Bad News to Share....

Sorry, for some of you hearing this via my blog, family members have known, but I have a lot of friends from high school, college and various places we have lived that we keep in touch with and it was just too many phone calls to make....

March 1^st I took time off work to have some tests done at the hospital, which should’ve been routine tests that I have done in the past because of family history of colon cancer and the fact that I tested positive for Lynch Syndrome this past fall.  However, this time they found a mass which they biopsied and sent to pathology and I was informed a week later that the mass is malignant.  

My gastroenterologist is fairly certain that the tumor is small and they caught it early and surgery should take care of it, but until I have surgery and send the tumor to pathology they won’t know for sure. I had a PET scan and they were able to tell me that it is not Stage 4 cancer, but that is all.  The oncologist said if it comes back Stage 1, surgery will take care of it but Stage 2 or 3 will require chemotherapy.  However, she said the chemo used for this type of cancer is very easy with minimal side effects.  Since I was diagnosed with Lynch Syndrome I was already planning on having a full hysterectomy this summer.  Luckily my OBGYN and my surgeon who is doing the cancer surgery said they are willing to do both surgery at once, so I will only have one recovery.  

All of this came as quite a shock, but they caught it early and I am told things will be fine...it has just taken some time to sink in.  Surgery is scheduled for the morning of April 15th, so I will keep everyone posted.