Colorectal Cancer: Survivor Shares Treatment Journey & Navigating Life with Cancer | Allison's Story

Allison Rosen went from lab researcher to colorectal cancer super advocate - she spends her days helping new patients and caregivers figure out how to navigate life with colorectal cancer. She shared her entire treatment journey with The Patient Story (full story → www.thepatientstory.com/cancers/colorectal/allison-rosen/). We've listed time codes below to help you navigate this video. To those of you watching, we hope her story and words give you comfort and some knowledge on the day-to-day life with colorectal cancer. 1. Diagnosis (00:26) 1st Symptoms (2:10) Getting things checked out (3:20) Describing the colonoscopy (5:58) "Scanxiety" - dealing with waiting for test results (8:09) Processing the diagnosis 2. Treatment Decisions (9:48) Finding the right medical team (12:44) Why she chose her hospital (14:24) Treatment plan 3. Neoadjuvant Chemo-Radiation (18:42) Oral chemo pill, Xeloda, and side effects (21:20) Radiation and side effects 4. Surgery (Total Abdominal Colectomy) (26:08) Prepping for surgery, emotional decisions (31:30) Surgery and tips for updating loved ones (33:08) Waking up from 14-hour surgery (38:52) Recovering from major surgery (41:15) Guidance on how to best recover 5. Surgical options (35:21) The need for a stoma and ileostomy bag (37:49) General surgical options (45:55) Dealing with the ileostomy 6. Second Chemo (43:28) More on oral chemo (48:50) Follow-up protocol 7. Reflections (30:05) Getting emotional support (49:56) Hair loss was unique to Allison (51:37) Top questions you get as a patient advocate (52:30) Fertility preservation (55:27) Long-term impacts of cancer (57:20) How cancer affected relationships (59:07) Finding your cancer community (1:02:38) Last message to others