Alex Ramirez survived Stage II colon cancer | colonoscopy | colostomy bag | picc line

DESCRIPTION

A Type II diabetic, Alex Ramirez went to his doctor to get a refill of his meds.  When he did, the doctor suggested Alex get blood work because he hadn’t been tested in a long time.  Alex was often feeling tired, so this seemed like a good time for blood work.  Upon receiving the test results, the doctor Alex he was anemic, and suggested Alex undergo a colonoscopy.  That led to the sighting of a small tumor on his colon, and a diagnosis of Stage II colon cancer.  Following surgery, he had to go through a grueling three months of having a colostomy bag.  However, Alex Ramirez achieved survivorship and his health is almost back to what it was before his diagnosis.

Alex Ramirez of Denver, Colorado was a Type II diabetic, but otherwise in good health and enjoying life as a radio talkshow host.  He didn’t have to inject insulin, but was taking in pill with a dosage of 10mg a day.  Needing a refill in early 2020, he stopped by his doctor’s office.  The doctor suggested Alex get his blood tested as it hadn’t been tested in a while.  At the time, Alex found himself getting tired in the afternoon, often taking naps.  He just didn’t have a lot of energy, so the blood work seemed like a good idea. 

When the test results came back, the doctor said Alex was severely anemic and prescribed iron pills.  Despite knowing the strong iron pills could tear up his stomach, he took them, while the doctor recommended Alex get a colonoscopy, which was performed three days after the blood work.  He was then sent to a GI specialist who said the colonoscopy revealed a small tumor on his colon.  The doctor said the tumor was cancerous, but that he needed to determine the cancer’s staging.  Alex had to wait a stressful 72 hours to find out it was Stage II colon cancer.  The doctor said Alex should get the tumor removed immediately, but before that could happen, there would have to be a series of tests.  Alex underwent CT scans, MRIs and was seen by a cardiologist.

With the tests done, the operation was completed, but not without complications.  An infection had grown in the area where the tumor had been, and it was a baseball-sized tumor.  Alex had gone septic, and his temperature and blood pressure had gone way up.  His doctor told Alex to call friends and family and let them know he might not have long to live.  Alex had a second procedure done, this one to clean out the infection.  Three days later, he had yet another infection, meaning he had three infections in less than seventeen days.  The doctor said the third infection had spread to his intestine.

After the third infection, the doctor said the care team wanted to let Alex’s intestines rest a bit, but that was going to mean he would have to wear a colostomy bag for approximately three months.  Maintaining and cleaning the bag is an unpleasant and stressful experience, and Alex’s experience was made worse because his hospital did little to teach how to perform these tasks.  He was discharged from hospital after 23 days, but in addition to dealing with the bag, a picc line IV had to be connected to his left arm because as he was discharged, he had e.coli.  While in the hospital, he lost 45 pounds. 

Dealing with the ostomy bag, affected when Alex could and could not eat, and his ability to sleep. 

Thankfully, his intestinal issues were reversed, and Alex Ramirez was able to get disconnected from the ostomy bag.  Since the reversal, he can now eat, sleep and go to the bathroom like a normal person.  He says he does have to watch his diet, but he is very grateful that his life is close to what it was before his diagnosis.

Additional Resource:

Colon Cancer Prevention Project: https://www.coloncancerpreventionproject.org

TRANSCRIPT

Bruce Morton: Greetings, and welcome to the @CancerInterviews podcast. I’m your host, Bruce Morton.  On this podcast, we hear from people from all manner of cancer journeys and no two are alike; but when it comes to colon cancer, the journey continues, even after one goes into remission.  That is most definitely part of the story for our guest on this episode.  He is Alex Ramirez of Denver, Colorado, who has survived Stage II colon cancer.  So, let’s bring him on, and Alex, welcome to Cancer Interviews.

Alex Ramirez: Thank you for having me on this amazing platform.  I am a huge fan of the podcast, and I am tickled to have this platform with you.

BM: Alex, I want to ask about the part of your life that has brought us here to this point, and that would pertain to your cancer journey.  For each of us that has gone through a cancer journey, there was a juncture, a time in which something about your health didn’t seem normal.  For you, what was that juncture and how did it manifest itself?

