Being a surgical technician i had a unique perspective of my surgery... ive been involved in many total colectomys so i could tell you just what happens in what sequence... but.. this was me this time . Id had ulcerative colitus for 37 yrs and been relatively symtom free for the last twenty... had some colonoscopies over the years but nothing regular... my wife kept bugging me to get one done it had been three yrs since the last one.. when i woke up from it i already had a bad feeling about it.. i was drooling like an idiot... turned out the dr could not get a colonoscope past the mass in my sigmoid and could barely get a gastroscope past it... the biopsy came back as highly displaysic.. more than likely cancer... i was able to pick my surgeon (since i work with them all the time i knew who i wanted) i was told not to wait till after the first of the yr.. but then it would be too late (this was sept)after getting things lined up i had surgery on nov 6th... i was told id be in the hospital for 5-7 days... my anesthesia doc recommened an epidural since this would allow the bowel to bounce back faster... i had a total colectomy with an ileorectal anastimosis.. things turned out so well bowel wise i was out of the hospital in three days.. spent a month at home recuperating and was back at work in 4 wks... which turned out to be 2 wks too soon... i struggled getting back up to speed and getting my legs back under me work wise.. then the fun started... i was refered out for radiation and chemo... both at the same time really sucked.. sapped me of all my energy.. after talking with my surgeons i cut out the radiation after 4 weeks... and kept up with the chemo which would be more beneficial systemically to prevent a reoccurance.. just finished 6 months of chemo the first 5 cycles sucked... very draining.. but i seemed to bounce back the last three... now i just have to wait for the PET scan in sept to see where things are...
if you want to contact me feel free at zorro255@hotmail.com