I don't know if you are up to speed on everything yet, but the worst of it so far has been three incidents: One, back in November, my port got infected and I was in the hospital for 5 days and could have died if the infection had settled on my heart valves. The wound from the infection was 2.5 inches deep and had to be packed every 2 days with hydrafera blue and that was no fun since the nurse had to tamp it in there like I was a musket. Pulling it out was not fun, either. It took 10 weeks for the wound to finally close. Two, I had a blood clot show up on a CT scan in March and was in the hospital for one night. A filter was inserted into my vena cava. Later, I learned the clot was massive, starting at my right hip and going to just under my breastbone. The docs were baffled that I was able to function and do things like breathe and walk with that clot in me. I never felt a difference. Three, in February, I got a new chemo side effect, tongue ulcers. I'd wake up with a savage jolt at night from moving my tongue and hitting an ulcer on a tooth. It felt like biting the tip of my tongue off every time. Luckily, they went away and came back just once but without the pain of the first go-round. I was taken off of oxaliplatin then and my cold sensitivity went away as well. I remember happily chugging that first glass of cold orange juice after so many months of having to avoid it and all other things cold.

Keep knocking the shit out of it Ed.

Here I sit in a very full lobby, 3 minutes past my appointment time, so far. I want these staples out already! Come on, Doc, let's get to it.

The staples are out! I just got home, poured some hydrogen peroxide on the incision and watched it foam up, winced a little, and that was that.

I should have added that I asked my surgeon how much of my colon he hacked out. Initially, I was told it would be 10 cm, but he said he took out 22 cm in all, about 9 inches.

Hope you're feeling better, Ed.

WOW.

I start up treatments again tomorrow, Sept. 1st. My liver doc is not sure if we will keep going with the same chemo, different ones, or other options like radiation but that will depend on how I respond. My primary doc seems very optimistic because now that the colon cancer is gone, my body only has one battle front and my immune system can focus on the liver now and not both my colon and liver. My abdomen is still sore from being gutted like a halibut, in particular at the bottom of the incision where the skin has pulled apart some. I can't tell much difference from day to day now, so once my incision itself is better, I am sure I will feel much closer to my normal self. Hmm, do I even remember what that feels like now? They've been pumping chemo into me for over a year now. Treatment number 20 coming up...

Hang tough.. We're with ya. Let us know if we can help.

While being in the hospital and the surgery was FAR from a picnic, the one thing I did like during that time was being off of the chemo. It has never made me sick to the point of throwing up, but it sure beats me down and makes me weak and tired. I don't look forward to that starting again. Plus, I can't or shouldn't drink any beer during chemo week. Luckily, my class reunion is on the 11th, so I will be in the clear to have a few pints then.

If it has pulled apart some make a doctor look at it before you start the chemo. You don't want to nuke your immune system with a hole in your guts and fight the staph like you had to with the port.

Best of luck big man. Be sure to sharpen that Viking battle axe.

The surgeon who took out my staples was not concerned by it and told me to use Neosporin. I will see the liver doc before treatment so I am sure she will have a look, too. My immune system has not taken a big hit from the chemo like most do. My white cells have been either within the normal range or close to it.

Thanks, all!

Keep us updated Lonewolf you're truly a fighter. My grandma had cancer but die before it even spread.

I will and thanks. Sorry about your grandma. If you have to go, it is best not to have a long, drawn out ordeal. A woman who was like a second mother to me died from cancer in 2008 and she hung on for a year more than the doctors said she would and it was horrible to see her decline so badly. When this all started for me a bit over a year ago, I thought about what she went through and how the chemo was so hard on her. I remember hoping to die in my sleep rather than suffer like she did. I was terrified going for my first treatment, not knowing what was ahead for me.

Good. I'd just hate to see staph get in there.