Bobby Bass – Colon Cancer Success Story

Bobby Bass, 61, retired buyer – colon cancer success story

You know it’s not good when your doctor calls you at 7:30 at night. Earlier that day, some regular blood work showed that I was severely anemic, and he had ordered a CT scan to check things out.

He said, “Bobby, I see some stuff I’m not comfortable with,” and referred me to the practice of colorectal surgeons Narinder Monga, MD*, and Anand Lodha, MD. Dr. Monga found a large tumor in my colon, and a PET scan confirmed the cancer had spread to my liver.

As soon as I found out, I knew it was my own fault. I should have gone a long time ago and had a colonoscopy done. So I got on my three brothers and my brothers-in-law to make sure they got checked out and then focused on buying time — time for new treatments to develop, time to do the things I love, and time to be with my family.

Treatment has included laparoscopic surgeries to remove the colon cancer, followed by chemotherapy and, just recently, a new radiation treatment. Fortunately, I had little downtime after surgery and overall minimal pain, so I’ve continued living a full life. My wife and I took a Caribbean cruise this spring, and the family went camping for Father’s Day. When Dr. Lodha wanted to schedule me for a colonoscopy this fall, I said: “As long as it’s not between the first day of October and the last day of October. I’ve got some hunting to do in there.”

I can’t say enough about my network of doctors and the staff at Methodist Charlton, and with their help, I’m hoping that by year’s end, I can say there’s no more chemo, no more surgeries, no more cancer.

*Narinder Monga, MD, and Anand Lodha, MD, are independently practicing physicians on the medical staff at Methodist Charlton Medical Center.