Postby cmewrrie » Thu Jan 21, 2016 1:31 pm
I am so sorry you find yourself in this situation. BUTT at least your docs are on top of it and caught the recurrence quickly and are being aggressive with treatment.
As for the surgery and recovery, I won't sugar coat it, for my husband it has been a long slow recovery...however he has been having chemotherapy so that does delay healing and has its own side effects that impact the ability to cope.
For the hospital, I second the extra long phone charger idea...if you are well medicated you very well may be comfortable enough to get "bored" when not sleeping. (DH was and the long cord allowed the phone to stay on the charger and lying on his bed for easy access).
Walk, Walk, Walk, as much as you can and as soon as your doctor allows...this will speed up your bowels "waking up" which is your ticket out of the hospital. Our nurses didn't stay on top of this with my husband so I had to push him to do short walks whenever I was there visiting.
The colostomy is a big adjustment but get in touch with a good ostomy nurse to choose the best placement and to advise on taking care of it and using the appliances...this was a great resource for us.
if the type/brand of wafer/pouch doesn't work for you, you can get online or call all of the manufacturers who are more than happy to send you samples of various thiings to try. We literally tried dozens before finding what worked....everyone we talked to was very very helpful.
If you can arrange to have a home nurse visit a few times after you go home, that would be good as well...our home nurse was a life line in those early days, answering questions and re-assuring DH as well as advocating for DH if/when his medical team wasn't responsive.
Best wishes to you. Lots and lots of great advice and support here...this board has been a life saver throughout all of this for us!
wife of DH (04/24/15 dx: age 43) Low RC T3N0M0 stage 2
4/27/15 clear CT
5/18 - 6/25 chemo/rad (ended xeloda on 6/19 due to side effects)
8/12/15 - ULAR scheduled - APR performed due to location - path showed T1N0M0
9/25 begin 5 rounds of xelox
10/30/15 - switch to xeloda only due to allergic reaction
1/22/16- last xeloda!
3/27/16 - post treatment CT - clear except soft tissue presacral area (possibly scar tissue) CEA .5
4/20/16 - post treatment colonoscopy