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Notes on My Colon Cancer

charlieharrington.com

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Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#211

Post by whatrocks »

prezjordan wrote: post #3

Thanks for this - you're a phenomenal writer. Informative, funny at times, and most importantly vulnerable. Glad to see you're doing well!

Thanks - I've been reading a lot "about writing" recently, mostly as a distraction from editing my novel about robots and childhood. I think this is a common pattern for struggling writers - "if I just READ about WRITING, then that's almost as good as actually sitting down and DOING THE WORK." All that said, I just finished John McPhee's "Draft No. 4" and highly recommend. McPhee's a master of "creative storytelling" and I tried to incorporate some of his advice into this post (plus some gifs).

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#212

Post by whatrocks »

plessthanpt05 wrote: post #92

If the author reads this (or anyone else cares to chime in), are there any other symptoms that were/are noticed?

You can Google and see more symptoms. Things like unexplained weight loss and overall fatigue are signs. They also say "gas" can be a sign, and I actually did notice I was "tooting" a lot more than normal, although after a certain amount of time, you forget what normal is. I'm not sure if that itself was another symptom, but it certainly was part of my overall feeling of my situation that did lead me to book the doctor appointment.

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#213

Post by namenotrequired »

hef19898 wrote: post #159
mNovak wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My fiance was diagnosed in her 20s. Still relatively rare at that age, but the doctors noted there's significant increases in prevalence in young people.

Same here, I was 28. Started to wonder if that could be connected to Tchernobyl, I was in Kindergarten back then. Since t didn't change a thing for me, I never looked for studies around this, so.

Did you live near?

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#214

Post by whatrocks »

Wonnk13 wrote: post #206

This mimics my own diagnosis. Stage 2 non metastatic as a fairly healthy runner / cyclist. That was four years ago. now age 32 and healthy as ever.

That's great. Congratulations! One thing I didn't understand before this was how meaningful hearing stories of success like yours would become for me and my family.

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#215

Post by whatrocks »

gautamp8 wrote: post #69

Thank you for writing this experience so wonderfully. I can really relate to this journey. Lost my brother to Colorectal cancer 2.5 years back, he was 27 at the time. What happened with Boseman happened with us 15 years earlier(Stage III transitioning to IV). We didn't have any family history of cancer. He was wild type for all kind of known mutations (KRAS, NRAS and BRAF) for the cancer. In simple terms, doctors did…

I'm very sorry to hear about your brother.

Glad to hear you are staying on top of your situation.

As far as triggering my cancer, I have no idea. And I don't think anyone is going to give me any more clarity than that. I don't think it's possible to do so. What they have told me is that more and more young people are getting colon cancer, and they aren't quite sure why.

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#216

Post by whatrocks »

cableshaft wrote: post #65

I've had the blood bit off and on (mostly off lately, but it happened again recently for a day), but I've always been told by doctors that it's just hemorrhoids, I'm too young to get cancer. Then Chadwick died, and I'm like, man, he got diagnosed with Stage 3 the same age I am now, and I'm in terrible shape compared to him. I'm thinking I should probably get a colonoscopy next summer, after this wave of Covid dies do…

FWIW, I had to get Covid tested and cleared before both my colonoscopy and my surgery. My hospital has been very serious and strict about covid, and I felt safe to proceed as a result.

Like others, I encourage you to bring it up with your doc and ask about getting tested.

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#217

Post by whatrocks »

pkrotich wrote: post #49

I was afraid to read it - but I'm truly glad I did. I know I'll be closely "inspecting" my poop going forward. I had just started examining my testicles after reading yet another account of testicular cancer. His library [1] is also worth checking out! [1] https://www.charlieharrington.com/library

Thanks! I've been writing these #3Sentence reviews of everything I read and posting to Goodreads for over a year now. It's just fun to go back and skim this little library for a quick taste of where my brain's been traveling.

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#218

Post by whatrocks »

uberuberuber wrote: post #26

The specific robot used was likely the da Vinci Xi. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q-YQwFjIj0 Nice explanation of how a robotic sigmoid resection is performed: https://youtu.be/LpzxfMRlBVk Firefly perfusion assessment time-stamp: https://youtu.be/LpzxfMRlBVk?t=1527 Disclosure- Intuitive employee with no specific knowledge about this case.

Thanks for the suggestions. I do plan on watching these videos about how the robot does what it does, but only after I put a little more time between me and my surgery!

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#220

Post by lazyjones »

stevecalifornia wrote: post #5

Fellow readers: Do not be afraid of a colonoscopy. Do not avoid it-- in fact, look forward to it. They are easy and painless. Waking up from the anesthesia I felt more relaxed than I ever have in my life. Also, the prep of clearing your system will reset your digestive system and you'll feel like a new person. I think the prep cleared out whatever it was that was causing us to investigate my digestive system in the f…

As a data point: I met a service technician for colonoscopy equipment (in good spirits) and he said he wouldn't recommend one.

From my past experience, I'd recommend MRI over anything else (especially CT scans), though it's apparently not as useful in diagnosing bowel stuff as colonoscopies.

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