Re: New Intro

[Guest guest]

First off find out the stage. It sounds he caught it plenty early.

You said they did surgery so he will have to do some recovery from that. No

bag I hope but he may have some bowel problems for a little while. Once things

are relatively stable they will probably do a precautionary round of

chemotherapy. This usually includes %FU and a combination of other drugs by IV

drip.

Keep in touch with your brother and sister in law for details. If you are

close by providing some help with meals baby-sitting, etc., might be

appreciated.

You will get lots of information, ideas and support here.

As for your kids for now you can tell them their uncle was very sick (you

will have to decide whether or not to tell them how bad) and that the Dr

operated

and thinks he fixed it. He might have to take medicine and get shots a lot to

keep him feeling good.

Be honest and tell them you love him just like they love each other, and that

when you cry it is because you don't want him to feel bad. Reassure them you

and they can't catch it like a cold and that you feel well but will see the Dr

for a checkup. If they are young they need to know YOU will be there for

them.

These are just a few things that might help and I have just 1 more.

You don't have to always be rocksteady You are allowed to be afraid. But

tackle the fear with faith and knowledge. They and your brothers team will be

his

best weapons.

He is lucky to have such a caring sis'

God Bless

Narice

[Guest guest]

Amber, make sure you get a colonoscopy too and if you have any other

siblings, they need one also. I assume your brother is on IV

antibiotics for the diverticulitis? Does he have an oncologist on

his team yet? If it has not spread to any organs yet, he has a very

good chance of beating this. Make sure your sister-in-law is

fighting to get him the pain meds he needs.

Believe me, you are not useless now. My brothers and sister have

been a pillar of strength for me in my fight. They call often and

have shown me how much they care over and over. It means the world

to me, and your love will mean the same to your brother.

Let us know if we can answer any other questions for you.

Cheri

> Hi, my name is Amber mom to 6. I've joined this group in hopes of

finding out how to support my brother who this past Wed found out he

has colon cancer. By a fluke he was sent for a colonoscopy for

internal bleeding, found the cancer, had immediate surgery to stop

the bleeding (Diverticulitis) and remove the cancer. All we know is

that it is the supposed to be the worst of colon cancers (usually not

detected until to late), has not spread to any organs and left

with " he's one lucky young man! " from the surgeon. I wish I knew

more to help him. His hospital stay has not been pleasant, lots of

pain, a shouting match with a nurse and now they've decided he was

given food to quick and very sick so back to liquids. He's a pretty

tough cookie and was reduced to tears last night, I'm sure from pain,

fear, uncertainty and anger. I am very broken hearted in not knowing

what I can do except pray (which is probably the best) but feeling

pretty useless right now.

> Thanks for letting me share this, really no one else to go to that

I would only stir up fear in and I am the " pillar " in my family,

sucky job at the moment.

> Blessings......Ak

>

>

> __________________________________________________

>

[Guest guest]

Dear Amber--

A good thing you could do for brother is divert his anger and fear to

stuff that will help him, i.e. getting up and walking. (Is he home?

Walk more!) It sounds like he really had good results from surgery--

if he can look beyond the minute's pain/troubles to that he should be

heartened. Glad you can be a pillar to him and your family.

Katy

[Guest guest]

Hi Amber,

If it has not spread then he is truly very fortunate. No treatment is the

standard recommendation for that. If he can cover it financially (around

$200-300) he should consider getting the GCC-B1 blood test to determine whether

there are micromets that are too small to be detected yet. This would mean that

he'd have to do chemo if the results were positve. However, the alternative is

that the cancer would be growing without anyone knowing it. Research has shown

that colon cancer patients are under-staged in an unusually large percentage of

times.

That said, even if the test came back positive, he is still in an excellent

situation (if you ignore the fact that he is dealing with cancer and just go

with that catching it early is EXTREMELY good news).

When are they planning on doing a follow-up colonoscopy?

Priscilla A. Savary

Executive Director

Colorectal Cancer Network

PO Box 182, Kensington MD 20895

psavary@...

www.colon-cancer.net

New Intro

Hi, my name is Amber mom to 6. I've joined this group in hopes of finding out

how to support my brother who this past Wed found out he has colon cancer. By a

fluke he was sent for a colonoscopy for internal bleeding, found the cancer, had

immediate surgery to stop the bleeding (Diverticulitis) and remove the cancer.

All we know is that it is the supposed to be the worst of colon cancers (usually

not detected until to late), has not spread to any organs and left with " he's

one lucky young man! " from the surgeon. I wish I knew more to help him. His

hospital stay has not been pleasant, lots of pain, a shouting match with a nurse

and now they've decided he was given food to quick and very sick so back to

liquids. He's a pretty tough cookie and was reduced to tears last night, I'm

sure from pain, fear, uncertainty and anger. I am very broken hearted in not

knowing what I can do except pray (which is probably the best) but feelin! g

pretty useless right now.

Thanks for letting me share this, really no one else to go to that I would

only stir up fear in and I am the " pillar " in my family, sucky job at the

moment.

Blessings......Ak

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