A Brand New Day!!

What a day....

As many of you know I met with a new Oncologist today. I started out this morning with an overwhelming sense of peace. I haven't had that in a while. I have struggled the past week with alot of pain and today was the first time that it was under control. I was up and about most of the day.

My appointment was today at 2:30 at the Arizona Cancer Center with Dr. Dragovich. The Cancer Center is breathtaking, a beautiful state of the art center. I walked in and just knew this was where I was menat to be. Dr. Dragovich is a younger, very optomistic and positive man. As with all if the Dr's that read my case the first thing he asked was wether or not anyone in my family has a history of cancer. They are all clearly puzzled that a 35 year old healthy woman has this terrible crazy case of colon cancer. The first topic of discussion was other chemotherapy treatments. The next line of defense to treat colon cancer is a drug called Irinotecan, it is also known as CPT-11. He said that some people respond better to this drug than they do 5FU, my previous chemo drug. I will have some side effects similar to the ones I had with 5FU and he said I will lose my hair on this one. Oh well I will just need to go find a good wig!! Maybe I will get a couple and can be a blonde or a brunette on any given day. Then the moment that almost made me jump out of my chair he began discussing a treatment called HIPEC treatment. The ironic thing about this was I had done some research while I was in the hospital this last time and I emailed my family about this cutting edge treatment, so it was on my list of questions to talk to him about. HIPEC treatment is basically a combination of surgery and chemotherapy. They go in surgically and remove all the cancer they possibly can and then they run a chemotherapy agent though your abdomen while open. Sounds crazy and amazing all at the same time. When I had done my research I had found that this treatment wasn't offered here in AZ and the closest facility was in San Diego at UCSD. So, I asked Dr. Dragovich if I would need to travel out of state for this procedure and he says that in the past yes that would have been the case, but this procedure is now going to be offered here in Tucson at the Cancer Center. He says in fact I will see if Dr. Ong, the surgical Oncologist that performs this procedure can stop by and introduce himself to you!! At this point in the conversation I am pretty sure I had a permanent smile on my face, because I was so blown away that finally I was being given some other options. So, basically we decided that I am going to start chemotherapy again next week. Dr. Dragovich said he would like to see how I respond to the new drug and then go from there. After Dr. Dragovich left the room he went and got Dr. Ong. Another amazing, positive extremely intelligent doc. He explained the HIPEC treatment to us. Both docs said this treatment is somewhat contreversial, mostly because it is rather new here in the United States. They have been doing the procedure for a while now in Europe, but only the last few years here. They said that there are many suuccessful cases with this prrocedure. The most successful are people whose cancer is contained in the peritoneal cavity, like mine. Although my cancer has spread it is all within the abdomen. He said that when cancer spreads they classify all of them as stage 4, but not all stage 4 cancers are the same. He said that they believe stage 4 that is contained in one general area is different and more manageable then cases where it spreads to the lungs etc. Dr. Ong said that he has been fighting to get this treatment here at the U of A for the past year and guess what it is coming here starting next month!!! I have prayed for a miracle and it sure feels like this could be it. There are only 41 other facility's in the US that offer this procedure, the U of A is # 42. I will meet with Dr. Wong over the next few weeks to discuss things in more detail, so more to come.
After Dr. Wong left, my mom, Dale, Mike and I just stared at each other in shock!! Finally, some HOPE.

I go tomorrow to meet with a dietician and for a chemotherapy education class. We have not scheduled my appointment yet for next week, but it will probably be Tues, Wed or Thurs. What an AMAZING day, it was fantastic. I can't tell you how inspired I am by this new information.

Thanks for all the prayers these past few weeks, I think it is working!!

I will keep you posted....more to come :)

Love you guys,
Tara

Big Day!

Posted by: Jenn

Today is a big day for Tara (and all of us)! She is seeing Dr. Dragovich at the Arizona Cancer Center. Dr. Dragovich specializes in treating patients with Colon Cancer. He's a fresh set of very educated eyes. Were ready Dr. Draogovich ..... bring on the good news!!!! We'll do WHATEVER we have to do to get her fixed up!!

