I have been reading many of your posts, and I must say that is wonderful how you have all supported each other through your respective ordeals. While mine is nowhere near the magnitude of those I've read, I could use "another set of eyes" so to speak....
I am 34/M...A large polyp was discovered several months ago. The initial biopsy was negative...The gastroenterologist said we should try to extract the polyp across 2 colonoscopies rather than have surgery. I have since had the colonoscopies, and the pathology reports on polyp were that it was precancerous....My gastro. has now given me a choice...have the surgery to ensure complete removal of the polyp (thinks he got it all, but can't be positive), or wait a couple of months and have another colonoscopy to check everything out...I am torn....surgery, and have peace of mind, or wait and see....Is the resection surgery as bad as it sounds ?? He says it will only be a small section.....I am having my third child at the end of october, and want to be fully functional when it happens....

Hey Tony:
From a fellow rectal cancer survivor (dx at 31 stage 3c) I would totally go for the trans rectal excision. If it shows recurrence or incomplete removal down the line, you can always have it resected. But there are SO many complications that come from resections in that area.

Best of luck!
Regards,
CancerDad

Thanks Cancer Dad..
At this point I'm really torn....All signs are that it is NOT cancer...And while it may turn into cancer at some point, that could be years..Will waiting 2 months really do any harm? If I have another colonoscopy, and it turns out he did get it all, them I'm good to go. if not, then I have the surgery...On the other hand, I feel like I need to take care of this now before it becomes more serious...I am lucky that this was discovered before it advanced into a malignancy, and I just wonder if fate is giving me a "mulligan" so to speak...my only real concern is the actual surgery, and the long recovery for what at this point could be categorized as elective surgery

Oh, a fellow golfer ! (I call what I do "golf" for lack of a better word though lol)

You would have to present your doc's findings to your insurance co. to find out if they (inexplicitivly IMHO) call it elective. Liposuction is elective, tumour removal is not but that's my opinion.

If you go for the colonoscopies I would suggest that the doc also order a CEA test every month starting before the first colonoscopy. That will at least be one monitor of whether or not thee is something else there.

Now, my situation. I had a large polyp and the biopsy showed it as precancerous. However upon removal of the whole polyp the path'lgy report showed it as actually cancerous and the resulting resection surgery showed that the cancer had extended as far as the outer wall of the rectum. So initial biopsies are not totally accurate.

I don't know if that makes things clearer or muddier for you, sorry.

Thank you for the reply...I'm not messing around..I'll have the surgery just to be sure.....

I met with the surgeon yesterday....says he'll take 12" of the transverse colon. Sounded like alot for 1 (Albeit big) pre-cancerous polyp....I have a couple of questions:

1) I don't do very well with surgery(Very anxious), not that anyone does, but is this surgery as terrible as it sounds...or is my mind working overtime as usual...Is the thought of surgery worse than the surgery itself?

2) Anyone have experience with the laproscopic procedure ? That sounds more tolerable to me, but would like to hear your thoughts.


Thanks

You have taken matters well in hand and as your tumour is precancerous and therefore no further treatment will be needed, you will do just fine. Every one is different but my husband's was much more advanced and his recovery from surgery was affected by other issues....not the removal of the tumour itself. He did well with that aspect. I think you are right when you ask if the fear of surgery is worse than the surgery itself...it is. You will be so relieved when it is over and you can get on with the rest of your life.

All the best.

I had surgery exactly 8 weeks ago. It started out as urologic surgery and also turned into a colon resection. I also had about 12 inches taken out. From the start, they were making a large vertical incision to get to my bladder. Fortunately, that was the only incision needed. This was my first time having surgery, so i had no idea what to expect. I found there was very little pain. I was on a liquid diet for 4 days-I think all the nutrition came from the IV's. On the 6th day after surgery I went home. I really could not eat for the next 2 days-no appetite, plus my stomach was upset. After being home my appetite came back, and there have been no problems since then. Within 3 weeks, I went to the health club and used the treadmill. Tonite I went and did aerobics. Everyone recovers differently, but I found the recovery not bad. Best of luck to you.

Hey Tony :wave: It's Goody here ;) If you have read through my post "Open Resection Surgery...What to expect" you will see that Goody was in your 2 shoes not too long ago. I was really scared going into this surgery especially knowing it was elective. I mean, let's face it, it is major abdominal surgery we're talking about & my fear was "Did I really need it?"

Tony....you need this surgery even more that I did. Please don't wait hoping that the 2 removals of the polyp took care of it all. I had 8 inches of my sigmoid colon removed laproscopically about 4 months ago. The surgeon originally prepared me to have it done open and surprised me when he actually did it laproscopically. The recuperaion is pretty much the same whether it's done open vs. laproscopically...it took about 7 weeks until I felt I had enough energy to go back to light duty. I have to say that just recently I feel pretty much back to normal. I was really afraid of the pain...but the morphine pump and pain regimen they had postoperatively was excellent. Best advise I got and wish to share with you is to move around and get out of bed ASAP to get the bowels moving again.

Please feel free to ask any questions....there were so many people that saw me through from weeks before my surgery to postoperatively when I came home. I would love to be of any help if you should have the need. Just give a holler and Goody will see you through......Peace & God's Blessings...Goody

Thanks Goody..I appreciate your help...I am having the surgery on November 15th...I have spoken to a couple people who have had the surgery, and that has helped me tremendously....At the end of the day, I need to do it, so it doesn't really matter...i just consider myself lucky that this was caught before it advanced to a malignancy, and that having this surgery is the right thing to do in the long run...

Tony...I will mark my calendar for you on the 15th keeping you in my prayers that all goes well for you and that you are back on your feet quickly. Everyone progresses differently....one is back on a treadmill in 3 weeks as was in Edinaman's case and others like me took a little longer. In any case....like you say...it needs to be done and you're quite lucky they found it early. Please feel free to voice any of your concerns prior to your surgery...I would be glad to walk you through in anyway I can....Goody

Thanks again...I will let you know if I have any questions. I am pretty comfortable with the idea of having this done now..I spoke to an uncle yesterday who it turns out had the same procedure done for the same reason (Precancerous polyp). His was 13 years ago, and he took me through it pretty good.I wish I could just get it over with, but my wife is due in 4-5 weeks, and I just didn't want to take the chance that I wouldn't be availiable for the delivery....This way, we have the baby, then get it over with a couple of weeks later...

Thank you for all of your help and encouragement. I have spent a few days now reading a good number of posts, and can see the impact that your support has on many people....I will keep you posted as the day draws closer.

Well the date is drawing closer...It's Nov. 16th now instead of the 15th...I went for a second opinion, and I was more impressed with the 2nd surgeon..They are both fine surgeons, but this guy had a more impressive resume (Princeton, NYU Medical....Fellowship at NYU and Sloan Kettering)..And he just took the time to explain everything the way no one had before..Basically he said I could have the surgery or not, but rather take care of this now that I have a choice, than 2-3 yrs down the road when the polyp advances to a malignancy......My only fear is the surgery itself, and I've read all the posts, and I realize it's different for everyone, but I just hope that I have made the right choice, and will get back to normal..Some folks have said I'm crazy, and that I'll never be the same again..(All day in the bathroom, foul smelling movements etc..) I figure I was lucky enough to find this thing while it's precancerous, and I'm not messing around.....I have 3 kids now (Daughter Jillian born 11/03 :) ....and why would I take any chances..Anyway, I'm babbling because I am nervous about the surgery..I know that once it's over, I'll feel like an idiot for worrying so much cuz it's probably not half as bad as I envision it to be..