Surgery stories please! APR

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Marie25
Posts: 40
Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2019 9:32 am

Surgery stories please! APR

Postby Marie25 » Fri Dec 06, 2019 10:54 am

Hubby is likely going to get his APR surgery in the end of January. 3 months ago the surgeon said it would be about a 2 to 3 hour surgery. Now we just talked to him again and he said it will be 4 to 5 hours. Is this normal? I am pretty upset about this and very worried. Is this considered a "safe" surgery? Will he need a breathing tube for it? I am going to ask all these questions next time we talk to the surgeon or his nurse. I know it is a major surgery. But the surgeon said they would get him thru it and he can expect to go back to work about 6 weeks later. I am glad they are positive but I am a worrier. Please tell me how smoothly (or not) your APR went. Thanks :|
Supporter to my husband
Rectal adenocarcinoma
Folfox 8/2019
Short Course Radiation January 2020
Surgery January 2020
T3 N0 stage 2A
0/42 lymph nodes

User avatar
Rob in PA
Posts: 2022
Joined: Wed Dec 09, 2009 9:16 pm
Location: Pennsylvania

Re: Surgery stories please! APR

Postby Rob in PA » Fri Dec 06, 2019 11:31 am

Hi Marie,
I did not have APR surgery but I did have LAR surgery and involved many of the processes that the APR has. Basically, the LAR is a sphincter saving surgery and then they create a "j pouch" out of the lower end of my colon to mimic the removed rectum.

So, back to your question....6 hours is not an unreasonable amount of time for the procedure your hubby is going to have. I think mine was around 5 hours. There is a lot going on the requires checking, double checking and triple checking before everything gets closed up. The colostomy step alone takes an hour or so. There will be, i assume, a large surgical cut between his scrotum and anus where they will remove the rectum from.

Just remember, we (the patients) are asleep and don't have any awareness of time length of surgery. We're dreaming some crazy dreams because of the anethesia! You, as the caregiver, are the ones who have the toughest job of sitting in the waiting room staring at the surgical board for updates :shock:

I have had temporary colostomies and iliostomies, and can help answer any questions you may have about those....and there are many on this Board that can help as well.

Good luck with the surgery!

Rob
dx 11/07 crc IIIb @ 39
Xelox/Rad/ temp colostomy
LAR/J-pouch/ temp ileo
Folfox-8
Failed reversal
2/09 liver mets; liver resect/ileo reversal
Folfiri/Avastin - 12
2/11 5 lung mets
Folfiri/Avastin 2011
SBRT 3/12
Lung met 5/13/ said NO to more chemo
SBRT 8/13
2 lung mets 5/14, VATS 8/14, NED

_Jelen90
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Jan 19, 2019 7:12 pm

Re: Surgery stories please! APR

Postby _Jelen90 » Fri Dec 06, 2019 2:40 pm

My husband's surgery went very well. What helped is that he was very fit and otherwise "healthy" when he went in.

The hardest was recovery, it took him a good 3 months to get back to normal. I am sure he will have an amazing medical team to get through this like my hubby had.

He is now 6 months post op and is doing pretty much everything he used to before surgery. What I can tell you is just take it a day at a time..it will be very hard at first but every day it's gonna get a little bit better...baby steps!

Oh and duration of surgery depends on how well it goes..my husband's was supposed to be 4 hours and it ended up being 3 but yeah APR is no joke...I don't know what kind of work your husband does but if it's physical there is no way he can go back after 6 weeks as the risk of developing a hernia is still high.
21/12/2018 DH 28 diag. Rectal cancer
T2N1M0 - Stage IIIA
6 weeks of Chemorad Jan-March 2019
APR surgery June 2019
Permanent colostomy
Path report : tumor completely gone but 1 lymph node out of 8 tested positive
6 rounds of Mop up XELOX August 2019
NED December 2019


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