So back in July I had my clearing colonoscopy.
Finally the doc was able to go all the way to the Appendix and Ileocecal valve
(where the small intestine joins the large intestine). I should probably be
given a discount as the doc doesn’t have go to as far (since they removed about
12” of my large intestine) and the path is most likely less tortuous, but I
doubt that will happen. Prior to the procedure I spoke with the Doc and told
her that I remembered my last colonoscopy and I’d rather that not be the case
this time. She said that must have been unpleasant…yes…yes it was. She knocked
me out, took a look around, found the polyp that was seen on the virtual
colonoscopy, clipped that sucker off, and sent me on my way. The polyp was
determined to be a tubular adenoma with no evidence of cancer. So that’s good.
In a year they’ll take another look around.
On Tuesday I had a CT to check for recurrences. There are
some nodules in my lungs that the docs are keeping an eye on. They don’t think
they’re cancer as they have been stable on all of the previous scans. Well this
scan was no different. The nodules continue to be stable. They are the exact
same size as the day they found them nearly a year ago. Seeing I went through
some nasty chemo and they didn’t get smaller, most assuredly they are not
cancer. No doc will give you a 100% guarantee, but I'll take a 'most likely not' at this point. So the scan came back clear.
So as of today I’m considered NED (No Evidence or Disease).
They typically don’t start throwing around the ‘cured’ title for colon cancer
until you’re out about 5 years without a recurrence. So surveillance mode it
is. I’ve got another follow-up in 3 months for blood and a check-up, another CT
scan in 6 months, and another colonoscopy next July.
