope.
My best wishes and prayers do go to you and your family in this difficult time.
Annette
Our thoughts are with you and your family
and hope for the best possible outcome. Hopefully the liver is cancer free.
Annette, next time ask them for an alternative to the go lyty --- Gawd awful stuff, I will never, ever do that again. Last time I used a mix of Ducalax, and some stuff from Fleet, and the Fleet enema. Not pleasant, but no-where near as bad as the Go Lyty.
That stuff is like drinking ungeled gelatine. Doesn't taste bad, but I could not keep it down. I was reduced to crying inconsolably by the time I got 2 thirds through, and could not finish it.
Hugs,
Kristy
Go Lightly my ass
More like Go Like Hell!whoever came up with that name was a really sick puppy.
It was a gallon and had the taste and texture of whale snot and you had to drink the whole damn thing. A year later I found out it also came in orange flavor.. oh thank you.
They used to give you that stuff the night before your SRS, you start to pace yourself figuring out it is so many 8oz glasses so if I start at such and such time I should drink one glass every 10 min, then it starts. You finally resign yourself to your butt and leggs going numb from sitting on the toilet and pouring whale snot in one end, changing its color and expelling it with great velocity out the other. I think when I crawled off the gurney onto the operating table I was afraid I still had to go. I swear some of my brains came out, it just would not stop.
Kristy, I got to my last glass and in contempt I poured it down the drain.
-Christine
Mom ignored her cancer and we were too afraid to ask her about .
her obviously swollen neck unti it was too late.
An easily treated thyroid tumor spread and killed her. I still kick myself in the ass for not being brave enough to say. "Mom, you neck is all wrong, we are going into the hospitsl tomorrow for a diagnosis even if you disown me". I could have saved her if I'd been less timid. God forgive me.
I suspect dad feels much the same. He came close to willing himslef to die but my disabled late sister Ann was still alive and he felt responcible for her. When she died barely six months after mom I feared he'd fold but he snapped back among the living.
Everything I write is inspired by these losses. Ann who never had the chance to be what she might have been and mom who gave up so much to be our mother. Bless them both.
John in Wauwatosa
P.S. What I mean by this is, see to the health of your family first.
John in Wauwatosa
I'll spare you
The painful descriptions of my colonoscopy prep. But the doctor says it's now down to 10 years between "exams". Small consolation.
You have my prayers and thoughts for you, your father, and the rest of your family. I lost my father several years ago, and have almost lost my mother twice in the last month. I can identify all too well the emotions you are feeling. Take care, drive carefully, and give your father a big hug when you get there. Tell him he's got a big support network.
God Bless,
Karen J.
"Being a girl is wonderful and to torture someone into that would be like the exact opposite of what it's like. I don’t know how anyone could act that way." College Girl - poetheather
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
I'll be praying for you and your family
Rachel,
I will be praying for your father, your family, and you through this difficult time. I pray you find healing and peace. May God, in His infinite compassion, be with you and your family.
Beth
I do hope
That the doctors got it all and the cancer hasn't spread further, Rachel. I nearly lost my own father twice in past eight years so I know how you must be feeling just now.
Oh, I had my first colonoscopy not too long ago and was fortunately able to completely avoid the poorly named Go-Lytely. I used some sodium phosphate concoction from fleets and though it wasn't comfortable, it wasn't nearly as horrible as what I've heard about the other.
So, take care of family stuff, then worry about the rest of us here.
Maggie
I will keep a good thought for your Dad, Rachel.
I'm not a particularly religious person, but I'll send all the positive vibes I can to your Father.
I hope your holiday season is a joyeous one.
Soft hugs from,
Catherine Linda Michel
As a T-woman, I do have a Y chromosome... it's just in cursive, pink script.
Hopes and Prayers
My prayers are with your father and your family Rachel.
hugs!
grover