ANDREW:
Hello, and welcome to the American Cancer Society's Cancer Survivors' Network, the service created by and for cancer survivors. In Seattle, I'm your discussion leader, Andrew Schorr. Today's topic, colon cancer for women between the ages of 50 and 65. On the phone with us are four colon cancer survivors from across the country, women who are all between 50 and 65 and who have completed their treatment. Over the next few minutes, we'll discuss issues such as the importance of finding others to talk to before surgery, dealing with long-term lower abdominal treatment side effects, learning to live with dietary changes and habits, bringing awareness to different cultural communities and getting doctors to fully inform female survivors who are having problems after their treatment. Let's begin. Joining us today is Carol from Anchorage, Alaska. Carol is 56 and single. I know, Carol, right? Your children are grownup?

CAROLE:
That's right. Yes, I have grown daughters and a granddaughter.

ANDREW:
Oh, how old are your children?

CAROLE:
My daughters are 29 and 34.

ANDREW:
And, how old's that grandchild?

CAROLE:
I saw her this summer for her third birthday.

ANDREW:
Great. Now Carol, I understand you were treated for colon cancer back in 1993 and you had surgery, chemo, radiation and an ostomy, which you still have.

CAROLE:
Yes, that's correct.

ANDREW:
I understand you got a radiation burn during your treatments and that led to some long-term problems. What problems have been lasting after all this?

CAROLE:
Well, there were a couple of complications from the radiation, one initially while I was in the radiation treatment, was that I had some burning and scarring of the intestines. And, I was put on IV feeding for six weeks, absolutely nothing by mouth. It was 12 hours on the IV. As a result of that I've continued to be treated for radiation colitis and take medication.

ANDREW:
So, it's really been, and with the ostomy as well, there have been very lingering effects of all this disease.

CAROLE:
At this point, I'm feeling very comfortable, feeling well and so forth, but initially, as I was going through the radiation treatments and shortly thereafter, there were some problems that I hadn't been told about and perhaps the doctors didn't even know this was going to be a result.

ANDREW:
Which problems?

CAROLE:
Well, with the radiation burning, not only of the intestines, but also, as I went back to marital relations because I was married at the time, I found out it was very difficult to have intercourse because of the scarring and the burning in the female organs. So, I did go to my gynecologist and talk to him about that. He was surprised that the radiologist had not said anything to me about this being a possible side effect.

ANDREW:
Carol, for you, what would you say to women who maybe have completed their treatment like yourself and men, as well, who've dealt with colon or colorectal cancer? It sounds like, on an ongoing basis, you need to have a dialog with physicians about how this affects you. Would you say that's right?

CAROLE:
Oh, absolutely. Not just the oncologist and radiologist, but for females, talking with the gynecologist to see what sort of short-term and long-term problems there might be.

ANDREW:
Now, related to the ostomy, not every one, and certainly I think I've heard that it's not the majority of people who have surgery for colon cancer need ostomies, but many people do. How has it worked out for you?

CAROLE:
Actually, that's not been as much of a problem as I had anticipated or fretted about. I teach eighth grade, go to school every day, and I have no problems with handling it. I just fly frequently on trips. I'm planning a cruise for Christmas, so I would say that I have to maybe plan ahead a bit. I keep supplies with me and out at school, but I've never had a major problem and this is what people worry about, that it would be really embarrassing.

ANDREW:
So, you've gone on with a pretty good quality of life. It hasn't held you back?

CAROLE:
That's correct. I've done snorkeling; I don't do a lot of swimming, but I feel comfortable in a bathing suit.

ANDREW:
That's great. What would you say are your most important post treatment issues that you face as a colon cancer survivor?

CAROLE:
Keeping up with the dialog with the doctors. I'm still getting follow-up checks every year. I have a CAT scan and a chest x-ray and every two years, at this point, I have a colonoscopy, so I'm still going to see the doctors on a regular basis.

ANDREW:
Is the concern about a recurrence very real for you, all the time, top of mind or is it just back there somewhere?

CAROLE:
Well, it is. Now that I've passed the five-year mark, it's not quite as much of a problem, but certainly colon cancer does recur. It also does travel, and that's why I continue to see my doctors for follow-up just to, you know, catch anything that might be lurking around, shall we say.

