My Cancer Story

I've been very healthy and active my whole life and most times when I get a cold or other sickness, waiting it out works for me and eventually I'm feeling better without intervention.  When the "waiting it out" wasn't working for me over the summer of 2014, I finally went to see a gastrointestinal doctor, who recommended a colonoscopy.

Two days later the call came.  Positive for colorectal cancer.  Thirty minutes later the office called and gave me appointments to see a surgeon, radiologist and oncologist.  Not what does your schedule look like the next couple weeks, but here is when you will be at these appointments that were made for you.  And that's when I knew life was going to change.

The next six weeks were full of appointments and CT scans and MRIs and blood work and consults and second opinions and a whole bunch of new, foreign, scary stuff.

In October 2014, we started chemotherapy treatments and successfully completed all eight rounds. In March 2015, we began five days a week of radiation, complimented with seven days a week of chemo pills.

Those treatments were completed on April 13th.

After waiting and tests and appointments and exams, it was decided that I would need to undergo surgery to remove the tumor.

On July 2nd at Sloan Kettering in NYC, I had a successful operation. It came with complications and an extended hospital stay. Pathology from surgery showed that there was nodal involvement so my oncologist opted for a conservative approach, ordering another six rounds of chemo, which I completed the end of November 2015.

My three-months scans in February 2016 showed all areas to be clean.

After eight months of a visiting nurse and a wide-variety of healing methods the surgical wound still had not healed. So on March 1st, 2016 I went in for another surgery where they took muscle from my leg and used it to fill the wound cavity. The surgery was a success!

June 2016 and all subsequent check-ins brought clear tests, until January 2022. On Saturday (and my birthday) we got a call from the doctor that the cancer was back.

We have a huge, incredible support system and people all around the country are praying on our behalf.  I have a deep knowing that God has a purpose in all of this despite my lack of understanding and so I take each day as it comes and trust.  Just trust.