Colon Cancer Surgery

Question: is colon cancer surgery the worst surgery for patients? aren't the doctors basically cutting ur a_s_s? I would think that's the most horrible embarassing surgery there is. & u can't even do #2 either, isn't it? How do I prevent myself of getting it?

Answer: colon cancer surgery is extensive , risky and messy specially the colostomy care ,

Question: What happens during colon cancer surgery? Where do they make the insision? how long is hospitalization for? any more info thanks alot trying to help my best friend

Answer: Incision will depend on the location of the cancer (the colon is pretty long) and the method of surgery - it can be "open" or "laproscopic". A laproscopic surgery will have only a few relatively small cuts in the lower tummy, and recovery will be up to a week if there are no complications. An open surgery will cut from below the navel for about 6-8 inches, and will take up to 2 weeks in hospital. There are no straight answers here - everyone's recovery time is different. To be allowed out, you have to be able to eat, drink, have a bowel movement (either regular or to the stoma bag), pass gas, pass water (or manage your catheter), get out of bed and sit in a chair. These are basic ways to assess that the body is recovering. Recovery time is likely to be longer if your friend has already had chemo or has been noticeably ill for a while before the cancer was found - s/he'll already be worn down a bit by that. My husband had no symptoms until 2 weeks before his surgery, and took 10 days to get out of hospital after open surgery. Be prepared when you visit for the first time post surgery, especially if it's open surgery. This is a big operation and your friend may well look dreadful after - NG tube, catheter, wound drain, PCA IV, fluids IV, oxygen mask. That all looks really scary....but it's actually normal post surgery. Practice a blank face and a big smile - s/he doesn't need to know how awful s/he looks...and s/he'll lose some of the gadgets in a few days.

Question: I have a Retrograde Ejaculation case due to intensive colon cancer surgery, is there anyway to restore this?

Answer: You’re not giving any information to even guess at an answer. You need to see a urologist.

Question: Parents has colon cancer, surgery next week,,..what to expect when released from hospital?? I wrote in a week ago.. My dad has colon cancer, and has surgery next week.. its been a very trying couple of days while waiting.. After, he will be in hospital for 10 days.. I am jumping ahead I know, but was wondering what it might be like when he gets out of the hospital and is at home. I will be taking care of him, but was wondering if he will be able to manage stairs.. what exactly he will be able to do after such a operation.. I know doctor will tell after, but if there is a way i can prepare for his return home.. a little anxious to know now... appreciate any advice/infor.. thanks,, from a very scared daughter..

Answer: hello I had this done at a very young age 12 yrs now I am almost 40. I would like to say this ran strong in my childhood family. There were 9 of us and and 4 had this cancer and one has passed on at a very young age,he was in his teens and in the air force had a wife and a baby on the way.My brother died at 27 yrs old but leaving a single mother to raise their 2 yr old son.To move this faster ...we other 3 have children and they must be tested (it could run in your jeans,you may want to think of getting checked?) With this I have learned to eat 7 small meals a day,they taught me this and don't lift heavey weight anymore as if you were healthy and strong before you operation.NOW his food has to change,this is a must! I was put in the hospiatal because ...your track can not handle like...oranges,leafy vegs and you want to watch out for alot of gasy food liek broc.Make sure he chews up all of his meats and your food digestive sym is so different. Man i have to say I still have to have my children checked out and I think about this everyday(how to tell them about this if it was one of them) I would love to stay in touch and try to help you and your family with some of your questions because I was a young child who had to go through this with nex to no ideal and no knodleg.If you trust me and have a number I am willing to call you? Good luck and God Bless you a nd your family

Question: What to expect after colon surgery (colon cancer)? How long does it really take to recover and such...?

Answer: My dad just went through this also. He recovered from the surgery pretty quickly, he was on solid foods in about 3 days. He was diagnosed in August 05, and they found it had gotten into one lymph node, so he started chemo shortly afterward. The chemo for this type of cancer is very mild compared to some others. He mostly just experienced feeling tired during his "chemo weeks" and numbness in his fingers and toes. No hair loss! He finished with chemo about 6 weeks ago and recently received a clean bill of health!!!!!

Question: Do you think a bariatric surgeon is qualified to perform colon cancer surgery?

