Origin Story Part I

It all started in the cancer causing fresh air of Yellowstone National Park

When I talk to people about my colon cancer the first thing they always ask is if it is fun to poop in a bag? The answer is usually no but it depends on the day. The second question they then ask is how I knew I was sick? The short answer is that back in February and March I was having stomach pains and fatigue. I went to the doctor and eventually ended up in the hospital with a foot of my colon missing and a chemotherapy treatment plan laid out before me.

Of course my cancer origin story has more details and actually goes back further. All the doctors I have talked to have seemed confident that my diet is not likely the culprit because of my age. Even if I only ever ate a terrible diet it's unlikely colon cancer would show up until my later years. Smoking is also a possible culprit but I don't smoke. Okay I admit when I turned 18 I purchased a pack of Marlboro Reds and smoked a couple but I gave the rest away to some very happy underclassmen. I did dabble a bit with weed in college but was always a casual user at best. That really leaves genetics but as most of you know my genetic testing came back with no abnormalities.  Maybe I ate one really bad sausage or those were two really good cigarettes.

So I have no idea why I have cancer. I do however know when I first felt the beast inside of me.  In  July of 2015 we took a vacation to Yellowstone National Park. We saw all the standard tourists attractions and add the end of the trip spent a night in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. For dinner that night we ate at a local brewpub and had some ice cream in the town square afterwards. That night my stomach started to rumble but it didn't seem unusual. The next morning we hiked in Grand Tetons National Park before starting the drive back to Fort Collins. On the way out of town we grabbed McDonald's for lunch. I am mentioning the food I ate not because I believe it caused what would happen but it did likely enhance the experience.

Just south of Laramie, Wyoming, about an hour from home, I suddenly had very sharp pains in my gut. They were the most extreme discomfort I had ever experienced in terms of digestion. I pulled to the side of the highway and Carrie took over driving duties. The rest of the way home I was curled up in a ball on the passenger seat. When we got home I immediately lied down. The pain was intensifying and I was sweating from a fever.

My first thought was food poisoning given I had been eating out quite a bit. However, this episode involved no diarrhea and no vomiting. I certainly wanted one or the other to happen to relieve pressure but things were not working in that way. The pain would briefly flair up to an extreme level that still beats anything I felt over my more recent experiences. If I had known then what I know now I would have gone to emergency room. Maybe they would have done a scan. Maybe they would have removed my tumor (smaller at the time) and I wouldn't have had to do chemotherapy. I did end up going to the doctor for this episode but was told it was the flu. If only I really knew.