My cancer story

I retired after forty years of flying a number of different aircraft and on the 26th day of August 2006 at the age of 68, was the last day that I have flown an airplane. As you may or may not know, in order to hold a commercial pilot certificate one must pass an airman's physical once every calendar year. Everything had always checked out for me including the prostate. After I had retired, even though I had totally quit flying, I continued on taking the physical once a year.

In the month of November 2013, I was taking my usual physical when my primary doctor, Dr. Schuler, had asked me; when was the last time that I had a colonoscopy? I told him that I thought it had been eight or so years; it turned out to be twelve years! It didn't seem that long, but somehow time does seem to slip by a person. At that colonoscopy I was clean all the way. At that time I was told I would be good for the next ten years, however, now they are telling me that they have changed their minds on that and it's every five years for anybody over the age of fifty.

With Thanksgiving and Christmas coming on, I pooped around and didn't get it scheduled until January 14th 2014. That of course is when Dr. Subesta found the tumor. The tumor was located at the top end of the colon just below the appendix. The doctor tried to get a couple biopsies, but was not able to get a good sample. When the biopsies were tested the pathologist could not say one way or another if they were cancerous. They also took a cat scan that same day and that showed it was cancerous.

So on March 3rd 2014, I went into surgery at Kadlec Medical Center in Richland, WA. Dr. Ailabouni was the surgeon and he used a robotic device which is not nearly as invasive as the older method of opening a person up big time. They cut five small incisions and performed the surgery that way. The whole thing took about four hours. He told me that he had got a hundred percent of it out, including four lymph nodes that were positive·for cancer. He also told me that because the cancerous lymph nodes were outside the colon that it would be stage three cancer and that I needed to see a cancer specialist. I spent three and a half days in the hospital before I was released to go home.

I met with Dr. Haque at Columbia Basin Hematology & Oncology in Kennewick, WA. I wasn't that impressed with what he was telling me however, he gave me a brochure from the American Cancer Society that said that a person should get a second opinion.

So, from there I met with Dr. Schlegel at the Northwest Cancer Center in Spokane, WA. He told me a lot of good stuff including that the odds were 50/70% chance for the cancer returning in 3 to 5 years and most likely in my liver. He ran several tests including a CNA blood test to establish a benchmark for the cancer cells in my blood and that came back normal meaning that it couldn't detect any cancer cells in my blood. The next test was a nuclear PET scan, which means that if cancer cells or tumors are anywhere else in my body; from the top of my head to my knees and that came back negative. In essence he couldn't tell me if I have cancer or not. He tells me that this type of cancer has microscopic cells that could be floating around in my bloodstream that are undetectable and must be tended to before it moves into the liver and or other vital organs.

So at this time nobody can tell me definitively if I have cancer or not. I think it's kind of like a woman who can't be a little bit pregnant it's either she is or she is not. I kind of feel the same way, I either have cancer or I don't, so I guess over the next few months / years I will find out.

Now by this time I'm 75 years old, They ran all sorts of tests on me from CT scans, Pet Scans, Stress and blood tests and the doctor told me that all my internal organs were about where a 50 year old would be. He told me that most people my age have other things wrong like heart, kidneys, lungs, etc. But, because of my personal health situation, I could go full bore Chemotherapy. For the next six months starting in the first part of June of that year, for every 14 days I went to Spokane for a 3 hour drip and then for the next 48 hours I wore a pump attached to my belt. After 48 hours, I then went up to Moses Lake Medical Center and had the pump removed. I finished all the chemo treatments by the first part of November. At that time, he told me that he couldn't find any cancer cells so, I would now be considered a cancer survivor

About 6 weeks after I had completed all of my chemo appointment, my neighbor came over and wanted to know how I was doing. I told him I was doing okay so far. Anyway, he is a man who stands about 5 foot 8, very husky and was 52 years old. I ask him when was the last time that he had a physical and cancer screening. he said that he couldn't remember the last time he had even seen a doctor. So, I told him that he was at the age he needed to be screened. 6 weeks later he came by and said that he took my advice and was screened. He said he had good news and bad news. The good news was that he had no signs of any cancer, but his cholesterol was off the charts and that he was a stroke waiting to happen. So they had put him on a couple stations and a strict diet. He said the only thing wrong with the diet was, at supper time the family gets meat, potatoes and gravy, he said: “I get a half a head of lettuce.”

A year later, the relay for life people called and wanted to know if I would participate in their festivities, I said that I would. The lady told me to check in with the main desk when I got there and so I did. There were 4 to 5 hundred folks there that evening. They told me that I was to sit in the front row and that's also what I did. When the program started the emcee talked for a few minutes and then said that our main speaker tonight will be Curt Carter. “What the hell happened” I said to myself. I had no more than 10 seconds to try and think of something to say. I did talk for about 30 minutes and what I talked about was early screening for cancer. When I was taking the chemo, most of the people that I talked to said they were stage 4 cancer and if they would have caught it earlier they would have had a far better chance of survival.

Later on that night, I had a doctor, Dr. Randy Bunch, come up to me and said my talk was spot on. So, for a person who is not a public speaker I must have done okay. For the next five years after I had completed chemo, I had a CT scan as well as blood tests done every 6 months and finally on March 19th of 2019 I met with my oncologist and he proclaimed me as being cancer free and the risk driving home was a greater risk, than for the cancer to return.

So in closing, for you folks age 50 and older male or female, get screened!!! I would say 75% of the people on chemo was around 60 years old or older.

Just Do it.

I am now 81 years old, and have other health issues such as stiff joints, failing eyesight and some side effects from the chemo. Outside of that, I'm fine.

Someone once said: “never complain about getting old as it is a privilege that is denied to many.”

Thanks for reading this,

Curt Carter