Answer: my cancer doc is also a Bariatric surgeon. He is licenced for both and works at MD Anderson in Houston one of the leading cancer instatuites.

Question: i want answers from someone who has gone through colon cancer surgery and had part of the colon removed?

Answer: That's me! What do you want to know?

Question: dad has colon cancer, and surgery is in the next 10 hours.. should i be there ? Its midnight here.. Canada.. (Manitoba)...it 10 hours or so, my dad will be having his surgery (colon cancer).. I for sure plan to see him tomorrow.. just wonder, if and what he will be like after surgery?.. Should i be there for when he is recovering.. or wait till later in the eve? Just don't know what to expect when someone has this type of surgery..

Answer: Here is what I want you to do. Get off the computer, brush your teeth, wash your face, go to bed, if you have any religious believes, pray hard and long to God about your dad and wake up earlier than your dad go to his house take ride with him to the hospital and tell him good luck when they put him on the bed to take him to O.R. or if he is already in the hospital wake up as soon as you can tomoro and stand by him show him your support and tell him good luck it will mean a lot him than it will to you. You need to be there. I don't know if Canadians are cold hearted or not but do let me know if Canadians are cold hearted here in USA we go to hospitals even if it's a relative that's having a surgery.

Question: Post colon cancer surgery hematoma. At surgery site for six weeks now. Area swollen and draining pus fluid.? Anti-biotics for 10 days. Better but back to prior condition. Comments please on what to expect. What is an aspiration procedure

Answer: Are you saying that despite antibiotics the wound is still draining pus? You need to have that checked by the surgeon as the infection may not have been completely treated. Aspiration is when a needle is inserted into the area to obtain fluid or pus which is sent for culture to check if any bacteria is growing and if so which antibiotics will work for that particular antbiotic.

Question: My mother had colon cancer surgery in December , now? since her successful surgery she is cancer free. However since the surgery about a hour or so after eating she has diarrhea. It does stop on its own,.She is afraid to go any where now to breakfast or whatever for fear she'll have an accident. Anyone ever heard of this problem??????

Answer: yes...and I would advise her not to eat anything with seeds, tomatoes, berries, corn, popcorn, nuts of any kind as they get lodged in your colon and cause terrible pain and bloating and diarrhea.

Question: has anyone had recal pain months after colon cancer surgery?

Answer: No. I had a resection late last year, and the only pain I experienced was when I had diahorrea after the stoma reversal. Tell you oncologist or speak to your gp.

Question: colon cancer? my father went in for surgery to remove cancer off of his colon surgery was a success but a little while later his blood pressure drop twice so they gave him a two pints of blood later that day they took him to xray where they notice on the monitor he flat line and died that night what could make this happen his autopsy was inconclusive the family need answers we just want to make sure there was no neglient help

Answer: I can sympathize with your feelings as my family went through almost the same thing. No surgery is 100% safe but it sounds like your Dad was probably a very sick man and his body couldn't handle the trauma of it. Know that he died without suffering and hang on to that. I know it doesn't make the hurt go away but it should help. I wish they had've let my father die on the operating table instead of using heroic measures which he specifically told them not to do because he suffered 3 days in the recovery room before we had to make the choice of taking him off the machines. And, I would rather have an inconclusive answer to the autopsy then what they wrote as cause of death for my father - cirrhosis of the liver cause by excessive drinking - which was not the case. We fought the ruling....as he died from liver damage caused by the heart medication that kept him alive for 5 years. Thankfully we had the family doctors behind us and it was changed. Sorry for the rambling - it still hurts 8 years later as you can see. Celebrate your father's life not his death....it's a mistake most of us make. I dug around and found as many pictures as I could find (which wasn't too many because he was always the one taking them) & have them around the house. I want to remember him as my Dad not....my father in the hospital.

