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As a record for me and a possible help to others going through chemotherapy, particularly the FOLFOX or similar regimen, I am posting my personal experiences. In fact, I've logged my whole cancer journey.
FOLFOX is an abbreviation for a chemotherapy regimen used for colorectal cancers. It includes 5FU (Fluorouracil), Leucovorin, and Oxaliplatin.
My notes are of course bloggishly in reverse chronological order.
Every day I am alive since my diagnosis, makes me a survivor.
I was diagnosed in September 2006 as having Rectal Adenocarcinoma, ultimately determined to be Stage III (T3N1M0), which is a latter stage and very serious, of course. It was discovered via colonoscopy after several months of chronic constipation. Prior to all of this, I could have been the poster child for "I don't want anyone to do anything with that part of my body. Ever." I could have been clinically categorized as phobic where all that was concerned. I am still uncomfortable even mentioning 'constipation' and I really hate the words 'rectum' or 'anus' or anything to do with my rearend. But in an ugly twist of fate, that is precisely the focal point of the only health battle I've ever had in my life. And of course, it's one of the biggest health battles people face.
Please, if you are 50 or older, male or female, even if everything seems fine, GET TESTED. If you are 40 or older and there is any history of colon problems in your family, GET TESTED. Naturally I now wish I had been tested earlier. I was only 49, but my father had been diagnosed with colon cancer two years before. I should have gone in for a test immediately. Two years may or may not have changed my diagnosis and the resulting treatements, but it was advised and I did not listen. Thankfully, my body made it impossible for me to avoid the testing. Otherwise, I might not be a survivor.
I feared a colonoscopy as if it were brutal torture, but the truth is that it's perfectly harmless and not even embarassing because you're sedated and remember nothing. If anyone suggests a colonoscopy without sedation (actually 'twilight sleep'), then insist on the sedation or go to another gastroenterologist. Colorectal cancers can be avoided entirely by a colonoscopy, IF it is done early enough. DO IT.
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