Colon Cancer confirmed - Surgery Questions

Nassau one

Firstly, I am so sorry to hear about your diagnosis. It is always a scary thing to hear that you have cancer. But be encouraged...there are several people on this board, including my husband who were diagnosed some years ago and are doing well today. My husband was dx stage 111C with 11 out of 18 nodes involved. He had surgery, chemo and radiation....all done nearly 7 years ago. Unfortunately, he now has prostate cancer, but that is another story!

As to the surgery, I have always understood that open surgery is preferred as the surgeon can then see what is going on in there better.... checking other organs, lymph nodes, etc. The success of the surgery really affects the long term survival of the patient. Maybe others here will differ in their opinion but whatever you choose, I wish you well. I hope that you will be able to post as soon as you feel well enough. Be patient with your recovery. Your system has to kick back in and that can take a few days.

Alison

idunno

Hi,
My surgeon preferred open surgery as it allows an experienced doc to look and feel around for other areas. Mine told me he felt around my liver for obvious tumours ect. I was cut from groin to sternum and I was still out of hospital in ten days. You will think you can take on the world as soon as you are home..DON"T. Give yourself at least a month of light duties with lots of rest. I was stage 3c with 6/13 lymph nodes removed cancerous. I had a year of chemotherapy and have been ca free for over 12 years... Good luck,Ron.

patter3

I, too, had sigmoid colon cancer. I had LAP colon cancer surgery this past November (2009). My surgeon preferred the laproscopic method. I was in the hospital for 5 days. Recovery was good. Luckily, my cancer turned out to be Stage 1 and required no further care other than good monitoring. After my colonoscopy showed that I had colon cancer, I had chest xrays and CT scans to see if the cancer had spread. It had not. The surgeon removed 8" of my colon and 2" of my rectum. Feel free to ask questions.