The Diagnosis....

Hi, and welcome to Chris' Duke Treatment Blog!

This is how we got the diagnosis:

In mid November, after seeing some minor bleeding in the bathroom, Chris saw her primary care doc.  He did not find anything unusual, so he referred Chris to a GI.  The GI also found nothing unusual, so he ordered a colonoscopy.  The colonoscopy was performed on 12/5, and revealed a tumor blocking 2/3 of the colon.  The GI ordered a CT scan of the liver (closest major organ), which showed no spread of the tumor.  The GI referred Chris to a surgeon to remove the tumor.

Chris consulted her sister-in-law (an oncologist), who strongly encouraged Chris to get a second opinion at Duke.  Duke performed a chest CT scan, a pelvic MRI, and several blood tests.  The MRI revealed that the tumor had likely grown past the colon, and entered the uterus.  Duke is not 100% sure of this, but said this is likely the case.  They are proceeding as if the cancer is Stage 3, which means it has grown past the original site (the colon) and entered another local organ (the uterus), but it has not been found in a distant organ.  When she has surgery to remove the tumor (expected late Feb, or March), they will check the tumor's entry into the uterus.  The other possibility is that it could be normal thickening of the uterus wall, but they said this is not likely the case.