SB popped in for a visit yesterday. It was bittersweet to see him. That doesn't sound right.
He is usually the life of the party. What I saw in him yesterday wasn't what we're used to seeing.
He is very pale. I assume it's from the anemia or painkillers. He has a mass on the right side down by his groin where the hip connects to the body. What is that called? Lemme google it. It's close to the "illiopsoas" muscle from what I can tell.
Anyway, that mass is putting pressure on some nerves or tendons or something and is shooting pain down his leg so bad that he can't get relief. He can't sit, stand or lie down for more than an hour at a time due to the intense pain.
He doesn't know how many lymph nodes this cancer has reached. He doesn't know yet if it has metastisized to any other organs or areas other than the rectal area and the groin.
He had complained with his leg for about a month. He thought it was arthritis that moved from his wrists and knees to his legs. V1 and I suggested that he needed to see his doctor just to rule out blood clots (we stand up all day). He put it off and took tylenol.
Then he came in a couple of weeks ago and said that he had raging hemorrhoids. Again, we suggested that he go to the doctor to get precription stuff for that. He put it off and tried OTC stuff.
It got worse and worse. He finally bit the bullet and went to the doctor mainly because V1 and I pushed and prodded and were basically relentless about it. She gave him a precription, did some blood work and told him if his hemorrhoids weren't any better in a week, she'd send him to a surgeon. She made him a follow up appointment.
His blood work came back. He was anemic. No bells and whistles went off. She told him to up his intake of iron. He's been anemic before and knew what to do. At that follow up visit he told her that he just wanted to go ahead and see the surgeon to get this stuff over with.
He went to the surgeon and he examined him and told him he didn't have hemorrhoids. It was colorectal cancer. He was 99% sure of it.
We are devastated but we try to keep positive about it. Yesterday he came in and said "what's the big deal? You already knew I was a pain in the ass!"
We call him 3 or 4 times a day to see if he needs anything. He's staying with his parents and they are looking tired.
Last night we went out to eat for my son's birthday. I called to see if he felt like joining us. He doesn't want my son to know he's sick and he looks sick right now. He said that he'd love to go but he didn't think he could sit down that long.
Hubby suggested that we get "to-go" plates for him and his parents. We dropped them off and they seemed so appreciative. His mom looks tired. His dad was mostly quiet.
We talked for a while and his mind is positive. That's a relief and I would suppose half the battle.
I feel better after talking to him last night. We can do this. It will take everyone we know to fight this, but it's do-able. I just have to keep a positive attitude.
Cheater glasses - November 20, 2008 Don't mess with my iced tea - November 18, 2008 Happy Birthday Danny DeVito - November 17, 2008 Mrs. Beasley - November 13, 2008 foot ailment - November 12, 2008
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