Confused husband

[Jmrodrig]

Hello everyone,

First time posting and don’t really know where to turn. My wife is 25yo and 2 months ago during her yearly check up the doctor felt a bump on right side of abdomen. Sent her in for a CT scan to be safe. CT scan discovered swelling in intestine. CT scan showed everything else as being fine. This led to her getting a colonoscopy 2 weeks ago in which an abnormal mass was found. Biopsy was done and GI doctor called back 3 days later to state that biopsy came back as noncancerous but suggested that she have a partial colectomy to remove this part of her colon. This surgery is now scheduled for tomorrow.

We are both still very scared of both the surgery and the results from the surgery. Both the GI doctor and the surgeon are unsure what is this mass and we were told that at times a clean biopsy isn’t always clean. She is not showing anything in terms of symptoms other than some light pain and discomfort stemming from where the mass is.

So I’m here hoping that maybe someone has had a similar experience and would share that with me.

Thanks everyone

[Jannine]

Welcome, and sorry for the reason you are here. I hope your wife's surgery goes well today. Please give us an update when you can.

You should get a lot more answers after the surgery; they will do a detailed analysis of the mass and find out for sure if it was cancerous. Also as part of the surgery they will remove and check lymph nodes for any signs of cancer. You should get the results back within a few days, and at that point you'll know what the heck is going on and be able to put together a plan for moving forward, if such a plan is needed.

Let us know what the surgery report looks like. Even with a successful biopsy, it's only the post-surgery lab details that give you the full picture. So although most of us went into surgery already knowing we had cancer, nobody gets staging details until after surgery.

[Green Tea]

Here is some information on informed consent for colon surgery. It gives information on some of the risks associated with such a surgery. Was your wife given an Informed Consent form to sign?

I think it's good that the mass will be removed by surgery because it sounds like this mass could eventually have caused an obstruction. As others have said, after the surgery is completed you will know for sure what kind of mass it was when they finally issue the pathology report.

Let us know what you find out.

https://starkvillesurgical.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Surgical-Consent-for-colon-resection.pdf

[Jmrodrig]

Hey guys thanks for the replies.

Update: wife underwent successful partial colectomy today. Surgeon told us the procedure went perfectly as planned. Surgery was laparoscopic so hope is we’re out of here sooner than later.

Doctor said whatever this mass was, it was definitely localized to this section of her intestines. He scanned all nearby organs and said he viewed nothing out of the ordinary. Also said the mass has grown some since her ct scan 2 months ago.

In short, we’re doing our best to stay optimistic since a) biopsy from scope came back negative and b) doctor says this mass was localized to this part of her body. Everyone we’ve asked tell us that doctors can usually tell right away when a mass is malignant during a scope and definitely after the resection. No doctor has implied any of this to us. I know we’re not out of the woods until lab tests come back in a few days. I’ll keep you guys updated.

[Jmrodrig]

Hey everyone back with an update:

Pathology results have came back with some positive results which we were hopeful for but, to be honest, weren’t expecting. Pathology showed a negative scan for cancer! Doctors told us it was just UC that led to this unidentified mass. We will be following up with the GI doctor next week.

With that being said, reading the positive and encouraging posts in this message board helped calm my nerves so much during this time period as I braced for the worst possible news. I felt that irregardless of the DX we were going to be ok and ready to battle.

I stand in solidarity with everyone in this board that is fighting this horrible disease or caring for someone whom is fighting this disease. Will be keeping everyone in my prayers going forward.


Thank you

[Gravelyguy]

Thanks for the update and so thankful your wife is ok!

Dave

[CRguy]

Give your wife our best, not that UC is anything to dismiss...
BUTT at least it is not full blown CRC.

Thank you for your kind comments
We are all here and discuss lots of other GIT issues if you need to.

Cheers
CRguy