Nathaniel ~ Gift of God: Back in the Saddle Again

The New "Normal"

I started this blog on November 9, 2013, while my husband Nat was recovering from major colorectal cancer surgery. The tumor was discovered after a colonoscopy on October 10th. They went in to remove the entire colon and tumour, and to create a permanent iliostomy on the 25th. The surgery was slated to be about 8-9 hours. At 9-1/2 hours, I received a call from OR staff, where Nat was. The surgery would be another 3 hours. I was growing increasingly concerned.

I learned later that the tumor had grown through the colon wall and had begun to attach to major blood vessels and the ureter (the tube between the left kidney and bladder). They scraped the cancerous areas outside of the colon as best as they could, but we didn't know how extensive the cancer was, until after we got the pathology results on November 18th.

This past few months or so before a trip to Florida, I noticed that my husband was pale and he was feeling very sick. He had battled chronic Colitis for 30 yrs. I expressed my concerns to him many times and encouraged him to get in to see his doctor. It seemed to get worse after our trip to Florida. I finally called and made an appt for him on Sept. 25th. On Sept. 21st, I woke up to find him in terrible pain, sweating profusely. I called the advice nurse, and spoke to a physician over the phone. We had to get him to the hospital as soon as possible.

He was realeased from the hospital ER that night and was encouraged to see a Urologist. He also developed a blood clot after the trip to ER. A colonoscopy was scheduled on Thursday, Oct. 10th, where the doctor found a blockage in his intestine. There were high suspicians that it might be a tumor, so Nat was admitted to the hospital for five nights where they did a battery of tests. On October 14th, the biopsies came back from the colonoscopy and we learned that it was cancer. He went home the following day and surgery was scheduled for Oct. 25th. After the surgery, he stayed in the hospital another six nights.

This is his/our journey through the process of getting his diagnosis and recovery.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Back in the Saddle Again

Ok, so I'm back again. Took a little break. Nat is now past the chemo and radiation... woo hoo! In February he will begin more intensive rounds of the chemo drug only. He has tolerated this first phase quite well, walking at least 2 miles almost daily. He has struggled with what they call "chemo brain" which can make it difficult to read and do the crossword puzzles and sudukos he loves. He still does them, but it just takes more effort. His is rather fatigued and has described the side effects as being a "general malaise." But he is still kicking. This past week we learned he will be terminated from his job because all of his leave will be expired. Disability has kicked in though, so right now things will be fine. I didn't want him there anymore anyway! But this has been hard on him.

1 comment:

dderosier said...: What great news about the end of Nat's treatments...for now at least. You are both an inspiration to me. Love you so!; January 26, 2014 at 1:09 PM