Yayyy! She's Home!!

Posted by: Jennifer McCord

Hi everyone!
This is Jenn. I got the word from Mike this afternoon ... they broke her out of the hospital! Well okay, the doctor let her go home. Either way, she's happy to be home resting on her mack daddy sofa with Logan and Mike.
Thanks to everyone for joining Team Tara! Now let's all say "IQTB!"

IQTB-I guess that the verdict is in and for once we all agree!!

Hi Gang,

First off, a million thanks to Jenn for starting this blog. It is beautiful. I love you mon!! Thank you to all of my wonderful friends, I can't even explain how it makes me feel to have such an amazing support system. With your help I can and will beat this BEAST!!

Today has been a pretty good day. I am still in the hospital, however I am in the new unit of St. Joes and it is beautiful. I feel like I am staying at the Ritz...well sort of. The private room has nice wood floors, big bathroom and a flat screen TV. Ain't too shabby!! Had wonderful visitors today, Aunt Nancy, Pete and Stacy, Logan, Granny, Dale, Bryan, Jimmy and Mike. My WONDERFUL daughter washed my hair today and granny helped me blow dry and straighten. Nancy brought me new pj's and slippers, so I am decked out. I feel human!! It's FANTASTIC!! The docs think I may get to go home tomorrow, they plan to do another CT scan and see if there is still fluid collecting in my stomach. If not, then I get to blow this popsicle stand :) Wooo Hoo. Home to my baby and boyfriend.

Well, I am off to watch Desperate Housewives....ha ha ha to those of you who know the inside joke.

Love you guys!!
Tara

Get Your Rear In Gear -- 5K Run/Walk Alexandria, VA

Posted by: Jennifer McCord

The Colon Cancer Coalition put on a 5K Run/Walk event called Get Your Rear In Gear here in Virginia. I was too late to enroll but I went down and cheered all the runners on! It was wonderful to see so many people come together to raise awareness and money for research! I was able to meet and talk to MANY survivors that got through Stage 4. There is still so much that can be done for Tara. GO TEAM TARA!!!

Some pictures from the race!

Welcome

Posted by: Jennifer McCord

If you're reading this, chances are your life has been touched in some way by Tara Watts! Whether your family, a close friend, fellow cheer mom, pageant enthusiast, co-worker or acquaintance of Tara's, you know she's a very special person!

In May 2009, after an unexpected, emergency surgery, Tara received a SHOCKING diagnoses; she has Stage 3c Colon Cancer. WHAT?!?! We have all struggled to understand how a young, seemly healthy, active and very busy 35 year-old mother could have such a condition. It doesn't make sense and just isn't fair!
Tara spent some time healing from her surgery and then with very high spirit and determination began her intense chemo-therapy regimen. 4 months and 8 treatments later, things were looking up until a routine PET scan showed a slight growth in an area of concern. Another surgery was going to be necessary to find out what that unidentified "spot" was.

On November 4, 2009 a very brave Tara went in for another surgery. Surgery concluded a little early with some less than desirable news ... this very angry case of colon cancer had spread. Tara is now taking on the fight for her life! She has had a few set-backs, but is still "in it - to win it".

Tara has an AMAZING family and truly wonderful friends who surround and support her! I am personally humbled by all the people who care about her and want to do anything they can to help. Her devoted daughter Logan, parents, Carol and Dale Wilson, sister Crystal, brother Bryan, boyfriend Mike and numerous best friends aka sisters spend countless hours at her side and researching every available treatment option. She is so very blessed to have all of you!

I thought I would start this blog to assist in keeping everyone informed of Tara's progress as she works toward a recovery. I'll post updates on how she's doing for now and turn it over to her as soon as life gets back under control for her. Thank you all for caring so much about Tara and Logan!!!