ANDREW:
Do you talk to people about this?

CAROLE:
Oh. Very few people know what I've gone through in terms of the ostomy. I was trained as an ostomy visitor and did visit a couple of people. One of the ladies had voiced my opinion, which was, "Couldn't they call it something else?" So, I think that personally, I have yet to come out of the closet about this.

ANDREW:
I've heard it said, related to colorectal cancer, that some people have felt some shame that this happened to them. It's not nearly as public as breast cancer. Did you feel any of that?

CAROLE:
Oh, it was like, well, what did you do wrong? You know, what did you do wrong in your life that you wound up with this?

ANDREW:
You mean like you had an improper diet, or something.

CAROLE:
Yes, or didn't exercise enough. And, you know, I could check off some things.

ANDREW:
Have you gotten past that now, though, as a long-term survivor?

CAROLE:
I think so because I've done some reading. I've gone to our ostomy group meetings here in town. I've also realized the place that genetics might have occurred.

ANDREW:
Do you think in your family that was the case?

CAROLE:
My cousin has Crohn's disease. Both my daughters are treated for...They're both lactose intolerant now.

ANDREW:
So, you just wondered if there was sort of a gastrointestinal connection.

CAROLE:
Right. I know that my father has had polyps removed from his colon.

ANDREW:
Right, well, in some cases, in some percentage of the cases it is hereditary, not the majority, I know, but some. That's the concern in our family.

ANDREW:
Well, lets have another member of our discussion group join us, and that's Pat from Akron, Ohio. Welcome, Pat.

PAT:
Oh, it's my pleasure.

ANDREW:
Pat, I understand you had surgery for your colon cancer back in 1987, so you're a long-term survivor with colon cancer. Do you feel, in your head, that you're out of the woods, that this is long-term in your past and you don't have to think about it?

PAT:
No, I don't think it'll ever be that way. I'll always be a cancer patient, you know, somewhere along the line. Not that, you know, I worry about it, but that thought, as far as the mental part of having cancer, it will always be there.

ANDREW:
Do you go for regular checkups?

PAT:
Oh, yes, I do. I have a colonoscopy now; it's just changed to every five years. It was three years and then five. In the beginning it was done, you know, every six months for two years. I had a resection in which they removed a foot of my intestine, and I had no treatment. We opted to not go for the treatment, although I do have two positive nodes. After the biopsy we talked it over with the physician and they knew that those nodes were within an inch of my tumor site, and they knew that they got that area out. So, we talked about it, talked to some oncologists about it, and opted to not go for any kind of treatment at that time, just to watch me very closely.

ANDREW:
But, you did make changes, I understand, in your life. Maybe you didn't have treatment but you, I understand, changed diet.

PAT:
Absolutely.

ANDREW:
And, maybe some lifestyle changes. Tell us about that. What was your situation before colon cancer and what changes did you make after the surgery?

PAT:
Well, you know, I ate a lot of red meat, and I ate a lot of fats. I was a lover of candies. I had a long talk with my physician and surgeon, and we decided to kind of, you know, get on a healthy diet. Lots of fruits, lots of vegetables, steer away from red meat, which I have done, and, you know, eliminate some of this, this fatty food. The other thing my physician has suggested and surgeon also, at the time, was that daily I would take two tablespoons of Citricel. It's like an orange drink. It's kind of slimy sort of texture, but it's fine. And what it does is just keep the bowels soft, and I have just proceeded to do that, and it's worked very well.

ANDREW:
Now, Pat, beyond your doctor, as a source of information, how else have you gotten information to make the changes in your life that you feel good about?

PAT:
Well, you know, I think every day and especially because of the position I'm in, I'm Cancer Control Director of our unit in Summit County and so I'm talking with people all the time about cancer. One of the things I really try to stress naturally is education, prevention and early detection, how important that is. Probably the most important thing I strive to do is let people know how important it is to know their own body, when there is something different in your body. And, you see your doctor and he says, "Oh, it might just be this or it might just be that or maybe it's a flu bug." If it persists, you be persistent. Your doctor might know you but he doesn't know your body like you do. No one does, and it's just so important.

