Tuesday, January 22, 2008

It appears for now I have lost the last 2 years of my entries as they were posted on Live Digital, which apparently is seeking a ‘new home’. Whatever that means.

I am setting this new site up to continue to inform all those that are interested in how I am battling my colon cancer. When I have time, energy and motivation I will provide some background info that was included in the 2 years of postings that are currently lost.

October 30th I had a procedure called Theraspheres in Montreal. This is where they inserted radioactive beads into my liver via the hepatic artery/fermeral artery. It was a quick out-patient procedure that included a lot of pretesting to ensure eligibility. The procedure does not have many risks or side effects associated with them, but unfortunately I was not lucky enough to escape without harm.

Early in November it was determined that I had experienced radiation burn to the inside of my stomach where it abuts my liver. The pain associated mimicked that of an ulcer, but the ulcer meds were not successful in treating the symptoms I was experiencing. I was unable to eat or drink due to pain and started to lose a lot of weight. I was admitted to the hospital December 4th and was given nutrition/food/pain meds via I.V. I was discharged December 24th, just in time to enjoy Christmas with the family and some quiet time at the cottage with the dogs.

When I was discharged from the hospital it was thought that I was well on my way to being healed and able to eat and drink on my own again. Not the case. Last week I was admitted into the hospital for 4 days, this time under the care of my G.I. specialist to further examine my stomach. A scope revealed that the burn site now has a rather large ulcer that is not expected to heal anytime soon. I will be going back into the hospital (Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital, Burlington) on Thursday for further scopes and if the biopsies from the laparoscope that I had last week are favourable, I will be undergoing a stomach resection to remove the ulcer on Saturday. I am expected to be in the hospital for at least 1 week, up to 2 weeks recovering.

Please pray and send good vibes that this will be the answer to my problems…