Question: Had colon cancer surgery/resection in 2004, 6 month chemo..two cat scans showed no problems,,blood work good,, Had a cat scan in sept. of 07, they thought they saw some vague spots in my lymph system in my lower abdomen,,back on chemotherapy,,,4 months later, 2 cat scans, spots had not changed, gotten bigger, smaller or moved..took me off of chemo,,had a cat scan last week..NOW, they claim that i have a lesion of approximatel 3 centimeters in my mesenteric region,,(lower central abdomen),,Still excellent blood work,,no markers,,,Oh, had a petscan also, no uptake, so was deemed inconclusive...Am having a needle biopsy on the 22nd of Apr.. My question,,anybody experienced in this and what are the chances, with my history of colon cancer of this latest "lesion" being a benign growth?....about 18 yrs. ago i had a benign growth as big as the end of my little finger removed from my tracheal area...Are some people prone to having "benign" growths develop within and outside of their bodies, as i also have quite a few fairly large dark moles that are not cancerous..?? The surrounding lymph nodes were removed in my initial surgery, one microscopic C cell was found which put me technically at stage 3.. I am tempted to get another opinion, i.e., have another radiologist read my CT discs before my biopsy, but I really don't have much time, nor do i know if the HMO i belong to would release them to an outside medical facility.. I guess at this point in time i will just go and have the biopsy, hope for the best and go from there...thank you all for your answers,,I really appreciate them, wish me luck

Answer: I'd say there is a chance this is not a recurrence of your colon carcinoma from 4 years ago. Being out 4 years from surgery is a good sign. We don't know the stage of your initial primary colon carcinoma - whether there were local lymph nodes involved at the time of surgical resection. It sounds like you have never had biopsy proven recurrence - just a CT scan in Sept. '07 showing possible adenopathy (lymph node involvement in the abdomen) which has not been seen to progress on subsequent abdominal CT scans. Also, a 3 cm mass is fairly small - only a bit over an inch in diameter. You have no tumor marker evidence for progressive cancer - though markers are not reliable if negative. The negative blood work doesn't help us much since recurrent cancer in lymph nodes would not show up on routine lab tests. Sounds like you feel OK. I believe I would think positively until there is biopsy proof that there is truly something to worry about. ' Wish you luck with the biopsy and hope that no evidence of recurrent adenocarcinoma is found. The biopsy is the only way to know for sure.

Question: Infertility from Colon cancer surgery? Is there anyone out there that has, knows someone or anything about complete loss of sperm production from having a 3 inch tumor removed from the colon? My husband had this surgery and after had no ejaculate at all. All the doctors have really told us is "maybe its nerve damage...we dont really know". There was NO discussion before hand that this complication was a possibility. So it was a complete shock to us when we discovered this. We have been to a fertility clinic and spent some serious cash trying to recover some sperm to have children. But everything has failed. We are left with this big Void never knowing if we will be able to have kids. Im looking for anyone else out there that may of gone through the same thing, or at least shed a little info on his condition. Also, we have seen a urologist. Doctors have given us the impression that nerve damage is definitely a possibility. But only after the fact. Also none of the doctors really seem to think its a big deal that its caused infertility. They treat it like its just a scratch and are like "oh well"

Answer: They probably didn’t mention this could be a possible complication as it really isn’t probable. I know it doesn’t make you feel any better, but I don’t know how this could happen. Nerve damage would be about the only explanation and even then it would mean your husband has unique anatomy. The only thing I can think of is to take the surgical report with you to a urologist and it may help them to find a solution.

Question: Colocutaneous fistula from colon surgery/cancer? My mom found out she had a tumor in her colon during exploratory surgery. Two weeks following surgery, her anastomosis failed leaking stool out the incision site. We were told she has a colocutaneous fistula. Since then (11/17/06) she has been nothing by mouth, has a PICC line to infuse TPN. She has developed C-Diff three times and is currently on Vancomycin by mouth. The doctors treating her are not real experienced with this condition and are not very informative. Our question is, how sucessful would surgery be at this point and is there someone that could be recommended. We will travel with cash if someone can help us. PLEASE. We need to get her chemo started and cant wait forever.

Answer: i honestly can't recomend someone but you could contact someone at the mayo clinic i would think; and if the dr's don't seem experience with fistula's then i would see someone perhaps in a major metropolitan area; while fistulas of this nature are not very common in smaller communities; they are not unheard of. surgery can be done to close and excise the fistulous tract and thus prevent further infection in the incision area; however with having C diff. that has to be taken care of first and completely irradicated before any further surgeries are performed. good luck and your mom is in my prayers.

Question: colon cancer surgery? rectal pain after surgery

Answer: What is the question? Ofcourse there will be pain after surgery.