ANDREW:
That's a very good point. Now, as you look to the future, with this way in your past, 12 years in your past, but you say you think about it, and you made lifestyle changes. Are you optimistic about your future as a cancer survivor?

PAT:
Oh, absolutely. And I think, you know, we never know. I never had a problem before I was diagnosed. I had no bowel problem, you know, no constipation, no diarrhea, so I had not an inkling that I would ever be a cancer patient. When I was diagnosed, naturally it was a big shock. But as you, you know, as days go on. Of course, you know when you're told you have cancer, it's a total shock, whether you've had symptoms or not. But, I think more so when you haven't had a problem and all of a sudden you're told, "Wow, this is a problem." The thing that happened to me was that I rectally hemorrhaged one day, just boom, like that. They thought at first it may be a diverticulite bleed. Well, I never had a problem in that area. I never had diverticulitis or losis. So, on being admitted to the hospital, they thought, "Well maybe, you know, as soon as the bleed stops, you'll be able to go home." There was something in the back of my mind that said, "Get that colonoscopy while you're here." And, they didn't want to do it because of starting the bleed again.

ANDREW:
Were you already working for the Cancer Society at that time?

PAT:
No, I was not. I started to work there as a volunteer because I wanted to be able to help another cancer patient and I think all of us feel that way, you know, if you can only at least talk to someone. I was diagnosed in Texas and had no support groups or no one around me to really talk to, and I found through the journey of being a cancer patient that, you know, no matter how supportive your family is, and mine was, just totally supportive, they still haven't had cancer. And, not until you can really talk to someone who's gone through it, do you get a little bit more sense of relief. And, then, after just a few months of volunteering, a staff position became available and that's how I ended up where I am today.

ANDREW:
Well, you're certainly helping today and I appreciate that. I have a question for you about your own relationships. As you know, working with the Cancer Society, and I think if you talk to many colon cancer survivors, and we were just talking to Carole about it, there's sort of a shame. Why did this happen to me? And, it deals with sort of a bodily function you'd rather not talk about. Have you been real open about your colon cancer?

PAT:
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I go out and speak to support groups and businesses and I just think it's very important. For one, one reason, there hasn't been enough education, enough talk to the public about colon cancer. I know, to me, any kind of cancer is cancer. I've never looked at one being worse than the other. You know, when I hear about all these, the money raising projects that breast cancer gets involved in, and all the TV advertising I see for breast cancer, I get kind of jealous, I guess. I just feel like, why not talk a little bit about my kind of cancer? And, that's one of the main reasons I was so excited about doing this, because I know there are an awful of people out there with colon cancer. You just don't hear enough about it. They don't learn enough about it, and I think it's very important.

ANDREW:
And, also by listening to this discussion we're having today, they know there are people who survive colon cancer and go on with their lives.

PAT:
Absolutely.

ANDREW:
Well, lets bring into our discussion, Mary, who's from Ventura, California, just north of Los Angeles. Mary, I understand you're 58, married, and you have grown children as well, had surgery for your colon cancer earlier just this year, not that many months ago, right?

MARY:
Right. It was January the 14th.

ANDREW:
And, how are you doing now?

MARY:
I'm doing fine, thank you.

ANDREW:
What's your attitude about colon cancer with this so fresh in your mind, as you look forward hopefully to a very long life?

MARY:
Well, I was thinking of what Pat was saying and I really agreed with a lot of it to where you want to talk to people who've had, who've gone through the same experience as you had. And, I started talking about it from the very beginning. And I think one of the main reasons I did is because I had a change in my bowel habits, and when I left the hospital, the doctors told me that I would be functioning, you know. I'd have my bowel movements the same as before, and they weren't, and so I started talking to people and I found about five or six other people who had had the same type of surgery, one the day before mine, and only one of them had their doctor tell them that they would have a change in bowel habits.

ANDREW:
So, you feel that there needs to be more open communication, more complete communication between doctors and patient about the aftereffects of treatment?

MARY:
Yes, I think maybe the doctors don't understand. Maybe they don't realize that your bowel habits change, or maybe that's not the part that they study. My surgeon just, you know, is the one that told me that my bowel habits would be normal and all of a sudden I was having seven or eight a day, sometimes as many as 14. They've averaged out to about three or four a day.

