Weekly update

My weekly update: Chemo is no fun! We are doing fine, everything went smoothly this week, grateful for all the support!

Quick update

Well I didn't do a good job of updating midweek when we got the results...but Travis did, so hopefully most of you know this already! We love being able to look up results online, no cancer was found in his colon during his colonoscopy! Trav posted an update and tagged me in it...so read that for more details of where he's at right now!  Thank you for your continued support, you are all amazing!

Update from Travis

From Travis:

I just wanted to hop on here and give everyone an update. As you all probably know I've been in my 2nd fight against colon cancer. It's been significantly harder this time around vs. the first time I had it. But things have been generally going my way.

My most recent post was a celebratory post on the fact they found no cancer in my colon in my most recent scope. It has become apparent that many believed this to mean my fight was over. Unfortunately it is not. I am still doing chemo, and will be doing so until March.

I have been extremely ill during the treatments. I go in for chemo every other week from Tuesday to Thursday. I get an infusion at the hospital on Tuesday (4 hours), Wednesday (2-4 hours) and Thursday I get disconnected from the pump that I wear Tuesday and Wednesday home.

After the treatments are done I am quite sick until about the following Wednesday. Sadly it has slowly moved more towards Friday now. Meaning I have about 3-5 days every 2 weeks where I feel generally normal. Stacy has updated many of you on the side effects I have. The most prominent are cold sensitivity (which hurts like the dickens), nausea (24/7 and just blah), fatigue, horrible tastes in the mouth, bathroom issues, slight numbness/tingling (which will increase over time), no appetite, slight voice loss, and the sorest bones I'll have out (due to a shot that stimulates white blood cell growth)!!

Another thing that has seemed to come up quite often is the fact I still have my hair. I won't be losing my hair during this treatment. It seems to be a slightly unknown fact that colon cancer patients 99% of the time do not lose their hair. I assure you that while I enjoy this perk, it does not mean that inside my body I am not getting hammered! As a general rule, I look better than I feel. Luckily I have a perma-grin. My teeth are too big to fit in my mouth, so I'm always smiling - whether I like it or not !!

Now one thing I want to point out is we are still uncertain what the spot in my lung was. As of the last scan there was no change, but it had not been long enough for changes to occur. My oncologist has pointed out I am technically a stage IV cancer because of this, and because it's a recurrence. So they are treating me as such.

My cancer is in remission, and I couldn't be more grateful. I hope I don't convey the wrong message with this post. It is meant to be informative. Not to draw upon sympathy or have people feeling all bad and business. That's honestly the last thing I want. I just want prayers and hope.

I'm most certainly not alone in the fight against cancer. The office I go to at McKay Dee is so busy people are waiting in line. I know others are having a much harder fight than I am. And I am doing everything I can to not take that for granted. My prayers are constantly with those who are in this fight, and those affected by it.

I hope this clears up any questions people have. Anyone can feel free to shoot me a personal message to say hi or ask questions. As for me, I'll continue trucking along, and looking forward to March! Then I'll begin my 5 year wait to be declared cancer free!

From Travis

Got all tests results back now: No cancer found! So far so good!

Praying!

This week’s update! Well it was a chemo week…we had incredible support and are so grateful for everyone who pitched in to help my family with meals, laundry, taking Travis, watching kids, coordinating things, cleaning my house, getting my kids to go to sleep, etc…it’s been incredible! Tomorrow we are starting the week off with a colonoscopy. Trav is having the same symptoms that have caused concern the last two times we found cancer and so he is getting things checked out.... I’ll post results when we get them…I won’t wait until my Sunday update! Between Trav’s stuff and my sweet niece in NICU it’s just been a rough one, we are sure praying for some good news for both of them. I had a wonderful day fasting with my family, including Aiden…was awesome to have him fasting for Penny and Trav, he was an incredible example to me today! I am trying to focus on the small victories and the tender mercies that I see daily as I try to grasp onto everything that is good, it’s really easy to see all the bad and I’m sorry I report mostly on the bad, but I know that this is all part of our Heavenly Father’s plan and he is blessing our family in many ways through all of this and has prepared us to be able to handle it! Love you all!

From Travis

Wanted to thank everyone for your support and prayers. Some people have just gone the extra mile, it has been amazing. I am about to get disconnected here at the hospital. I look forward to a week from today, so I can get some freedom from some of these symptoms. Next Monday I am getting a sort of emergency scope, due to some unwanted and unfortunate symptoms. Its a little on the stressful side. Any prayers of comfort would be more than welcome.

MRI results

This weeks update: Never had his doctor call us with the results of the MRI...another fail from the doctors! However, we looked them up online ourselves and the MRI looked good! Besides that, our house has been pretty quite as we dread next week! Our main focus has shifted to my sweet niece, praying that she can be released from the hospital and go home soon!

From Travis

When your little girl brings you a baby doll and says:
"She needs surgery. She has cancer."
You do the surgery, and you make that baby happy!