Three Years & Counting on the Cancer Front

[michael]

Duane,
I ran across your messages on the cancer subject by accident (or serendipity) as I explore the internet's data base to dispel my own ignorance. I go under Dr. Choti's knife for stomach cancer in a couple of weeks and your comments are an inspiration to me as I head into an unknown future. Thanks more than I can say.

Mike

[drcollie]

Hey Mike,

Your in the best of hands with Doc C...tell him I said "HI" and ask him why he's still driving that Lexus?! Seriously though - its a tough nut to be 2 weeks out from surgery, I know. Life comes at you in a countdown rush. Have you had a major surgery before? If so, you know the drill and if not - feel free to PM me on it. The nursing staff at Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Hopkins is second to none. I had ZERO complications, not a one. Bring boatloads of attitude with you and decide to crush the beast within - whatever they tell you do to post-op decide to it better than any one else. They want you to walk to the room door - grit it out and make it to the nurses station. They want you to walk the corridor, do the whole floor. Be a partner in treatment, not just a patient. Yes, the first couple of days post -op will be pretty miserable, but it won't last forever. And you have to get released from there as soon as possible because the food there is terrible and you will think a Subway sandwich is a gourmet treat afterwards.

If you're going to Choti, you've done your homework and are making your own future. He is one of the finest cancer-gut surgeons in the country, even if he's always late for his appointments <G>. And you're in the cleanest, safest hospital in the USA for surgery. So right there you've stacked the odds in your favor in a huge way. Cancer is pretty scary. But as you've probably already read - I was told I was terminal with Stage IV cancer 5.5 years ago with a life expectancy of 12 months and no hope for surgery. Not willing to accept that death diagnosis I made my way to Doc C after pouring over hundreds of hours on the internet studying my particular cancer and well - here I am today with it completely gone thanks to That Man from Hopkins with the skilled blade. That's a long ways from supposed-to-be-dead by 2007 - and obviously I'm not. I know you will do well. Don't be fearful, look at the upcoming surgery as the way to rid your body of the disease and be on your way back to a normal life. And as I tell all my cancer brothers and sisters - remember what Winston Churchill once said:

"If you're going through Hell - keep going".

Check back in with us post op...tell us how it went.

Best to you - and kick cancer's butt....