ANDREW:
Now, you're in the Hispanic American community I understand. Are there special issues about colon cancer there that you'd like to talk about?

MARY
The only thing I can think of is that I know when I go back to Los Angeles where my mother lives, or used to live. The grocery stores still haven't changed as much as they have in other communities. Like here in Ventura, you can go to the store and you can buy skinless chicken or chicken breasts. If you go to the grocery stores in East Los Angeles, you still find, you can't find any type of skinless chicken. Everything is still the heavy fat. And that's what I think is real different.

ANDREW:
Do you feel that your speaking about it now? Of course, do you think that that's a message that needs to be carried to the Hispanic community?

MARY:
Yes, I do. One of the things I've done other than finding cancer survivors, colon cancer survivors, is that I started a colon cancer support group and we had our first meeting on Wednesday. My other goal is to start or try to find one and start one in Spanish.

ANDREW:
Those all sound like great things to do.

ANDREW:
Let me bring in the fourth member of our discussion group, and that is Shirley who joins us from Ukiah, California, up north quite a ways, but still in California, as Mary is. Shirley, thank you for joining us.

SHIRLEY:
Thank you.

ANDREW:
You had colon surgery in 1992?

SHIRLEY:
Correct.

ANDREW:
And, I understand you're married and you have a grown daughter?

SHIRLEY:
Yes, I do.

ANDREW:
There were some effects of your treatment that surprised both you and your doctors and you thought you had cancer yet again. Tell us that story.

SHIRLEY:
Yes, as you said, I had cancer in 1992. I went through the whole spiel. I had surgery, radiation and chemo for a year, and I was going in to see the doctor periodically for the checkup. And, about two and one-half years ago, my doctor said that he was a little bit concerned about my blood count because it was fluctuating a little bit. And, so, he suggested I go have a CAT scan, which I did, and they found some spots on the CAT scan. It wasn't clear enough that they could do a biopsy, so, I ended up going to San Francisco, to a hospital down there, and I had another CAT scan. And, they didn't find anything.

ANDREW:
But, you were told at what point that it could be what?

SHIRLEY:
After I went back, two weeks later they did their scans, and then they called me on the phone about three days later and said quote, "I'm sorry to tell you, but you have liver cancer. It's terminal, and you just have a few months to live." And I said to this doctor, "What can I do?" And the doctor said that I can continue on with more chemotherapy. So, I went to my local oncologist and I explained to him what the doctor in San Francisco had said, and he was not happy with that and he said, "I want more." So, we went for another CAT scan and this next one they were able to get some shadows where they felt they could do a biopsy. So, I was scheduled to go to the hospital. They did a biopsy and they found out it was not liver cancer at all. It was cirrhosis of the liver caused from the medication that I'd been taking.

(ANDREW:
For the colon cancer.

SHIRLEY:
For the colon cancer.

ANDREW:
So, you were on an emotional rollercoaster and thank God, this is one of these stores where the specialists in the big cities maybe weren't right and the local doctor ...

SHIRLEY:
That's right. My small town local doctor was correct. After checking further.

ANDREW:
So, what do you think the story is here as we've been talking with the other ladies here. There can be the fear in the back of your mind or the front of the mind as a colon cancer survivor. "Oh, my God. Is there another shoe that's going to drop sometime?"

SHIRLEY:
Yes, that's what I was very concerned about, you know. What else is going to happen. I do have, as we said, massive cirrhosis, which at this point means that I cannot touch alcohol. I've never been a drinker anyway, but I have to be extremely careful on any medication I ingest. I cannot take anything that's a Tylenol, that has any kind of Tylenol in it, because that's a killer of the liver.

ANDREW:
Do you feel, though, that you were treated properly for your colon cancer?

SHIRLEY:
Yes, my colon cancer, my physician was great, and my oncologist was great. The first day I went in to see my oncologist, he explained to me that cancer was, that I was not to blame, and I looked at him sort of funny and said, "Why would I think I was to blame?" He says a lot of people do because of the way they've eaten in the past and their diet, and I had absolutely no guilt. I felt this was a disease that hit me. I wasn't going to take any guilt for it. And, all of my oncologists here and my radiologists here, I thought were great. The one thing I do believe, as I said earlier, is that you have to keep an open line with your doctor. And he told me, my doctor told me the same as one of the other ladies, that you are the only one that knows your body and if there is a change in your body, you're the only one that's going to be able to explain it to the doctor. So, I encourage anybody, anytime they have any change in their body, to let the doctors know.

