Chapter 7 Strike Two

On June 25th I went to Billings for the colonoscopy. Not a pleasant procedure as there are necessary preparation steps that involve a lot of bathroom time. Of course by now my imagination was running wild (and soon to be confirmed). When you have a colonoscopy, you usually do not remember anything. The drugs they give you have an amnesia affect. You wake up in recovery and you're done. As weird as it may be, when I woke up I knew I was in trouble. During the procedure, I consciously remember see the TV screen (you lie facing it and the doctor is behind you), seeing the red swollen "whatever" on the screen and hearing the doctor say "there it is". "It" was a tumor. Once again I had cancer, this time, colon cancer.

I was given a couple days to rest, then planning began. It was decided July 3rd would be the operation. All was explained. They would open me up down the front, from sternum to pelvic bone, spread things apart, remove the colon where the tumor was. There was a chance I might have to have a colonostomy ( bag put in), and because of the radiation (which may have caused damage in there), it was a possibility if the could not resect the colon.

As for a cause, it is anyone's guess. I did have four other polyps when they did the colonoscopy. I had had this procedure done in 1993 as well when the doctors were checking everything during the height of my anxiety problems (there was nothing then). I have always had a spastic colon, which aggravates the situation. There is always a possibility that the radiation from the testicular cancer could have been the cause, but that is thought to not be likely. From what has happened, the doctors figure it is the more "hereditary" type of colon cancer. The problem is out family tree is "cut off" in several places, so who knows if anyone else had it. Maybe I'm the first.

Colon cancer is very much hereditary. So for that reason I am glad it was me who got it. My children will know at age 35 and 40 they need to scream at their doctors and get a colonoscopy. If the polyps can be removed early, it is likely you will not get the disease. With all the wonderful medical history of my family, I do keep apologizing to my children for their genetics.

Calls were made to the families, and both parents (Carol's and mine) came down. Carol's folks stayed with the kids and mine stayed in Billings during the week I was in the hospital. Surgery was planned for July 6th. Dr. Hurd said it would probably take me 9 or 10 days to get out of the hospital. I told him six. I was confident. I had been lifting and walking on the treadmill and getting ready for the state games ( I throw shot put and discuss still), so I was in good physical condition. I am also a fast healer. He snickered and didn't quite believe me.

I spent the night before surgery praying and meditating (with the flute music). I felt spiritually and physically connected. I sat in our friends house, downstairs, facing the setting sun. Feeling the warmth on my face, it was a moving time for me spiritually. I truly felt at peace and comfortable with whatever God had planned for me. The next morning I was ready to kick butt and take names (who says football doesn't teach anything). They hooked me up, started the IV, prepped me. About 10 am I was taking to the prep room. There was a 6 year old in the bed next to me getting ready to have a piece of wood removed from his arm. They started the medicines and I relaxed even more, and began running though prayers and meditation. A while later they took me into the O.R. and went to work at putting the ??????? into my back. They could not get it to go in the first time, so decided to put me out and then do it.

I remember just a little of the recovery room. At first I know the pain was pretty bad. They had to change medicines, and then the pain was pretty easy to deal with. I had to hang in recovery for about 5 hours because the hospital did not have a room to put me in. By the time I got to the room I was pretty coherent. The operation had gone well, and they had removed about 10 inches of colon. They had resected the colon, so I did not have to have the bag put in. Now it was on to recovery.

Of cours you don't think of the other nasty surprises they have waiting for you. One was the catheter. Ughhhh! What can I say. Of course with the ??????? (for pain control, and it worked very well) I had no control over my bodily functions. Then there was the shots. Twice a day I got a shot in my stomach (to reduce the chance of a blood clot). I also got to wear the pressure socks. They had a little machine that ran air into them and squeezed my legs to keep the blood flowing. Of course movement was difficult ( I had 14 inches of staples in my stomach.

It wasn't long before they got me out of bed. I got up for the first time that night. Danced to the hall and back. For the most part I handled the pain - I have always had a pretty high threshold for the big things (paper cuts drive me crazy). I listened to music and willed my body to recover. Two things had to happen for me to get out of the hospital - I had to have a bowel movement, and I had to be able to walk. The next day it was off to the races - I went on six or seven walks. Carol and my parents were in and out. They spent time watching Rick play baseball in a Legion tournament in town. We had one bad day when they had to take my IV out and put a new one in, which was pretty painful (they missed 5 times). 

By the third and fourth days I was walking pretty well. The pain medicine was greatly reduced and by day five it was only oral pain medicine. The catheter came out (ouch!) and I got to eat real food. Now, please know, I like to eat. I'm a big guy. I had to quit eating Sunday night before surgery. No food Monday and Tuesday. Surgery on Wednesday. On Friday I got broth and jello. Saturday night I got ice cream and broth. Sunday - I got real food - well sort of. It had been a week since I had eaten real food. Wow was I hungry.

On Monday the doctor came in and I said I was ready to go. He said he would release me if we stayed in town for a couple of days (which we had planned to do) and I agreed. Six days, and I was out. One complication from all of this was part of the scar was infected and the doctor had to open it up some. So I had a two inch hole in my stomach. Carol would have to unpack and pack the hole twice a day until it filled in ( a couple of weeks).

Other news was not as good. The tumor had invaded the wall of the colon and was in 4 of the 7 lymph nodes. This made it a Stage III cancer, or Dukes C. Things were now 50-50 as to whether the cancer was cured. Needless to say I was a bit shook up. There is a chance that some microscopic cancer cell could be floating around, waiting to land somewhere. We discussed the adjuvant therapy (chemotherapy). My joy of being released was tempered by the fact that this might not be finished.

We spent the next few days in Billings and I recovered more strength. Even I was amazed at how fast I recovered. I still think a lot of it was the mental preparation done before surgery. I was ready to overcome this obstacle. I took it easy at home. Went to a few baseball games, but didn't move around much. By August I could move fairly well. We visited family and I got ready for football season.

When we visited with the oncologist, he was concerned about me coaching football, saying the stress might be too much. My wife said the stress of me not coaching football would be worse. I was also excited as I had been promoted to special teams coach. The head coach was great and said I could just work the varsity this year, and the other coaches would cover the sub varsity games, thus relieving that stress. I would also be at practice when I could, and if I couldn't, then fine (Mark is a great guy!). He told me that whatever I could do would be worth keeping me around. The folks at school told me to take whatever days I needed and they would find ways to cover for me, (Thanks Jim, Dave and Gary). In late August, football, school, and chemotherapy began.

For up to date news, see the Updates Page on my Cancer Awareness Page