The Colon Club

Well my last colonoscopy cut out a polyp that was cancerous from the ascending colon. Minor though, they figure it is stage 1 or 2 at the worst. The recommendation was to have a right right hemicolectomy and biopsy the tissue and lymph nodes. The CT scan did not show anything and I could opt to not have the surgery of course, but like the surgeon told me, "you have to decide the level of uncertainty you can live with". Well, let's cut it out and see. Thursday the 20th is my date.

Thank God for early screening, I lost a brother when he was 45 to colon cancer, it was at stage IV when he realized there was a problem. That was many years ago and there was no screening at that age then.

I would think you would have a huge amount of uncertainty with a family history. Best to have peace of mind, I think. Hoping you have a speedy recovery and keep us informed!

theloafer wrote:Minor though, they figure it is stage 1 or 2 at the worst. The recommendation was to have a right right hemicolectomy ...

I was in a similar situation and sometimes I wonder whether this was a right decision to get a surgery.
Nothing is free in our world and there are pros and cons in both decisions.

Good luck!
I wish you faster recovery and nothing of interest found in your lymph nodes!

I hope your surgery goes well!*hugs*

Good luck on your surgery!
Hugs
Teri

Glad you caught it early as treatment should be a lot easier.

My surgery was yesterday and all went well. The surgeon said that everything looked very healthy and she only cut out about 6 inches of the large where the cancerous polyp was and a little of the small intestine. No stoma needed, whew! It should be about 2 weeks for the pathology to be done but I’m feeling good about it all for sure.

I read some of your stories and battles and I can apprectiate this strength and courage you display. My situation is so minor but makes me thankful for catching this thing early. Truly blest.

Now just to recover and hopefully that’s all. (I’m a whiss for pain but the drugs are good)

Dear Wuss-4-Pain,

Aren't the painkillers great? Always post when you're high because the 'vets' can tell and it's fun to read!
Undergoing a right hemicolectomy and losing six inches of your large intestine is not minor; this is YOUR body, it
can't regrow that bit - that's major! We're not geckos!!

Don't forget to play the I-just-had-major-abdominal-surgery card to get out of everything housework, lifting and
tipping the pizza delivery boy.

May the pathology results confirm the colonoscopy expectation of a stage I-II neoplasm.

Maggie Nell
from 'straya

As long as there's surgery involved, nothing is minor. I am glad everything has been successful so far. Keep a positive attitude and stay vigilant. All the best. Andre

Discharged today, nice to be home for sure.

One week post surgery, healing nicely I think. I am trying today to be off of the Tramadol and use Tylenol only for a day, so far so good.

Glad you're at home.....getting better...and hopefully getting to rest or sleep anytime you want or need to.

Well my surgeon called and said the pathology was clean and no signs of cancer. This is such good news. So my surgery was nothing but an inconvienience to give me the assurance that the only cancer was within that one polyp. It feels so good to be sure.

Here we are 5 months after my surgery. The only monitoring they want to do is CEA tests every 3 months and another scope close to the 1 year mark of my surgery. The first two CEA tests came back 1.4 and 1.2, I don't really know what that means but my doctor says we don't get too excited until we see 5 or more in the CEA. So I'm thankful for that, and everything has healed nicely and the insides work better than before, if that is possible.

theloafer wrote:Here we are 5 months after my surgery. The only monitoring they want to do is CEA tests every 3 months and another scope close to the 1 year mark of my surgery. The first two CEA tests came back 1.4 and 1.2, I don't really know what that means but my doctor says we don't get too excited until we see 5 or more in the CEA. So I'm thankful for that, and everything has healed nicely and the insides work better than before, if that is possible.

Your test results should provide numbers for the normal range - and the numbers and normal range very from lab to lab. It looks like they don't have you doing scans because your staging was likely low. I'm on the CEA every three months and it looks like annual scans. The protocol used to be scans every six months but I guess that they're not needed as often these days.

Hopefully you'll never see 5 or more.