ANDREW:
Shirley, how has it changed your relationships with your family?

SHIRLEY:
It has not. My family has been supportive of me from the very beginning and I do not feel it has changed any relationship in my family.

ANDREW:
Is there anyone who's seen a change in their relationships as they've become, gone through cancer and become a colon cancer survivor for the good, for the not so good?

PAT:
Oh, absolutely. This is Pat in Akron. One of the very first things my surgeon told me; this was the second day after my surgery; he sat on the side of my bed and he said, "I have a couple things I'd like to discuss with you." And he said, "And this is pertinent to your future." He said, "One of the things I want you to do is when you get up in the morning, the first thing I want you to do is look in the mirror, and if you're still there, live that day to the fullest." He also said, "Have like a positive attitude," and, as someone has just said, "Inject some humor into your life." It's very important to be able to laugh. And I found if I could laugh at, you know, just things pertaining to, for instance, a colonoscopy, it's miserable, it's awful, but if you can just sort of laugh about it, it helps it to be a little bit easier. I think that, as far as relationships go, the other thing he told me was, you know, he said, "Now is the time in your life when you are the most important person." And he said, "I know that that's really hard to swallow when you have a husband, you have children and grandchildren, but," he said, "Believe me. If you don't feel like doing something tomorrow, or the next day or the next day or for the rest of your life, be sure you say, 'No, I'm sorry, I just don't want to do that now.' And make them understand that this is important to you."

ANDREW:
Pat, are there certain things that you do, a specific thing that you do for yourself? The doctor said, "Look in the mirror every day and make the fullest of that day." Are there kinds of things that you do that are sort of gifts to yourself now as a cancer survivor?

PAT:
I really do. You know, if I want to go shopping and I want to do it by myself, and my husband and I travel and we share everything, but you know, there's just a time I might just want to go sit in a hot tub and soak, and read a magazine, or I might say, "Hey you know, I feel like just going shopping, picking up some things for myself." And, he's very understanding about that, and I think it's really important. I think, you know, I can remember back twelve years ago when my daughter needed a babysitter, and that was wonderful, you know, our grandchildren are so important to us, but there were also some times when, you know, there might have been four or five times in a row, and by the fourth time I thought, "I don't feel like doing this this time." And, I just told my daughter and we have had many long talks about it since.

ANDREW:
And, not to feel guilty.

PAT:
That's right. Really. And you don't want them to feel like there's something wrong, and so I discussed it with them. And with all of the kids, and you know, they understand. And I think what's happened from that is that they're learning to do the same thing. They're learning how important it is to know yourself and that you are important. You're just not here to serve and to cater to. You know there are some things that we have to look in the mirror at and say, "Hey, you know I'm important here. This is something I want to do." And, that's hard to do.

ANDREW:
I wanted to ask about some other family issues that are a little bit different too, Pat, of the group, and that is, I think everybody here has children, right? I think that everybody has children. And, so, and I think Carole you were talking earlier about, you know, having your kids get checked regularly for colon cancer, concerns like that. But, also, they worry about you. You know, if you're in a pretty close relationship with your kids, they worry about you, whether this, and you might worry about this, whether this cancer or any cancer might happen to them and they might worry about for themselves. How you feel as you go on with your life as a colorectal cancer survivor? And, have that open communication so there's that freedom to ask, freedom to say what's going on for each of you?

SHIRLEY:
This is Shirley from Ukiah. I never had a problem with communicating. I was very open from the first moment that I was diagnosed and I have never had a problem. Anybody could come up and talk to me about it and I was very willing to talk to them. It helped me to be able to share and I'm sure it helped the people that asked me. They were able to come up with some information. So, I think it's very, very important to share your experiences and be open about it. Don't be afraid. Because this is, we all have a body, we all have the same functions. I know a lot of things are embarrassing, but I still feel that we all get up in the morning, we all get dressed, we all go through the day, we all get undressed and go to bed at night, so it's just very important to share and let people know that it's not as bad as it's been made out to be. In some cases it is worse, but to share, the openness is very important.

