The Colon Club

Hi all,

I posted here a few times around 4 years ago. My father had colon cancer and sadly passed away.

I’m now finding myself here as I have recently been diagnosed with cancer in the right transverse. Tumour is approx 5cm. They are looking to remove 3/4 of colon. This seems a lot and worries me. Just wondered if anybody has had similar amount removed and experiences you had after.

Thanks so much x

UKgirl -

I'm so sorry to hear of your new diagnosis.

I don't have any personal experience with colon resections, but I think you can get some useful information from past posts on this board by doing a special advanced search here using a keyword string like:

+total +colectomy -left -right

Special search for sub-colectomy posts (excluding right-colectomies and left-colectomies)

- - - -

BTW, there's one officer of ColonClub who had a full colectomy in Apri 2004. You can read about some of her experiences here, if you're interested:

https://coloncancersupport.colonclub.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=53441&p=423648#p423648

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In my opinion, it's not so much the amount of colon removed but whether the procedure removes the Ileo-cecal valve or leaves it intact. If the surgery removes this valve then there is no control of stool between the large and small intestine, and this can lead to long periods of watery stools and diarrhea.

My tumor was at the hepatic flexure, so my right hemicolectomy included all the stuff on the right from the appendix on up plus part of the transverse colon. From what I've read on the subject, the amount taken has to do firstly with the tumor placement, and secondly with the anatomy of the blood supply.

I'd ask the surgeon the explain. And get a second opinion if you like.

Guess you've had your surgery by now??

My position was very similar. I had a 5cm tumour in the middle of my transverse colon.

An Extended Right Hemicolectomy took place just over a month ago. 30cm was removed, which comprised some 30 percent of my total colon. Lost 2m Terminal Ileum to neat the Splenic fixture. Probably this was more than you will loose, so unsure where the 3/4 of your colon comes from?

I have bounced back really quickly. Operation done laparoscopically, with one 10cm or so incision. Within three weeks of the op was walking over 10,000 steps a day and feeling great. Bowel motions, are I guess, normal (most unusual to me as the only symptom of my tumour was stool softening over a long period then diarrhea which was thought to he due to a dairy intolerance). Pain from time to time at my anastomosis site, which is under my left rib. Have worked out that if I eat a lot of fibre this doesn't happen.

It's also a bit weird I find to have no sense of movement/gurgling in the missing pipes, so to speak.


So that's me . How are you? And if you have any questions please do post as since we have a very similar position I may well be able to help. BTW my tumour turned out to je 5cm x 3.5cm x 1.7cm.

I hope your surgery went well and that you're doing well.

Hi all,

Thank you so much for your replies. Yep it's all out now! I'm nearly 2 weeks post op.

After the resection my surgeon went on holiday so I haven't had a detailed meeting as to what happened but I was told by his colleague that they didn't have to take as much as initially thought.

I'm seeing surgeon tomorrow for results and staging confirmation so I guess I will find out fully then.

I'm recovering quite well other than a cyst on my ovary which is causing a bit of pain. I've been informed this is nothing to worry about. I guess the inflammation has caused pressure on the cyst.

I'll post more tomorrow when I know what's what.

Thank you all so much again

UKgirl wrote:....I'm seeing surgeon tomorrow for results and staging confirmation so I guess I will find out fully then...

In your meeting with the surgeon tomorrow try to find out and write down all of the details of both your diagnosis and the staging. You can use the Signature template below as a type of checklist to insure that you have covered the most important details.

https://coloncancersupport.colonclub.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=52681&p=421597#p421597

Do you have an oncologist assiged yet? If so, when will you be meeting with him/her?

Here is a link with information on the different treatment plans available under NHS:
https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/cancer-in-general/treatment

Hi JJH,

Thanks for replying so quickly. I don't have an oncologist yet - I guess I'll find out more tomorrow.

“
An Extended Right Hemicolectomy took place just over a month ago. 30cm was removed, which comprised some 30 percent of my total colon. Lost 2m Terminal Ileum to neat the Splenic fixture. Probably this was more than you will loose, so unsure where the 3/4 of your colon comes from?
“

Do I understand correctly that they have removed 2 meters of your ileum?