Hi Jelena. I’m here for my mother who has stage 3 rectal cancer. She has had Colostomy Xeloda Chemo/radiation Surgery to remove tumor Folfox Chemo And now we are waiting for the blood tests /CT scans to see her progress. Your videos are really helpful to me. I quit my job to take care of her and it’s been hard. Thank you for making your channel it’s really nice to have a real person explain this. I really appreciate you sharing your story.
That’s so wonderful you’re learning about all this to be even more helpful to your mother. I’m sure she’s so grateful for all the help you’ve been throughout her treatment. I hope the scans show that treatment worked and there is no evidence of cancer in her 🤞🏼💙
Excellent video, Jelena. Once my prostate cancer treatment was over, I felt a little lost and on my own. My PSA is measured every 3-months, but I only see the doctor once a year, depending on the PSA results. I'm currently 39-months NED. I had no family history and no symptoms, even though my cancer was in the final stage before breaching the prostate. If I didn't get tested, my cancer most likely would have spread before I developed symptoms. I do suffer from survivors' guilt and have a fear of recurrence. I have a friend who had prostate cancer recurrence after 10-years of being NED. He went back into treatment and died a year later. Even though my medical team was excellent, they focused purely on the physical side. At the time of diagnosis, I didn't realize that my mental health would suffer. I get scanxiety a few days before follow-up tests, and every time I get a new pain in my legs or hips, I wonder if it's a result of the treatment or the cancer returning. It's great to be able to talk about it. Thank you so much for making your videos. They are really helpful.
So happy to hear these videos are helpful, even as a survivor of a different type of cancer from me. Cancer treatment needs to be approached from numerous directions, including mental health. Those of us that survive are left to figure out how to handle the rest of life on our own.
Thank you for doing these videos. I was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer end of July 2020, I am 34 years old. I had surgrey to remove the tumor with lympnods in August. I was moved to stage 3 as it has not spread. I just started chemo last week. Your videos helped me to prepare. I have hopefully 11 more cycles to go. Thanks for talking about your experience.
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, but that’s great news that you were downgraded from stage 4 to stage 3. Wishing you the best of luck as you go through chemo these next few months💙
I was diagnosed w/stage 1 when I was 28. I was lucky they found it so early. My symptoms incl frequent bathroom visits w/Diarrhea, some bleeding, and minor stomach cramping. I thought maybe I needed to have my hemorrhoids (got them when I gave birth). I immediately visited a gastroenterologist. He performed an “in office” rectal exam then scheduled a colonoscopy. He told me I was very young and had nothing to worry about. Then the biopsy came back positive for cancer. We were both shocked. He also informed me it was a rare tumor he’d only ever seen in men over 60. Just as you stated in the video I had exams every 3 months then yearly. I hit the 5 yr mark and I’m now 51. I have colonoscopies every 2 yrs to stay on top of things. I don’t like to use the word Cancer because I never required any extreme measures.
Wow, you sure were lucky that they caught yours so early! I can understand that you don’t like using the word cancer, but even though you didn’t have to have any extreme treatment you still had to go through regular monitoring to make sure it didn’t come back. That can get pretty stressful. Happy to hear you’ve been able to enjoy lots of cancer free years 💙
Hi Jelena, I’m Vanessa a 27 year old mother of an 8 year old and a 3 year old. I was recently diagnosed about a week ago with early stage colorectal cancer. I saw your video about colorectal cancer symptoms and it pushed me even more to get a colonoscopy. Also, cancer runs very high in my family as 7 members have been diagnosed, making me the 8th, including my mother who just recently passed. Your videos are helping me a lot and I want to share my story on my channel one day. I would like to hopefully make it as an awareness video some how. Thank you for being so open about your experience and I wish you many more years of health and happiness. 💜
Hi Vanessa. I so sorry about your diagnosis and the recent loss of your mother. I’m glad to hear though that you pushed for a colonoscopy when you started having symptoms and it was an early stage💙 Cancer sucks, but catching it as early as you can gives you a much better prognosis for a long life with fewer bad side effects. Has anyone in your family done any genetic testing to see if there are specific genes that are causing all this cancer?
