Routine becomes battle in truck driver’s life
Routine becomes battle in truck driver’s life
By ALLAN TINKER
With his characteristic good cheer and interest in challenging new ideas for his life, Kent Alderin admitted he let slide a five year check up. “They called every year to remind me,” he said regretfully. “Don’t skip your checkups,” he added.
With a clean test in prior years, the last nine years before, the September 15 colonoscopy revealed two tumors. During the procedure his colon was ruptured and the tumor surgery waited while the injury healed.
On the 18th of October, the tumors were removed: one benign and the other cancerous. The caecum area tumor, the first part of the large intestine and home to the appendix site, was benign and the area was removed and the two ends of small and large intestine joined.
The descending colon area was incised and a six-inch section removed along with 20 lymph nodes, four showing signs of cancer.
In a stroke of luck, during the CAT scan that initially found the tumors, the radiologist had been higher than usual, and spots on Alderin’s lung were noted. On March 7th, the entire one lower lobe was removed, with the tumors showing signs of shrinking due to the chemotherapy he had been receiving. The largest of the tumors was also shrinking but removal of the entire lower lobe was the best option.
