I had lost all faith in the medical establishment the last few years, which created a conundrum with my diagnosis of rectal cancer. Do I put myself in the hands of those that I no longer trust? Or do I opt for alternative treatments?

I opted for conventional chemo and radiation therapy. To me that gave me the best odds of recovery.

I had several friends and relatives recoil when I told them I was going the way of conventional treatment.

"You know that you're being poisoned, right", said my brother.

"Are you letting them poison you?", said a good friend as he turned his head in revulsion.

I responded: "Before my diagnoses I would have said the same, but reality hits home when it happenes to you personally".

I agonized over the different options and decided that conventional treatment gave me the best shot for survival. Sure, chemo/radiation takes it's toll and actually worsens things for certain individuals, but a lot has to do with the overall health of the patient and I, at 71 years old, am in good shape and otherwise healthy.

I made my decision and never looked back knowing full well what I was up against. I was positive then, as I am now, that I will survive this setback. I keep my mind occupied on other things and refuse to succumb to the fear and depression that a diagnosis of cancer can lead to.

As otc opined and I adhere to: "Fuck-a-tumor".

My initial MRI categorized my condition as Stage 3c which means that the mass is localized to the rectum and possibly 1 to 3 nearby lymph nodes, and has not spread to any other organs or parts of my body. I was relieved and felt lucky that it hadn't spread and it wasn't classified as Stage 4 cancer, even though Stage 3 is considered advanced cancer.

My oncologist set up an eight session protocol of oral chemo therapy, (pills I take at home, three in the morning and three at night) in conjunction with a chemo infusion at the hospital every two weeks. Each session consists of one week of infusion and pills followed by a week off to recover. I just finished session six and next Monday I start session seven.

There hadn't been much to report about my progress without proof of data and that's why I've been silent about it, although I started feeling great after about the second session. The symptoms all but disappeared and the chemo was barely affecting me. I hadn't felt that good for about a year. In many ways my body was telling me that the tumor was shrinking without the benefit of any tests. That catapulted my positivity and confidence in my treatment decision.

About two weeks ago I had a secondary followup MRI to monitor the progress of the treatments. Everything was positive.

The mass has shrunk by over 50% after a little over half way through the chemo treatments. The cancer was down-staged to Stage 3a. All the other clinical data was good. I knew that was the case as my body was telling me so, but now I had data driven proof.

I still have sessions seven and eight to go through and then three weeks off to let my body recover. Then it's six weeks of radiation and more pill form chemo and then a reevaluation of the progress.

The goal is to shrink down the tumor until it is virtually gone and then what's called a "watch and wait" protocol. Watch and wait is being used by more and more oncologists where the area is closely monitored for possible recurrence rather than going straight to surgery. According to my oncologist 30% of eligible watch and wait patients have no recurrence and can forgo surgery. Other cancer hospitals say up to a 50% non-recurrence rate. If recurrence is detected then it's immediately off to surgery.

I sure hope so, because non-recurrence means a normal life and surgery means a permanent colostomy.

I appreciate all of the well wishes from the membership, especially studentofearth for taking over the Friday Open Thread while I traverse this malady. I have one more thing to ask of you: Keep fingers and toes crossed that I cross the watch and wait threshold. I have no doubts that I will.

Anyway, Fuck-a-tumor!