Survivor Jelena I have not had any genetic testing myself but my mother did before she passed. I need to contact her doctor in regards to that. I will ask my doctor as well for genetic testing and for my children.
Another great video Jelena thank you so much 🙏 everything went well with my brother’s surgery and the diarrhea isn’t too bad because of the foods I give him thanks to you ❤️ he was asking me when will he be able to go back to work 🙏
Hi Jelina thank you so much for all your help and advice, My husband is having his port removed on Monday no date yet for the reversal,He is still suffering badly from fatigue, Thanks Jelina
Getting the port out will feel nice. The fatigue is tough. Sleeping more doesn’t help, and trying to get outside for a walk seems like a huge deal. Hopefully he gets a little relief from the fatigue soon.
Thank you for all the informative videos. I am a colon cancer patient and have found your videos really helpful. When your doctor declared NED for you after you completed the treatment, what kinds of tests did he base the conclusion on? CEA, CT scan? Any other tests that was done to prove:/confirm NED? Thanks!
I was hospitalized right after I finished my last round of chemo for an intestinal blockage so they did a CT scan on me and determined from that I was NED.
Hi Jelena, I've got a question on you. I'm having almost all symptoms of bowel cancer (except pain) and I'm just waiting for my appointment with gastroenterologist now. I also had a sudden change in the smell of my gas, it was horrible. After my doctor prescribed me some antibiotics, it stopped. Other symptoms are still present. I'm just curious how often did you have a blood in your stool? In my case it's once or twice a week. I have a very high level of calprotectin, 1300. So my doctor is only talking about inflammation, colitis, not a single word about cancer. Do you remember if you had a very high level of calprotectin as well? Thank you. Waiting for my appointments makes me really frustrated..
Hi Jelena. I’m here for my mother who has stage 3 rectal cancer. She has had
Colostomy
Xeloda Chemo/radiation
Surgery to remove tumor
Folfox Chemo
And now we are waiting for the blood tests /CT scans to see her progress.
Your videos are really helpful to me. I quit my job to take care of her and it’s been hard. Thank you for making your channel it’s really nice to have a real person explain this.
I really appreciate you sharing your story.
That’s so wonderful you’re learning about all this to be even more helpful to your mother. I’m sure she’s so grateful for all the help you’ve been throughout her treatment. I hope the scans show that treatment worked and there is no evidence of cancer in her 🤞🏼💙
Excellent video, Jelena. Once my prostate cancer treatment was over, I felt a little lost and on my own. My PSA is measured every 3-months, but I only see the doctor once a year, depending on the PSA results. I'm currently 39-months NED. I had no family history and no symptoms, even though my cancer was in the final stage before breaching the prostate. If I didn't get tested, my cancer most likely would have spread before I developed symptoms. I do suffer from survivors' guilt and have a fear of recurrence. I have a friend who had prostate cancer recurrence after 10-years of being NED. He went back into treatment and died a year later. Even though my medical team was excellent, they focused purely on the physical side. At the time of diagnosis, I didn't realize that my mental health would suffer. I get scanxiety a few days before follow-up tests, and every time I get a new pain in my legs or hips, I wonder if it's a result of the treatment or the cancer returning. It's great to be able to talk about it. Thank you so much for making your videos. They are really helpful.
So happy to hear these videos are helpful, even as a survivor of a different type of cancer from me. Cancer treatment needs to be approached from numerous directions, including mental health. Those of us that survive are left to figure out how to handle the rest of life on our own.
Thank you for doing these videos. I was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer end of July 2020, I am 34 years old. I had surgrey to remove the tumor with lympnods in August. I was moved to stage 3 as it has not spread. I just started chemo last week. Your videos helped me to prepare. I have hopefully 11 more cycles to go. Thanks for talking about your experience.
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, but that’s great news that you were downgraded from stage 4 to stage 3. Wishing you the best of luck as you go through chemo these next few months💙
God Bless you❤
Your videos have been so helpful...i two am a stage 3 retal cancer survivor.
