Just a quick overview in case people are having trouble understanding the pathology report:
T - tells you how far the main tumour has gone. 4 in this case means that it is through the wall of the colon.
N - whether or not there was tumour found in nearby lymph nodes (part of the body's immune system). 2 means that there was tumour in a few.
M - whether or not the tumour has gone even further, to distant organs in the body. X means that this is currently unknown.
And as bernadette says; don't treat the numbers as a death sentence - all of us have only a limited time on this world and owe it to ourselves and everyone else to make the best out of it that we can. I hope it goes well.
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I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones. -- John Cage (1912 - 1992)
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