Karma - does this mean you would have a permanent colostomy? If this is your concern, I completely understand why you feel this way. When my surgeon told me I would have to have an ileostomy I completely fell apart. My experiences with a colostomy was when I was 17 my father had colon cancer and a permanent colostomy as part of it. Us kids knew little to nothing about it except that it seemed gross and disgusting. I asked my surgeon - "isn't there any other way" - in no uncertain terms, she said "no". My ileostomy turned out to be temporary - but I did have it for a year. It was reversed last November and believe me, there are many, many days I wish I still had it. I'm adjusting to my new plumbing, but its been tough. I never thought I would say this, but in many ways, the ostomy was a blessing.
Before you think that you couldn't or wouldn't ever want to live with a colostomy, please check out this web-site -
http://www.uoaa.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=2It's the United Ostomy Associates of America. People on the chat group have ostomies for various reasons - crohn's, ulcerative colitis, diverticulities and of course, colorectal cancer. It never occurred to me that my LAR wouldn't be worth it - I guess that will to survive took hold of me and it was the only way I knew of to try to stay alive. I also thought I would never be able to adjust to or accept my ileostomy - but I did. My life was very good with my ileostomy. Acceptance didn't happen over night, but it did happen, and it surprised me more than anyone!
As everyone has already stated, your best chance at survival is surgery. Period. Please don't try to interpret people on this board who have had a reccurrence as a statistical measure. Remember, people who haven't had a reccurrence tend to go on and live their lives without having to hang out on a cancer support group. I hope to be one of those people someday.