My mother had breast cancer years ago, so as a result of this family history, you can understand why I ABSOLUTELY freaked out when a very hard and painful lump shaped like a kidney bean magically appeared in my left under arm out of nowhere. This fun little event happened exactly one week after I Read more
I can recall my first consultation appointments with my radiation oncologist and my colorectal surgeon at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America back in January as if it were yesterday. Even though I admit that I cried through the beginning of each appointment, and my head was still swirling in the clouds from my diagnosis…I Read more
So……. I was going to make my first official blog post after my absence about how long it took for my tumor to show signs of shrinking. But alas, another subject has struck a cord with me and I want to talk about it now while it is fresh in my mind. I wanted to Read more
Hi everyone! I know, I know……long time no post. After my simultaneous radiation and chemo treatments ended on March 2nd, I needed some time to decompress and focus on recovering before my surgery. This involved lots of sleep, long hot baths, massages, walks, and trying to eat healthy. Ahhhh, sounds pretty good, right? And, quite Read more
“Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food”a quote from Hippocrates (father of medicine, BC 431) I totally agree with my Greek friend Hippocrates! I really do believe that you are what you eat. In a perfect world we would all have clean, affordable (not like the crazy priced organic stuff we are Read more
Hi all! I wanted to share a really great pamphlet that I picked up on Colorectal Cancer on my last day of radiation treatment at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Philly. It does a good job summarizing the critical information you should be aware of. Please share this knowledge with everyone you know. Read more
Ahhhhh side effects. Don’t you just love them? To borrow a quote from Forrest Gump…… side effects “are like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get!” Doctors go through these long laundry lists of things that MIGHT happen to you…making your head spin….but you don’t really know what you are going Read more
I really had no idea what to expect when my radiology oncologist told me during my three day orientation that I’d need 5 1/2 weeks of radiation treatments to attempt to kill and shrink my tumor, and attempt to eradicate any cancer in the surrounding rectal lymph nodes (the type of radiation I was given is Read more
Do you know what someone who has been diagnosed with cancer is thinking about? I’ll tell you! From the day of diagnosis to at least a week afterwards….your ONLY thought is “am I going to DIE”? This phrase repeats over and over and over and over. You become obsessed with it. At least that is Read more
I remember my first contact with them well. On December 20th I was online checking out the Cancer Treatment Centers of America’s (CTCA) website, and decided to start a chat with them via text. My only goal at this point was to ask them what their protocol was for treating stage 3 rectal cancer. I Read more
