I haven’t addressed this yet, but it’s of course on all of our minds. None of us really expected this, it has created a new world we are living in now.
The VIRUS.
Maybe I see this differently as I am a nurse and knowledgeable about infectious disease, but I don’t think this will be over until we have a vaccine or an effective anti-viral drug to treat it. I don’t see a vaccine being available for at least another 12-18 months, and then billions of doses will have to be manufactured and distributed and paid for. Anti-viral drugs are few and far between, so I don’t know if we’ll find another treatment for it.
I’ve never been a terribly social person. As a college professor, I am now teaching my classes on-line, so I am able to stay at home. I have lots of things I like to do; sew, crochet, play piano, read, write, hike- so I am doing fine with the stay at home orders. I live near the Dunes State Park, so go hiking there 2-3 times a week, so I still get “out”. I’m going on a solo camping trip next week.
But I know many others struggle. I did go out to get vegetables etc. for my garden (I have an N95 mask I wear whenever I am out), and I was surprised at the number of people I saw out and close to each other and not wearing masks. I think they just want life “back to normal”. I think we’ll see another spike in cases.
But I think people are still watching out for each other. I was in a grocery store the other day (with my mask of course) and the floor at the entrance was wet and I fell. Three people (also wearing masks) rushed over to see if I was okay and to help me up….they weren’t 6 feet away, I told them that but they didn’t leave. That really had an impact on me! It seems especially when times are hard, people look out for each other.
But I think of all of you. I at this time don’t really feel vulnerable to cancer. I’m trying to imagine what it’s like for those of you actively fighting cancer. I told you uncertainty was what made my cancer journey most difficult. How would I have felt if I was dealing with the virus too at that time? When I was dealing with cancer I always knew I could die soon, how does it feel to have your life threatened now by both the virus and cancer? Or maybe I would have felt the virus was much less of a threat, the death rate from cancer is much higher. Maybe the virus wouldn’t have had much of an effect on me compared to cancer.
I’d like to know how you feel. You can leave a comment here or email me, or maybe we will talk about this a bit in our next support group.
I have just been diagnosed and am awaiting my Doctors at Ohio State to determine the extent of the surgery and chemotherapy. I expect to get the word at my next appointment on June 4.
I don’t go into any buildings or get near any people to avoid the virus.
I have been told treatment will be withheld for an indeterminate length of time if I get sick.
My wife is very stressed over the diagnosis and the virus just adds to her worries.
I think the isolation makes the waiting worse. Additionally my wife will only be allowed to be with me the day of and the day after surgery. The rest of my stay she will be 100 miles away hoping I can manage a Facebook Messenger call or text message to let her know I am ok.
We will get through it but It will be more difficult.
Thanks for letting me vent.
Mike
I’m sorry you were diagnosed with this cancer, but you have two appendix cancer specialists in your state, Jeffrey J. Sussman, MD & Syed A. Ahmad, MD at
Barrett Cancer Center, University of Cincinnati. Is that who you will be seeing? When I was diagnosed there were no specialists in my state, so I had to travel across the country.
I’m sure you are working hard to stay away from Covid. I don’t go out much, and when I do I’m always wearing a medical mask. Luckily I was able to get some of those.
I hope you and your wife will be able to communicate.
If you are interested, we are having an online support group June 2nd at 11AM Central Time via Zoom. I will post the link to it on my blog the day before. I know the isolation is hard.
Please take good care!
Carolyn
My local oncologist referred me to
Dr. Cloyd at The Ohio State University cancer center.
I was unaware of the
Individuals you cited prior to your reply.
It is nice to have a couple of sources for a second opinion if next.
Does Dr. Cloyd do cytoreduction surgeries followed by HIPEC? That is pretty much the treatment of choice for appendix cancer. Some surgeons just want to treat appendix cancer like colon cancer and do a right hemicolectomy followed by IV chemotherapy.
Appendix cancer is not colon cancer and there are very few appendix cancer specialists. It’s really important to see someone who specializes in appendix cancer. Some of the specialists have seen and treated many hundreds of cases of appendix cancer.
My oncologist initially referred me to University of Chicago. They had a wonderful oncology program but no expertise with appendix cancer. My local very excellent surgeon and friend wanted to treat my cancer like colon cancer and wanted to do just a hemicolectomy, but I said no as he did not have experience treating appendix cancer.
I wouldn’t let anyone do surgery on me unless they were a specialist. I’m a 19 year survivor after a second and third opinion.
Yes. He says they have a lot of experience with the cytoreduction/HIPEC procedure.
He had a sample of the mucous removed from my abdomen sent to him so his group can do their own pathology report.
He will review the findings with their “Group” before I meet with him and he makes his final recommendations to me.
His initial thoughts are the cytoreduction/HIPEC route. He wants to see the pathology before he decides how much of the large intestine to remove.
Mike
I’m glad for you! I’ve known of several patients who were treated as colon cancer, then had their cancer recur (sometimes more than once) before they saw an appendix cancer specialist for cytoreduction/HIPEC. Once they had major surgeries prior to the cytoreduction surgery though, the HIPEC is not as effective.