Hi Friends,
Though I have been reading posts on occasion, it’s been a while since I logged in and posted. The last week of January, I traveled to see my oncology team at MD Anderson in Houston. January 26 marked one year since I finished chemo-radiation. It is always an emotionally heavy time, these every-3-month check-ins, so I sometimes have to give myself some distance from cancerland—thus the bit of absence from this board.
The great news is that I’m continuing NED! This round of check-ups included bloodwork, CT w/wo contrast of chest, abdomen, and pelvis, anoscopy, and a chat with my med onc, colorectal specialist, and radiation oncologist. Everything looks great, no problems or areas of concern at all. Period.
Furthermore, just before I traveled to see my team at MD Anderson, I met with my local oncologist. She is thrilled with my recovery and told me to ask the med onc at MDACC if she should arrange for my port to be removed when I returned home. This was a surprise to me—I thought I’d have to keep the port until I’m officially “cured” in 3 more years. I got excited at the prospect of having it removed, and excited that the local oncologist seems to think I won’t need it again. BUT (because in cancerland, you know there’s always a “butt”), my medical oncologist says he recommends all patients keep their ports for 2 years, so one more year with the port—oh well. The presence of the port, itself, is not a big deal, it doesn’t bother me. I guess when the local oncologist told me to ask the team leader if it can come out, I just got a little ahead of myself.
I have a very good relationship with my radiation oncologist, so I asked her fairly specifically what she thinks the risk of recurrence is for me at this point. I can’t find data specific to my treatment plan, and anyway, I think it’s always best to ask these questions of the doctors who actually know the details of one’s own case. She said there’s not a lot of data on the specific treatment plan I had, because it’s kind of a custom plan and new approach, but based on the treatment outcomes I’ve had and what she knows of other patients who received the plan I received, she said she’d go on the record and say she thinks “we got it all.” She said some important milestones in recovery are the 6 month, 12 month, 2 year, and 4 year points. The 2 year NED mark shows a dramatic drop-off in the chance of recurrence, so this next year is very important to my case!
Anyway, four days after returning home from that trip, I awoke with an ugly cold, and then about 5 days into the cold, I developed conjunctivitis! Arrrrrgggghhhh! Of course, this makes me worry—is my immune system not healthy? I tell myself that I have 2 kids in school who have had rotating colds/illnesses since November, and that I, myself, had a little cold in December that obviously didn’t cause any problems for my cancer recovery. Everything is just a worry now, ya know?
So, I’ll get back to reading and responding—always so many good discussions here, so much encouragement, so much support, so many reasons to celebrate.
Best wishes to all,
Red
Hi Red ( RedCurlGirl )
This is great news!! I’m so pleased to be reading this. Don’t ever feel you need to explain your absence from the forum just know we’re here when you need us.
I’ve also had concerns about my immune system since treatment, the information out there is really mixed! Following chemo alone apparently our immune systems can take anything between 3 weeks to several months to recover, I suppose depending on the chemo regime you’ve been on but with radiotherapy the information is a bit sketchier, from what I understand this is because the lymph system is part of our immune system & to some degree this is often targeted or gets radiation fallout. Also living the way we all have throughout the pandemic & it’s aftermath I think has left us all with reduced immunity to even the common cold, I’ve always had a pretty robust immune system but I had a virus a week before Christmas (very similar to when I had COVID 16 months ago but tested negative) things seemed to improve over Christmas & New Year but then it returned with a vengeance the first week in January & completely laid me flat for 4 days, I now suspect it was flu! I’m only just now feeling I’ve shook off the last of the symptoms so I completely understand your concerns but as you say you’ve got school age kids that bring allsorts home & with me I have a customer facing role at work so I’m face to face with a multitude of people throughout my workday.
It’s great to see you back Red & once again I’m over the moon to hear your amazing news.
Nicola
Except for the cold and conjunctivitis 
this is such great news! Congratulations! Your posts have been so helpful on this journey, delighted to see your update!
