Need advice- newly diagnosed Stage 3

[rmblack]

I will try to make this short. I was diagnosed on Sept 12 with Colon Cancer. Had Surgery on Oct 6 to remove T4 tumor and was told I was Stage 3. I'm supposed to start chemo and radiation the week after Thanksgiving.
My surgeon told my husband and I we could resume sex after about 4-6 weeks of surgery but to use my own judgement- if it hurt, then stop. So last Wednesday we "tried" it. It didn't hurt but I was nervous so it didn't last long. On Thursday I started having pain on my right side. Now I haven't had hardly any pain before this. I am over 6 weeks out of surgery, everything was going smooth. But now I have this constant pain on my right side. I had a dr appt. that day and told him about it and he prescribed me Valium and said it was more than likely muscle spasming. So on Friday it was still hurting. I laid it bed all day. Started running a fever. I called my dr again. He called in antibiotics and pain meds and said if I feel like I need to go to the ER, then definitely go. But I didn't want to sit up there for hours. So saturday comes around and I only ran low grade fever once and it went down on its own. I'm still feeling twinges of pain but it's not as bad. And Sunday was even a little better. No fever, small amounts of pain I haven't "used" the bathroom in a week. My stomach feels sore on the right side. Also I haven't been eating as normal. My urine is very dark yellow. I'm concerned that the antibiotic is helping the symptoms of the infection, but where is the infection and is it important to know what it is?
I have no idea what to do. I don't know what's normal with colon cancer and what's not. Should I demand a CT scan or leave it up to my doctor? I want to be my own advocate but I don't want to sound like a baby either. Any advice? Anyone every experience anything like this?

[NWgirl]

I know from my experiences that if it were my doctor he would want to see me in person.

[alphagam]

I totally agree with Belle. Go to the Dr! Secondly, the dark urine....you are dehydrated and probably need I've fluids. At the minimum, drink water!!! I've also had multiple kidney stones, all my urologists state that after the first urine in the morning, my urine should have little to no color. I can't imagine that the advice changes for a CRC patient

Kathy

[bitchslapped]

First of all, welcome to the forum. Not having a bowel movement in a week is dangerous. What goes in, must come out. If it doesn't you may very well find yourself in the ER getting an enema. Without knowing your normal bowel history (ev day/ev other day), I can only suggest that regardless, this has been let go too long. As mentioned previously, lots of fluids good for the bowel, kidneys etc. My guess is you should get 64 oz of fluid/day til this constipation is resolved. So to get the bowels moving, in addition to water, you could try prune juice, prunes, Plumsmart (not as strong tasting as prune juice, but still does the job). You may need to drink 2 or 3 glasses spaced out + the prunes & the following additional fiber, ground flaxseed (health food dept @ the grocer), flaxseed oil capsules are gentle, nuts, whole grain breads, cereals, legumes (i.e.,pork & beans, any kind of beans). At this point you may need a stool softener or a laxative. This should have been discussed w/your doctor. If no results by tomorrow he may recommend a fleet enema or suppositories (so soon after surgery IDK) but he will. You need to get on this now & get those bowels moving asap. Hopefully by tomorrow you will have results & can reassess from there.

Let us know what you decide & how you are doing.

Bitchslapped

[rmblack]

Thanks so much for your replies. My dr called and wanted me to come in for a CT scan. I just got done with that. The radiologist looked at my scan while I was still on the table and he said he saw an ovarian cyst. That's not the official diagnosis yet. My dr hasn't called me with the official results yet. At first I felt relieved that it was just an ovarian cyst but now I'm worried that it's a tumor. Once you have cancer, you always fear the worst I guess. I will post again when I get the official call.
Thanks again for answering me. This is such a scary time in my life. It's great to know there are others that "get it".

[kellywin]

Welcome.

As other's said, call your doc. And a week without going - way too long, could most likely be your problem, but you need some advice from your doctor. But I'd probably start with something to get things going like a hefty dose of miralax, but again call your doc.

As far as the sex, that whole area is a bit messed up for awhile, so don't be surprised if it's not comfortable for awhile. Also, this is a little premature and not what you asked about, but here's some info anyway. You mentioned radiation (which doesn't seem common for colon cancer, just rectal) but in any case if you're going to have radiation in the pelvic area, you are going to need to have regular sex when you start radiation to keep things from tightening and getting radiation damage. Also, if haven't gone through menopause, prepare yourself for menopause big time. And you may need some vaginal creams, during radiation and after if because of problems menopause can cause.

Good luck.

[dianetavegia]

Why radiation if your tumor was fully removed?
Also, 20,000 people a year die from bowel obstructions.

This could be a bad bladder infection but you could also have an abscess near the surgery site. Were you colon or rectal?

[Val*pal]

Welcome to the forum.

If you had your surgery on October 6, I would think that your attempt at sex might be a little too soon. However, I base things on my husband's surgery which was atypical. He had tons of complications. Still, with that kind of surgery (his was wide open abdominal, not laprascopic), I would probably go to bed in armor for at least a couple of months - heck maybe even 4-5 months! But what do I know? All I do know is that while most people have uncomplicated recoveries, thank goodness, your abdomen WAS OPENED UP!! Your intestines and colon don't like being messed with, and then there's the issue of muscles trying to heal as well. Yikes. I'm cringing just thinking of it.

I'm glad your doctor had you do the CT scan. That will calm your nerves, hopefully. By the way, my doctor would kill any radiologist who dared to give me an interpretation of a scan. The person who gives you the scan is not qualified to comment. I had some sort of heart test about ten years ago, and the person who administered it told me I had a definite heart murmur. I mentioned it to my doc and she immediately called the facility, had them hunt down the employee, and she gave her quite an earful. The test administrator was totally wrong.

As others have said, drink as much water as you can tolerate. It helps the urine and the stool. I know, I know . . . little did you dream back in the summer that you'd be sharing your bowel movement problems with the world.

[llupp]

Dehydration is nothing to mess with my hubby got a 5 day hospital stay because his kidney started shutting down. My hubby also had a abscess at the surgery site which resulted in a 3 day stay. The abscess gave him low grade fevers and pain on his side. Sometimes on this adventure you will have to be you own advocate and demand some answers. Drink drink drink. My thoughts and prayers will be with you.