ANDREW:
Let me ask Mary. Mary, your colon cancer treatment is pretty fresh in your mind, and I know you have grown children. How have you gotten through not just your fear about all this, but their fear?

MARY:
I think one of the ways I've helped them get over their fear is that as soon as possible I went back to my normal living. I do yoga, and four weeks after my surgery, I started yoga. Six weeks later, or six weeks after the surgery, I started aerobics and eight weeks after my surgery I started bike riding. And, those were all things I did before, and I retired right after I found out I had colon cancer. It was already planned, and I went ahead and did it anyway. And I also decided I was going to go back to work part-time. I work for a school district and so I subbed in the offices. I was an office manager for an elementary school, and I'd go to the different schools, and I worked.

ANDREW:
And how old are your children, Mary?

MARY:
My children are 31, 29, 25 and 22.

ANDREW:
So, does mom talk to the kids frankly about this?

MARY:
Yes, I always have and we've always been very open and even since the children were small, we've always called the body parts by their correct names, and the kids, you know, feel real comfortable. The hardest part was my son. He was in the service, and he's the only one who couldn't be here. And, I think he found it very hard.

ANDREW:
And now, he knows that mom is going to be okay?

MARY:
Yes, he's out of the service and he's home.

ANDREW:
How about your husband? How have you talked about things with him as you put the surgery behind you and now go on with your life?

MARY:
My husband and I have always had real open communication. He's a real worrier and I've noticed the difference in him, because he's also a very stay-at home-person and I'm a very outgoing person, and I find that now, if I want to go some place, he'll go with me. He usually didn't attend funerals and we've had two deaths of people that we know since I had my surgery and he's offered to go with me and gone with me, which, before, he avoided going.

ANDREW:
Anybody see a change in a relationship with their spouse or men in their lives after all this?

PAT:
I think it brings you much closer.

PAT:
I also want to add that one of the things, as far as children go, that I was instructed by, you know, my surgeon, was that when our children are 35, they should have their first colonoscopy. And, that it was extremely important. In my case, my mother-in-law also had colon cancer and there's a lot of cancer, not colon cancer, but cancer in my family, so they stand to have both sides with cancer hanging over them.

ANDREW:
Do you think this is a gift, in a sense? Maybe this is a strange way to say it to your children, to raise their awareness of colon cancer, that it's been in the family but, anyway, maybe even when there isn't, for most people and that age 35 they should really be paying attention to this.

PAT:
That's right, and one of the interesting things about that is they've all requested this from their doctors, a lot of their doctors. My children all live out-of-state. Two live in Texas and one lives in Mississippi. None of their doctors wanted to do it before the age of 40 and they all had to insist on it.

ANDREW:
Mary, I read something that you had been thinking about how your husband had been asked to have a hemoccult test and you at your checkups had not. Is that right?

MARY:
Correct. My doctor did one early on him, I think probably the last five years.

ANDREW:
And, do you think that maybe this awareness of maybe checking and trying to prevent colon cancer early on in women, that there's not as much awareness even among the doctors for this? At least, that was your experience.

MARY:
Yes, I had had problems with bleeding and had mentioned it to the doctor several times, and every time I mentioned it, he said it was my hemorrhoids. And, this last time I had had bleeding and it had gotten worse for almost a year, and so this time I said, "You know, I'm sorry, I know you think it's hemorrhoids, but I'd like to have the sigmoidoscopy sooner, because they were going to, I think they were going to wait two or three months before they could schedule me.

ANDREW:
So, this is just as true now as a colon cancer survivor, as the other ladies were saying, and that is advocating for yourself, knowing your own body and to be wary of any kind of changes so that a recurrence is not a problem.

MARY:
Yes.

CAROLE:
This is Carole in Anchorage, and I can certainly attest to that situation because I also, over the course of three or four years, had mentioned to a couple of my doctors that I was having some bleeding, and they said, "Oh, you know, it's just hemorrhoids, don't worry about it." That type of thing. And, when I finally hemorrhaged rectally, on vacation, as a matter of fact, in the Tokyo train station, that sort of got everybody's attention. And, so I spent three or four days there, and then immediately came home to my oncologist here, or to my colorectal surgeon. And, I had been noticing some change in bowel habits but because of the trip I held off doing anything. It was going to be, "When I get back I'll do something." Well, my body finally said, "No, no, we're going to take care of this problem right now."

