1. Facts are first. Therapies vary greatly from on cancer to another and even among the same kind of cancer. Educate yourself on the resources and information on Cancer Centers and Specialty Center in your area. Your general physician is a good first stop to obtain information about your specific disease.
2. Assign one person to coordinate contact with the primary oncologist. This will make the lines of communication run more smoothly. Although there will often be a team of experts physicians making decisions and managing your care, the primary oncologist will be the main point person for you and your family.

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Colorectal cancer develops with few, if any, symptoms at first.

It depends a little on the location of the colon cancer. If the cancer is closer to the anus (left side), symptoms may include blood in or on the stool, a change in bowel habits, stools that are narrower than usual and general weakness and weight loss. These symptoms are more typical for colon cancer and physicians would easily recommend a colonoscopy for further work up. However if the tumor is on the right side, almost a foot away from the anus, the symptoms may be more  general such as unexplained stomach discomfort, frequent gas, pains, or indigestion, unexplained weight loss and chronic fatigue.

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Beginning in January, I will be blogging here at the C3 website.

I am a Gastrointestinal (GI) Oncologist at the University of Southern California (USC)/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. I am what people describe as a physician scientist, which means I do see patients and write a lot of clinical trials, but I also have a laboratory focusing on the molecular make up of tumors.

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