I want to start by saying thanks for stopping by. I have never “blogged” prior to today so I am hoping to get better as time goes on. Next I will bring you up-to-speed on what has happened so far with Joel’s treatment and his diagnosis.
In August 2006, Joel started having pain in his abdomen, rectal bleeding, and frequent bowel movements. After 4 days without sleep, he visited his primary care physician. The doctor did not perform an exam but sent him to have a blood test to rule out anemia. The pain subsided and the anemia test was negative, but the other symptoms persisted. In January of 2007, Joel started having tail bone pain. He visited another physician in the PCP office whose diagnosis was internal hemorrhoids and she started him on anti-inflammatory medication and a very light pain medication. A referral was written and a colonoscopy was scheduled for late February. After 2 days of more severe pain, Joel returned to the PCP and asked for stronger pain meds, and at this time, the PCP called and requested that the date of the colonoscopy be moved up. Joel had his colonoscopy on February 2, 2007, and the PCP called February 6th to inform us that he had cancer.
I happened to be home for lunch that Tuesday and answered the phone, I was pretty alarmed since the doctor had told Joel it would take until Friday to get the biopsy results back but Joel was having what seemed to be a regular conversation so I started to head out the door going back to work when he stopped me and said “I have cancer” I was for sure he was joking. But he wasn’t and ½ hour later we were at the Canton Health Center and Joel was prepping for his 1st CT scan. The next few days seemed like a blur as Joel and I sat by the phone waiting for it to ring.
One week later and after undergoing several tests, we met with a Dr. Emina Huang at the University of Michigan Hospital. It was only then that we were told that it was Rectal Cancer and not Colon Cancer and that it was Stage III. She explained that there is a 90% chance that she will have to remove the entire rectum and Joel will have a permanent colostomy bag due to the location of the tumor. Since Joel is 32 years old that is a very hard thing to swallow. . She also explained that the surgery though would not be the 1st line of treatment. She said in the next few days we would be meeting with a medical oncologist that would prescribe chemotherapy, a radiation oncologist who would prescribe radiation therapy, and a genetic oncologist that would test for the gene mutation that could identify if Joel was predisposed to certain cancers and also give us a better understanding of how often Joel , Ty, and Gage would need to be screened for cancer in the future.
All of this in a matter of a week, it is just a lot to swallow. I don’t think either of us have really absorbed this yet!
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