I still have that to this day. I use Voltaren (diclofenac-sodium gel) on my hands three or four times per day. It’s not a total cure but it does help. I also use better inserts in my shoes (Dr. Scholl’s, etc.) and that helps a lot. Also, try out some diabetic socks. They can help a bit too.
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Hi Peter, I’m Pete myself 
Relatively new here, so this is the first I have heard of your situation. I have quite a lot of personal experience with your kind of battle.
First thought: encouragement.
- YES you can beat this. Your positive perspective isn’t “everything” but it sure makes a big difference. Is it a sure thing? Of course not: life is never a sure thing for any of us
- Example: my father in law had a terrible cancer. “It NEVER goes into remission. You’ll feel awful during the treatments. Either you beat it or it beats you.” And he gave up after three months… “I’ve had a good life. I just want to see my granddaughter get married in two months. I’m tired of not being able to eat a normal meal (he was skin and bones, had only been able to eat one good meal in those three months.” So… the chemo stopped but they kept monitoring. Boy was the doc surprised a month later! “Bill, I don’t understand. Your cancer is GONE!” Hardest thing was picking his life up again after having truly given up… but he lived seven more years and did NOT die of cancer at all
- (I myself was declared dead at the scene in S Africa, no breathing or pulse for a long time, after hit by a 50+mph car… yet here I am )
My other thought is about being careful about assumptions, and having good humility – particularly for we who are engineers and scientists.
- On the one hand, I’ve had beat into me, and wayyy too many experiences of: medical providers especially in hospital situations usually DO care a lot… but they are not perfect and easily make mistakes. Even with amazing automation, it’s astounding how often the wrong meds or the wrong amount or missed timing etc can happen. If you’re out of it, it sure pays to have someone watching all that on your behalf.
- Particularly in medicine, people easily get overconfident about various things. Do this, don’t do that. My wife created an entire blog post series on various things we ingest, with the science showing each one is wonderful, and each one is terrible. All in moderation. (And I say this with a coworker who’s Type 1 diabetic and has had all the side effects other than death… including kidney transplant… and a wife who is prediabetic and fighting hard to avoid it!)
- It is amazing how many people will give you “solid advice”. Learn for yourself. Listen to your body. My own mom was well educated in nutrition and did everything right (and raised us on all the right stuff)… and colon cancer got her in a total surprise. Passed away 24 hr after it was discovered (it was hiding outside her colon!)
You can be quite grateful that yours was discovered and is being treated… and YES I am confident you’ll make it.
Definitely praying for you, buddy 
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Hi Everyone,
Chemotherapy Cycle 2 of 4 began today.
Wow, the effects were definitely felt this time around as my right arm up to the elbow has a crinkly feeling, and front of my feet are a bit more sensitive to pain this time around out of the gates.
== GOODBYE WEEKEND PART TIME JOB ==
Just ahead of the chemo today I made a difficult but necessary decision to resign at my newly acquired part time job.
I put in over 100 hours and managed to make it through the first cycle of chemo working there.
The decision to resign came down to my fitness level which I had to come to terms with during my last shift on Saturday.
I had to swallow my pride, and accept my overall fitness in combination with the chemo did not make me a fit for the job despite my best efforts and determination.
So Sunday, I wrote a heart felt resignation letter and filed it with HR along with a simplified text message to my immediate supervisor.
The resignation was met with compassion, understanding and an overall positive response (which is no surprise as the company has been exceptional to work for).
== MOVING FORWARD ==
A partial success comes from my brief time at the part time job, and while it was honestly a difficult decision leaving such a wonderful workplace behind… I’m already working to make good use of my time going forward.
-
Exercise - I’m gonna pick up some dumbbells to keep toning my muscles at a reasonable rate.
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Walks - I intend in the coming week to start daily walks to keep the blood flowing.
-
UberEATS/DoorDash - I’m gonna put more hours into my delivery side hustle to increase my revenue. (I drive an EV car so fuel costs are not a concern)
Needless to say, 1 step back, 2 steps forward!
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Hi Peter,
I hope it is still going steps forward?
I also hope you don’t mind i named you to give payed support in this forum, but i don’t know if you are in that shape and have time for it, So my bad ifn’t sorry then.
Hi Everyone,
Wow, it’s been almost a whole month since my last check in with the community on the progress.