AR: First of all, I am Type II diabetic.  While I don’t inject insulin, in pill form, I take about a ten milligrams a day.  In early 2020, I went in to see my physician to get a refill on my medication.  She said she hadn’t seen me in a while and thought it would be a good idea to get some blood work done.  I could have easily ignored that request for the blood, but I thought I hadn’t had my blood tested in a while, so I thought a blood test was a good idea.  Meanwhile I was feeling really tired.  I didn’t have a lot of energy, so I knew something was off.  I didn’t feel as strong as I normally felt waking up.  I would get tired in the afternoon and wound up taking naps.  What happened was, the results came back from the doctor, and the doctor said I was severely anemic, and they needed to get me on iron, like right away.  So, she prescribed these iron tablets that are pretty strong.  They can tear up your stomach, if you are not used to them.  I was taking those, and she also recommended I get a colonoscopy right away to find out what seems to be the problem because I was losing blood, though they didn’t know where or how.  That triggered the colonoscopy about three days after the blood work.  Next, my doctor sent me to a GI specialist.  I was still dazed from anesthesia, but the specialist said a small tumor was found in my colon, and it is cancerous, but they won’t know the magnitude of it until it is sent to a lab.  I had to wait a very difficult 72 hours to find out if it was cancer or just a mass.  Well, the labs came back, and they indicated it was cancer.  His recommendation was to immediately get it operated on and get it removed, but prior to that I had to do CT scans, MRIs, I had to go to a cardiologist. It felt like a never-ending story when I had to get a pre-surgery exams done before the actual surgery itself.  That was a challenge in itself.  Moving forward, I got the operation done.  Needless to say, we had complications after the first procedure.  Five days later, I had grown an infection in my colon area where the tumor was, and it was a baseball-sized tumor that was removed, and I really didn’t know what to make of that.  I was almost in a daze like two or three days after the procedure.  They put me on this floor at the hospital after I had gone septic.  My blood pressure and temperature had gone way up.  From what the doctor told me, I was cooking inside.  He was dressed in street clothes when I saw him.  He had hurriedly come in and told me I was very, very sick.  I told him I felt fine and didn’t have any issues, but said between my blood pressure and white blood cells were all out of whack.  He told me to call my friends and family to let them know what is happening because he said I might not be living much longer.  I will never forget what the doctor told me.  So, I had a second procedure done.  They cleaned out the infection.  I was in the ICU for three nights.  I had tubes in my nose that were sucking out the infection.  I don’t want to get too graphic, but it was pretty nasty.  Three days later, I learned I had another infection.  This time, the infection spread into the intestine.  When they remove a tumor from your intestine, it is like taking a garden hose, cutting it in half, the reconnecting it because there was a kink in it, and stapling it.  What happened was, when they were stapling it back, it is such a dirty operation that there is a high risk for infection.  That’s exactly what happened when I got infected a third time.  I had three operations in less than 17 days.  It was horrible.  What the doctor said at that point was that they were going to let my intestines rest, and that they would give me an ostomy bag.  They cut out an intestine next to your stomach, next to your belly button.  When you eat food, about an hour later, it is in the ostomy bag.   Had the bag for three months, not knowing if it would be permanent or not because the intestine was so damaged that they wanted to give it some time to heal and rest, and the infection to go away.  When I was released from the hospital after 23 days, I had a picc line connected to my left arm because I had had e.coli when I had left the hospital.  I had to have an IV bag.  It was like a gel ball.  And then I had the ostomy bag, so I had those things going on when I left.  I went into the hospital at 219 pounds, and I left the hospital at 174 pounds.  The weight loss was incredible.

BM: Alex, let me ask you this before we go any further.  The ostomy bags.  They don’t maintain themselves, somebody has to maintain it and after you get home, I suspect you are not in the care of a nurse.  Did you have to maintain the ostomy bag?

AR: Every day.  I had a home care nurse come to my house three days a week to check on my wounds to make sure they were closing well, and they would help me with the adhesiveness of these bags.  One thing I will say in which I was disappointed with the hospital is when I left the hospital, no one really told me what an ostomy bag was.  Maybe it was because I was on pain meds, maybe I wasn’t paying attention, but I don’t think they did a very good job of explaining to me the magnitude of what an ostomy bag really was.  How to maintain it, how to clean it, how to change it;  so for the first couple weeks, maybe the first month, I had some real growing pains with the bag.  The bag would fill up, and this is kind of gross, but sometimes the bag leaks.  I would literally poop on myself.  I wouldn’t eat after 4:00pm because the more you eat, the greater the possibility you could poop when you are sleeping, so sleep was really tough for three months.  I would sleep in two-hour intervals because you are always afraid that the bag would overflow.   Finally, after trials and tribulations and going to ostomy websites and getting support help through sources other than the hospital, I got some help with the tape and the glue that kept the bag in place; but my stomach was getting irritated with all the contact from the tape.  It was a pretty bad experience, but one of the nurses would tell me there are patients that have to use the ostomy bag for the rest of their lives.  I always had the impression that this was just going to be a temporary fix for me, but through the grace of God and through the support of my mom and dad, my sister, my fiancé, that have stood by me through this tough journey, I was able to get this reversed, I have had no issues since the reversal, and I am able to go to the bathroom like a normal person does.  To say that is to say this has changed my life.  There are things we take for granted and when they are taken from you, you notice.  As I said, mine was a Stage II cancer.  There is a twenty percent chance it can come back, but an eighty percent chance that it won’t.  That’s my journey, and having this platform, I want to tell your listeners, make sure you are getting blood work done so that you are positioned to catch it early.  If you have stool that is bloody or black, that is not normal.  Get it checked out, go to your doctor, get a colonoscopy.  My doctor told if I had waited another year to get the colonoscopy done, the cancer would have spread through my liver and my lungs.  It cold have gone to Stage IV, and at that point, there would be nothing they could do for you except to manage it.  At that point, it could not be cured. 

