I was diagnosed with stage IV (advanced) Colon Cancer in February of 1995 at age 45. I had suffered for many years with pain in my abdomen along with bouts of diarrhea and constipation. I did not ignore my symptoms. I made lots of visits to doctors who told me that I had Irritable Bowel Syndrome caused by stress. When bleeding started, I was referred to a specialist in stomach pain. He did a flexible sigmoidoscopy and ordered a barium enema. Both exams were normal. Even though my symptoms continued, no one repeated the tests. No one suggested a colonoscopy.
Fourteen months after the barium enema was performed, my colon became completely blocked by cancer. It had reached beyond the colon into the lymph nodes. It had spread into my abdomen. My surgeon didn't recommend chemotherapy, but I chose to have it. I even flew to the Dana Farber Institute in Boston for a second opinion about treatment options. I had to pay for the trip myself because Dana Farber was outside the area covered by my HMO!
I was in a fog for a while. With the help of my sister Carol and the prayers of the rest of my family and friends, I started my fight. I talked to a psychologist about "visual imagery," a way to try to get my mind to help my body heal itself. I talked to the psychologist also about relaxation. I tried to stay focused on making the cancer go away. In order to do this, I had to get my anger and worry behind me and get to work.
Six months after the first surgery and five rounds of chemotherapy later, I went back to surgery to reverse the colostomy they had done the first time. The surgeons could not find any remaining evidence of the cancer. I continued the full course of chemotherapy, which was 12 months. I have remained cancer free since then, September of 1995.
Now, four years later, I need to let the world know what happened to me and to make sure that it doesn't happen to others. I'm writing about this to make other people aware of the dangers of failing to find colon cancer in its early stages. I almost died at age 45 from a disease that I did not ignore but that the medical profession did not investigate enough. I was too young; I had no family history; I was under stress and on antidepressants for many years. Because of that, doctors dismissed my symptoms too easily. If you have any symptoms of colon cancer, please insist on a colonoscopy as well as the other diagnostic tests.
Today, I'm still cancer free. I am very grateful for my life. I also live in fear every day that the cancer will come back. I haven't yet learned to relax and just live. I am on constant watch for signs. I never seem to rest. I recently went back to work in my profession as a radiological technologist. I find it very ironic that I am again doing mammograms and warning women about breast cancer — when I almost died from a cancer that no one wants to talk about.