THINGS WE'VE LEARNED ABOUT CANCER

One of the first things we learned was not to take symptoms for granted.
There was no pain or discomfort. Just some occasional blood in the stool that didn't seem to be that serious. It got a little worse and became more common than not. A colonoscopy was past-due. A tumor was slowly growing at the junction of the rectum and sigmoid parts of the colon and had probably been there for about 5 years. Had we gotten to it sooner, we wouldn't have needed the chemotherapy.
Another eye-opener was that given the stage of the tumor, after the surgery, Christine has a 50/50 chance of recovery without the chemo and an 80% chance of recovery with it. (A no-brainer for us)
We have also started to change our eating habits and lifestyle to reflect a new healthier commitment to each other. We are taking in a much higher fiber content than before, and have started including flax seed into our diet on a daily basis. The research on flax is genuine and easily found. Everyone reading this should jump on this wagon right now! It's easy to do, there are breakfast cereals and breads and capsules etc. Start now!