BM: Alex, I want to back up a little bit and hear more about your reversal procedure.  For people listening who might be a candidate for a reversal procedure, fill them in on what that entails.

AR: I had to get an exam prior to the reversal.  The doctor said he wanted me to have the bag for three months.  As for the reversal, it allows for the intestine to heal so they can reconnect it.  They put the staples on it, then you stay in the hospital for a few days.  Prior to all that, I had to do an exam similar to a colonoscopy.  There is an enema and a CT scan.  They go up your rectum to find out if the intestine has healed.  That was the reversal part. 

BM: Where would you say your cancer journey is now?  It almost sounds like you are back to normal.

AR: I feel great.  Through the grace of God and my faith and my family support, my friends, I feel great.  I look a little better.  When I first got out of the hospital, I didn’t look that hot.  As far as my journey, I am still going in every three months for a CT scan and blood work for the first year, then after that it will be yearly exams.  More importantly, I have a better diet.  I stay away from soda because my doctor says cancer likes to breed around soda and carbonation.  I also try to stay away from fast food.  I have a nutritionist who tells me what to eat and what not to eat.  I would advise anyone to educate themselves on how to have a better way of life.  But I am in remission.  I can eat normal, I can go to the bathroom, I am sleeping like a brand new baby.  I am getting the rest I need, I am getting the nutrients, I am gaining weight slowly, but because of my weight loss, I have kicked diabetes.  I used to take cholesterol pills.  I don’t take them anymore.  I used to have high blood pressure.  I don’t have that anymore.  If there is any message I have for your listeners, I would say don’t hesitate to check yourself.

BM: Alex Ramirez, thanks so much for a story that checks the two biggest boxes we want to check, those of information and inspiration.  Alex, thanks for being with us on Cancer Interviews.

AR: Thanks, Bruce, and to everyone watching and listening, remember it is you that makes every day special.

BM: Thanks, Alex, and until next time, we’ll see you on down the road.

Additional Resources:

Support Group:

Colon Cancer Prevention Project: https://www.coloncancerpreventionproject.org

SHOW NOTES

TITLE: Alex Ramirez, Colon Cancer Survivor – Denver, Colorado, USA

Alex Ramirez is a colon cancer survivor.  When he started feeling fatigued more than usual, he sought medical attention.

That doctor visit resulted in a blood test, which led to a colonoscopy, which revealed a cancerous tumor in Alex’s colon, and a diagnosis of Stage Two colon cancer.  Following surgery, Alex had to wear an ostomy bag, and faced additional surgery when three times the procedure resulted in infection.

Thankfully, Alex went into remission and through a reversal procedure was able to get the ostomy bag removed.  He wants to make himself available to anyone who has non-medical questions about their cancer journey.

Additional Resources:

Website:  www.CancerInterviews.com - click here

YouTube:  www.YouTube.com/cancerinterviews - click here 

Support Group:

Colon Cancer Prevention Project

kickingbutt.org

Time Stamps:

10:27 Alex’s cancer journey began when he had bloodwork done at his doctor’s request.

11:20 When the bloodwork came back, he was told he was anemic and needed to undergo a colonoscopy.

12:20 The bloodwork revealed a cancerous tumor in his colon.

13:56 Surgery to remove a baseball-sized tumor had infection-related complications.

16:43 A second procedure took place, aimed at cleaning out infection resulting from the first procedure.

17:55 Doctors said he would need to wear an ostomy bag.

20:30 With little or no instruction from the hospital, Alex had to maintain the ostomy bag.

23:45 About three months later, he was able to have a reversal procedure enabling removal of the ostomy bag.

26:00 Explains the reversal procedure.

29:23 Alex says not only is he in remission, but now in many ways not related to cancer, he is in better health.

30:45 The joy of being in remission.

37:16 Alex’s advice to those who are or may soon be on a cancer journey.

KEYWORDS (Tags):

colon cancer

picc line iv

colonoscopy

ostomy bag