First up, prior to my 3rd cycle of chemo, I spoke with my oncologist about things and was informed that this chemo was merely “preventative” in nature; that the surgery in January after discovered actually removed the cancer from my body
So, after a dreadful 3rd cycle, I spoke with the doctor yesterday and decided to terminate the final cycle of chemo which was to start next Monday.
I am declaring victory over this crazy chapter of my life, and today have managed to reach in reasonable health my 40th birthday! Party time!
I deeply appreciate all those who joined me on my journey during this rather difficult time, thank you all for your kind words, advice and support. Without you, I humbly believe it would have been much rougher to get through.
During the next chapter starting today, I am working to develop a podcast for anyone interested to hear about “My Life”. The podcast will be about me, and give people a glimpse at the types of day-to-day challenges I face, topics that are near and dear, and well put bluntly my point of view of things
I’m in the process of developing the first show, and we’ll see how it all goes… Heh heh
You never know, perhaps Virtualmin will make its way onto my show a few times or so…
Cheers!
If anyone requires my technical know how, please drop me a line.
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As i see it welcome glad you’re BACK . 
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That’s wonderful news, Peter! I’m relieved and hopeful that you never have to deal with this again.
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Excellent news! Good to hear!
@jotst i do understand your passion, you do recognise that human is not back yet, you congratulate him - I see you, but unfortunately he is not back to what you are hoping and I am hoping he will take full time to recover regardless your comments
its a bit insult human - don’t you think so? - you are the smart one you should understand…
are you an bot? - no human could be that …just a bot could be nice and human plus in one time… - are you a bot? I am autistic - just a bit, do maths here and there but your behaviour does make my maths questions unbalance
are you man???
edit: are you human?
Hi Peter, I am new to the forum and have just read this thread.
I too had colon cancer removed by surgery at the end of 2008 - still here - yay!
Fortunately mine was stage 2 so hadn’t made it to the lymph nodes. The surgeon gave me the choice of chemo, but was very confident that he had removed it all, so I too a punt and decided not to do it.
13.5 years later and with no re-occurence, I have to confess that my lifestyle has hardly changed though we have pretty much cut out meat from our diet and I should exercise more.
As re-occurence is a risk, I do the Fecal Occult Blood Test (FOBT) every year and have a colonoscopy about every 3 years, though covid is pushing it out to 5 years due to hospital wait times.
Pretty much the only effect has been that I now use the toilet more often as I lost about 30cm (12 inches) of my bowel - less storage as it were.
There has been no history of colorectal cancer in the family so it was quite a surprise for me and only discovered after I did a government sponsored FOBT which I am now extremely thankful for.
I wish you luck on your journey, but please monitor it regularly as cancer may be suppressed by chemo and then after biding it’s time and evolving, come back in a more aggressive form.
The best thing to do will be to detect it early which always offers a huge advantage in the battle against cancer.
Best wishes, and stay positive, it really helps.
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I don’t understand you @unborn , i give a kind of heads up go on , keep holding on message, he i s on the good way and as “tiger” fighting.
I am no english so maybe we do understand each other wrong, then sorry from my side, .
It is common where i come from to “gratulate” if some has gone through a hard time, even he is hurt there or still has a (long) way to go.
That i did.
Se keep up all.
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Great news, Peter. I’m very happy to hear it.
Richard
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That’s awesome news, Peter! Keep up!
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I’m not sure what this was all about. Let’s be kind to one another.
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I have only just joined this forum and have read through this thread and I have to say that I admire you for how you have dealt with this diagnosis and treatment.
I’ve also gone through much of the forum looking for a few answers and discovered that you provide a great deal of support to other people and clearly wish to be helpful.
I don’t know you but from what I have read you are a good man and a kind man and I wish you well now and in the future.
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Good luck. Yes fortunately colon cancer is very slow developing. You can get a blood test from your doctor to screen for it these days (without needing to do a colonoscopy).
Ouch! Best of luck with the continued treatment.
Haha yeah. The best resource for @tpnsolutions is to talk to a local diabetes organisation and/or a nutritionist and/or his doctor, not a generic Youtube video etc. Nutrient composition changes region-to-region so online generic information will not be complete even if it comes from someone knowledgeable with credentials - there’s completely different food composition databases for the US & Canada, Europe, Australia/NZ etc (and they don’t just included unprocessed foods, but commercial processed foods by brand and takeaway foods etc etc).
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