Cancer staging is more of an art than a science.

Hello Cheese,
Grandmother with colostomy, Emphysema, congestive heart failure,  and is
in a nursing home.

The oncologist told her (or family) one year.  There've been people here
with Stage IV colon cancer, who've lived 4 years or more.  Nobody can
predict for an individual, until the last few weeks, unless the person
dies suddenly of heart failure or a clot, stroke/hemmorhage in the brain.
There's no way anyone can sit "bedside vigil" for a year or more. Your
mother best go back to work and see her mother when she's able.

Has your grandmother's home been vacated and her belongings stored?

If there are other issues, please let us know. We'll help if we can.
J

Staging is here
<
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_8_After_Diagnosis_Staging_Colon_
and_Rectum_Cancer.asp

The 5-year survival rate for Stage IV is 8% - probably mostly treated
people.

Another factor that contributes to the outlook for survival is the grade
of the cancer. Grade is a description of how closely the cancer resembles
normal colorectal tissue. Low grade means the tissue closely resembles
normal tissue and high grade means the tissue appears most unlike normal
tissue. Most of the time, high-grade cancers are associated with a poorer
outcome than low-grade cancers.

If you're unsure (whether she's been staged properly)  and your mother has
Medical Power of Attorney, have her ask for copies of your grandmother's
file at the cancer place, which would be pathology report, surgery report,
biopsy report(s), scan report(s).  There may also be a letter or letters
(by oncologist), summarizing your mothers cancer situation.
At the bottom of our scan reports it says "Impression": and then the
person who read the scan writes their impression of what they've seen on
the scan. (and their name and credentials).

Stage IV - The cancer can be any T, any N, but has spread to distant sites
such as the liver, lung, peritoneum (the membrane lining the abdominal
cavity), or ovary.

Call and make an appointment to go together. Get the photocopies and maybe
he (or she) will explain how they figured a year. It could also tell you
where it has spread and/or is spreading to.
J

If you took half the people over 50 with cancer and they have not rapidly
digressed yet , dramatically changed a few things, you can save their life
where doctors couldn't.
Many many people are losing their life because of a combination of things I
can name and what to do about it. But since so few help me, I ask that
others write me at mcsantpollution@yahoo.com
I am available to work to help save people for no fee, although I am looking
for regular work too. I have tried thousands of combinations of things to
survive and I have written down thousands of things I have seen from people
who no longer exist. Yes of course natural aging plays into things we can't
control and I certainly can't. but do we maximize peoples lives without
doctors? or with them even? NO.