I was diagnosed w/stage 1 when I was 28. I was lucky they found it so early. My symptoms incl frequent bathroom visits w/Diarrhea, some bleeding, and minor stomach cramping. I thought maybe I needed to have my hemorrhoids (got them when I gave birth). I immediately visited a gastroenterologist. He performed an “in office” rectal exam then scheduled a colonoscopy. He told me I was very young and had nothing to worry about. Then the biopsy came back positive for cancer. We were both shocked. He also informed me it was a rare tumor he’d only ever seen in men over 60. Just as you stated in the video I had exams every 3 months then yearly. I hit the 5 yr mark and I’m now 51. I have colonoscopies every 2 yrs to stay on top of things. I don’t like to use the word Cancer because I never required any extreme measures.
Wow, you sure were lucky that they caught yours so early! I can understand that you don’t like using the word cancer, but even though you didn’t have to have any extreme treatment you still had to go through regular monitoring to make sure it didn’t come back. That can get pretty stressful. Happy to hear you’ve been able to enjoy lots of cancer free years 💙
You are doing a great service, showing all the facets of this journey. ♥️
Thank you! I know I wish I could have found something like this when I was going through my diagnosis, so I hope it can help others 💙
Hi Jelena,
I’m Vanessa a 27 year old mother of an 8 year old and a 3 year old. I was recently diagnosed about a week ago with early stage colorectal cancer. I saw your video about colorectal cancer symptoms and it pushed me even more to get a colonoscopy. Also, cancer runs very high in my family as 7 members have been diagnosed, making me the 8th, including my mother who just recently passed. Your videos are helping me a lot and I want to share my story on my channel one day. I would like to hopefully make it as an awareness video some how. Thank you for being so open about your experience and I wish you many more years of health and happiness. 💜
Hi Vanessa. I so sorry about your diagnosis and the recent loss of your mother. I’m glad to hear though that you pushed for a colonoscopy when you started having symptoms and it was an early stage💙 Cancer sucks, but catching it as early as you can gives you a much better prognosis for a long life with fewer bad side effects. Has anyone in your family done any genetic testing to see if there are specific genes that are causing all this cancer?
Survivor Jelena I have not had any genetic testing myself but my mother did before she passed. I need to contact her doctor in regards to that. I will ask my doctor as well for genetic testing and for my children.
Another great video Jelena thank you so much 🙏 everything went well with my brother’s surgery and the diarrhea isn’t too bad because of the foods I give him thanks to you ❤️ he was asking me when will he be able to go back to work 🙏
zee k that’s great! Wow! Already asking when he can go back to work?!? That’s always a god sign 😃
You are so good thank you
Hi Jelina thank you so much for all your help and advice, My husband is having his port removed on Monday no date yet for the reversal,He is still suffering badly from fatigue, Thanks Jelina
Getting the port out will feel nice. The fatigue is tough. Sleeping more doesn’t help, and trying to get outside for a walk seems like a huge deal. Hopefully he gets a little relief from the fatigue soon.
Thank you for all the informative videos. I am a colon cancer patient and have found your videos really helpful. When your doctor declared NED for you after you completed the treatment, what kinds of tests did he base the conclusion on? CEA, CT scan? Any other tests that was done to prove:/confirm NED? Thanks!
I was hospitalized right after I finished my last round of chemo for an intestinal blockage so they did a CT scan on me and determined from that I was NED.
Hi Jelena, I've got a question on you. I'm having almost all symptoms of bowel cancer (except pain) and I'm just waiting for my appointment with gastroenterologist now. I also had a sudden change in the smell of my gas, it was horrible. After my doctor prescribed me some antibiotics, it stopped. Other symptoms are still present. I'm just curious how often did you have a blood in your stool? In my case it's once or twice a week. I have a very high level of calprotectin, 1300. So my doctor is only talking about inflammation, colitis, not a single word about cancer. Do you remember if you had a very high level of calprotectin as well? Thank you.
Waiting for my appointments makes me really frustrated..
The blood in my stool was pretty much daily before my diagnosis. What is calprotectin? I don’t remember seeing that on any of my blood draw labs.