ANDREW:
Carole, as we begin to wrap up our discussion, for people who are listening who have had colon cancer treatment, maybe have had some effects from the treatment, maybe have an ostomy, maybe don't, but overall from where you sit, having gone through this experience, what would you, what final thought would you like to leave them with?

CAROLE:
I appreciate your asking me that because there's a comment that I wanted to make. During the diagnosis and the surgery, the treatment and so forth, to this point, I have never considered myself to be a victim. I have gone on with my life, a year after I had surgery in fact, I'd only finished the chemo and the radiation three or four months. I took a trip with my daughter to England and Ireland, I have continued to work, I've continued to do new activities, joining a health club, again watching what I eat and so forth, and as the other ladies were saying, you just go on with your life, and I'm not holding back because I've been a cancer victim. I've had that experience of being a person who's had cancer, I've moved on with my life, at this point my husband is divorcing me. It has nothing at all to do with the cancer. His mid-life crisis just got a little too serious for him. I think it would have happened probably sooner had I not had the cancer, because he did stay around and he was an excellent caregiver

ANDREW:
And as you look to the future, do you feel pretty positive about it?

CAROLE:
Yes, absolutely. There's a possibility I will retire this year after this year of teaching, but if I do so I will be looking at travel, looking at some other part time job, just continuing to live my life to the fullest, and of course be with my family and the extended family, and friends.

ANDREW:
Mary, what about you? Some final thoughts for our listeners from you?

MARY:
The only thing I can think of is to become educated, and to find books, if you have questions, if you think you might have something wrong, there's books at the bookstores and you can get and read and find out what the symptoms are. Because a lot of people are asking, what did you feel, how did it start, and I think it's because they have questions and they've also have been told you know, well there's nothing wrong, it's just you. And I'd say become educated.

ANDREW:
And remain educated as treatments change and awareness of long term issues continue to be available. And Shirley, what about you? Some final thoughts.

SHIRLEY:
I agree, I think education is very important but I also believe keeping busy is very important. While I was listening to the other ladies, I did want to make one comment, right after I was diagnosed with my colon cancer, my daughter and my two sisters, who are both younger than I, went in for checkups. And at that time we found out that my youngest sister had leukemia, and so as I said, it's very important that other people be aware. It might not be the same kind of cancer, but we're now treating her and she's still alive. So I think that awareness and education and being open is very important.

ANDREW:
All good points. And Pat, you are the public speaker there in Akron, Ohio. Final thoughts for our audience.

PAT:
Live one day at a time, be happy, get educated, get in touch with your cancer society, your local units if you have one in your area. We have so much to offer and I think the public isn't aware of all the fine things we have to offer, programming, support, from a personal standpoint, trust in your doctor, if you cannot do that if you feel intimidated, go to one that you can trust and talk openly with. It's a very important path to take, when you're against, up against having cancer.

ANDREW:
Pat, Mary talked about forming a support group of colon cancer survivors.

PAT:
That's wonderful, Mary, God bless you.

MARY:
You know what the American Cancer Association helped me with it.

PAT:
Good. Good.

MARY:
I called them and they gave me a book on how to lead, how to form a support group and they've helped me with sending things out and also with some of the expenses.

PAT:
That's just wonderful. I'm in the process of working with a group who wants to start a support group as well. So I think it's just so important. I think colon cancer has like I said earlier has been on the back burner too long, and I think with all of us, just passing the word along, talk to another colon cancer patient, you know, get out there into the public, go to different support groups, because you're bound to find one that has colon cancer involved in it, and I think it's just real important.

ANDREW:
Well, on that note, we will have to end. But ladies, I greatly appreciate and I know the American Cancer Society does, you sharing your very personal stories and your personal comments to help others. Thank you so much. For the American Cancer Society's Cancer Survivors Network and from Healthtalk Interactive Studio in Seattle, I'm Andrew Schorr.