Robert Flaherty
March 17, 2010 this was the day that my fight with colon cancer began. Being an Irishman from Boston I figured that I could not have picked a better day to begin my fight than on St. Patricks Day. You see, about two weeks earlier at the wonderful age of 38 I was diagnosed with colon cancer after having a colonoscopy.
For years I had been having issues with abdominal pain and rectal bleeding but accourding to my doctor it was probably just hemroids and acid reflux. So like a fool I trusted this doctor and did nothing about it until the pain just got to bad to deal with. So I switched to a new doctor who was Dr West she was great but she was concerned and told me that it could be divaticulitis but that I should have a colonoscopy to be sure. So I called the first GI doctor on the list that she gave me and they told me that I was too young to have a colonoscopy and that I should just finish the antibiotic that Dr West had given me and so that is what I did and the pain went away, or so I thought. A few months later the pain came back and just as strong so I called Dr West for some more medicine. She asked me what the results of the colonoscopy were and I told them that they told me I did not need one and she was very upset with them for telling me that. She agreed to give me another round of antibiotics but only if I promised to get an appointment with a GI doctor that day. So I did just that and when I met him I was told that he felt it was cancer.
CANCER...No way and please don't even use that word around me as my mother had lost her 18 year battle with breast cancer a few years ago and there was no way I was going to be in that boat at 38 years old. Funny thing was that she was only 34 when she was first diagnosed and now here was her baby boy about to find out he too had cancer. How could this be my life was going great I had served 9 years in the Army lived all around the world, had three great kids and a pregnant wife who was expecting in July. I guess cancer does not care about who you are or what you have going on in your life it just has one mission and that is to kill.
COLON SURGERY...So here it was St. Patricks Day and I was headed for surgery to remove about a foot of my colon to remove a golf ball sized tumor that they had found during the colonoscopy. No worries they will remove this tumor and I will be on my way back to my normal life again. Wrong again as I awoke from the surgery to another wonderful surprise. The cancer had spread through my colon and they found two tumors on my liver not to mention 11 out of 14 lympth nodes tested positive for cancer as well. This surgery didn't go so well for after getting out of the hospital after 15 days I was rushed back in to the ER due to a major infection where the colon was leaking at the point where it was put back together thus leaking bile and all kinds of bad stuff into my body. Another 13 days in the hospital fighting this infection and at one point being on the deaths door accourding to the doctors I got better and was released a second time. Ok time to reevaluate the situation as I was now going to be in a battle for my life. I met with three oncologist here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and all of them had the same idea as to how to fight it. I picked Dr Henry Xiong who just seemed to be more optomistic about my chances to beat this disease. He told me that I had a 30-50% chance of living for the next five years and that if I could make it to that then I should be in pretty good shape. I told him thanks for the statistics but my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ tells me I have a 100% chace of beating this cancer and seeing as he is the divine surgeon I know I am going to be victorious in my fight. Doctor Xiong smiled and said "Bobby you have a great attitude, you're young, you're otherwise healthy, you have a supporting family and a great love for God and those will help you to win your battle. One of the reasons I chose Dr Xiong was that he had been on the research team down at MD Anderson in Houston so I knew he had the latest and greatest information on how to fight this cancer. So six weeks after my colon surgery my chemo started.
CHEMOTHERAPY...When you hear all the horror stories about how bad chemotherapy can be it makes you wonder if you want to go through that hell. But to be totally honest I never once thought about not fighting although I did ask one of the oncologist how long I would have if I did nothing just out of curiosity and he said I would have hospice within 6 months and be dead shortly there after. Chemo started and from the beginning I was surprised as to how well my body was handling things. I had a little bit of nausea, sensitivity to cold, and some neuropathy in my feet but even now it's not that bad. After five rounds of chemo my liver tumors had shrunk 42% and I was on cloud nine as it was working.
LIVER SURGERY...Now it was time to face the big one the big surgery. I asked the liver surgeon Dr Godlstein on a scale of 1 to 10 what was the colon surgery and he said only about a three. I then asked him how about the liver surgery and he said 9 or 10 that this was a very serious surgery. Thankfully this time the surgery went much smoother and I only spent 21 days in the hospital, ok could you feel my sarcasm there. Let's see I got a blood clot from the pick line they put in my neck for surgery and they collapsed me lung during surgery and then again when they were putting in a drain and so this surgery had it's own set of storylines. But I was able to move past that surgery a little faster once I got home although now I get to inject myself with a needle once a day for 6 months to prevent the blood clot from coming back and going to my heart or lung, lucky me...
CHEMOTHERAPY PART II...Seven rounds to go to the finish line and I will have completed a year of Hell on Earth. I have completed four of them and only have 3 rounds to go and then I will be done with this battle and CANCER FREE FOREVER. I will have to be watch closely for at least the next five years and I will have colonoscopies once a year but that's the small price to pay to stay alive and raise my children ages 18, 13,4 and my little baby boy who is now 4 months old.
Colon cancer has changed my life for sure and I will never say I am glad that I got colon cancer but I am liking the new person that I have become. Colon cancer may have slowed me down but it will not stop me for becoming the person I know God wants me to be and it will not take me from my family. Colon cancer is a deadly disease for sure but it is one fo the most preventable cancers out there. Early detection is key so please listen to your body if you feel something is wrong. Even if this means going to get a new doctor like I did then do it for it could save your life. Colon cancer can rare it's ugly head even when you don't have any symptons but the ones to look for are weight loss, abdominal pain, rectal bleeding, change of appetite but again it can happen with no symptoms. Cancer knows no boundaries can strike anyone at anytime man, woman or child so again please take care of your body by eating better and exercising even if only a little. I hope my story will make you stop and think about things and I pray that it might help save at least one life by getting people to check checked by getting that colonoscopy and trust me it's nothing like you think it's a very simple procedure in which you go night night while the doctor does his thing.
In closing I offer this prayer to all who fight this terrible disease. It's a prayer to the Patron Saint of Cancer Patients Saint Peregrine.
O great St. Peregrine, you have been called "The Mighty," "The Wonder-Worker," because of the numerous miracles which you have obtained from God for those who have had recourse to you.
For so many years you bore in your own flesh this cancerous disease that destroys the very fibre of our being, and who had recourse to the source of all grace when the power of man could do no more. You were favoured with the vision of Jesus coming down from His Cross to heal your affliction. Ask of God and Our Lady, the cure of the sick whom we entrust to you.
(Pause here and silently recall the names of the sick for whom you are praying)
Aided in this way by your powerful intercession, we shall sing to God, now and for all eternity, a song of gratitude for His great goodness and mercy.
Amen.
God Bless You All,
Bobby