Sara has been checked in to St. Joseph Medical Center and is getting prepped for surgery. She was in considerable pain today, and nauseous, so even though she is worried about having surgery she should be feeling a lot better after the procedure, and finally able to eat and drink. The surgery is expected to take about 1 1/2 hours, though this may change if other issues turn up, for example on her liver. It will be hard to wait while she is in surgery but I looked at the credentials of her new doctors at St. Joseph Medical Center, and it looks like she is in very competent hands.

Sara will be admitted to St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma tomorrow (Tuesday), and the surgery for the colostomy is scheduled to start at noon. If the doctor is able to, the lesions on Sara’s liver will also be biopsied. We don’t know how long she will stay in the hospital, but I’m assuming that it will be for several days at least.

Basically the colostomy is necessary because there is a risk that the colon could burst, and among other things, this would delay the start of chemo/radiation, which is obviously not desirable. Even though colostomies get a bad rap, this is hopefully not permanent, and will allow Sara to finally eat after a week of not being able to, due to pain and nausea (related to the blockage). I don’t know why her original doctor did not address these issues, but I guess it isn’t my place to speculate, and we are looking forward and onward from now on. So please think good vibes tomorrow around noon Seattle time, I’m sure it will help my sister to know that many people are thinking about her.

P.s. I had a pre-colonoscopy appointment today and as soon as the doctor heard why I was there, I had genetic testing done right then and there in the office. It is easy (saliva test) so if you have a family history of colon or other digestive system cancers, or close relatives diagnosed with colon cancer at a young age, there are some known mutations which can increase the risk for developing colon cancer. It will probably take a few weeks to receive the results, but it could be useful information for Sara, myself, our brother, and all of our children.

Sara was with doctors most of the day (and Washington State is 3 hours behind East Coast time), so I don’t have the full update yet. I will continue to update as often as I receive new information.

I won’t mince words – her situation is very serious. The cancer is also in her liver, which means mostly likely it is Stage 4. After being in pain for a week, her new oncologist told her that she needs emergency surgery tomorrow to relieve a blockage and she will have to have a colostomy, though this is not necessarily going to be permanent.

We don’t know why but her “stupid Enumclaw dr” (this is what we are calling him for the moment) told her last week that this was just a “simple cancer”. Today she found out that it is nothing of the sort.

Please keep her in your thoughts, especially for tomorrow’s operation.

 

Did you know that there is a special sub-specialty of colon cancer which affects people under the age of 50? Neither did we, until our brother was diagnosed with colon cancer last year, at the age of 46. It was a huge shock, with no known cases of colon cancer in our immediate family. So, while he had successful treatment with surgery and 6 months of chemotherapy, Sara and I made mental notes to have colonoscopies ourselves and figured it was just a blip in our family health history.

Last December, Sara prudently did have a colonoscopy. A few polyps were found and removed, which is very common, and the doctor pronounced everything as “fine”. About 6 months later though Sara started having digestive issues, nausea, unexplained weight loss, etc. As these symptoms can cover a wide variety of medical concerns, she suffered with these issues for several months until having another colonoscopy on September 30. Upon recovery from the anesthesia, the doctor informed Sara that not only did she have colorectal cancer located in the rectum (about 70% of colorectal cancers are located in the colon and 30% in the rectum ), a CT scan showed “something” on her liver.

Long story short, Sara has an appointment scheduled on October 12 with an oncologist, where she will receive more information about plans for a PET scan, chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. She has really appreciated all of the outreach and assistance from her family, friends, and colleagues (shout-out to Black Diamond Elementary school!).