Guest guest Posted December 17, 2004 Report Share Posted December 17, 2004 Sounds good so far. A grandchild for Christmas too! How wonderful! That's about the best present you can get! Have a wonderful Christmas and best wishes on your surgery. Narice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 17, 2004 Report Share Posted December 17, 2004 Carolyn, Yes indeed it is a whirlwind! But it sounds as if you are doing fine. My situation (and others on the board) are very similar to yours. The same kind of cancer, in the same position basically. Although I had rad and chemo first, followed by surgery (due to one lymph node involvement). I too was told about the chances of permanent colostomy but was fortunate enough to wake up with the temporary ileostomy (I currently hate it - but am soooo grateful that it is only temporary!) . You should do just fine. Many of us have been through this and are here to tell the tale and help others through it. You are not alone. You sound like you have great spirit and have done a lot of prepartory work and taking an active role in the process - all of these are so important! I wish you the best through all of this. Wish you had a better plan for Christmas - but think of it this way - you are doing this to give yourself the gift of life. Think of those grand babies that need you, and your daughters!! Blessings, Sheila Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 18, 2004 Report Share Posted December 18, 2004 I will be thinking of you while in surgery. Once you get that initial determination things happen quickly. I had my colonoscopy the end of Sept. and by Oct 1 I was in having my surgery. Take care Jolene Thank you .... .. for all the support and advice I received from my first post! You are all awesome. My timeline has been 12/7 colonoscopy ... 12/9 biopsy came back with dx rectal cancer .... 12/10 CT scan results no evidence of cancer in any other organ ... 12/13 appt. with surgeon ... 12/14 appt. with oncologist .... 12/16 ultrasound results showed T2 tumor about 1 " in diameter and up to but not through the rectal wall and no evidence of any lymph node involvement. All my drs. agree that since from all appearances that the tumor is contained that we should do surgery first to avoid degradation of good tissue from radiation which would increase my chances of a permanent colostomy. As it is there is a 50/50 chance that I will have to have a permanent colostomy. The tumor is only 10 cm. into the rectum. So I will go into surgery Mon. 12/20 at 7:30am. I guess when I wake up I will learn alot more but until then I'm just busy scrambling to get things read Carolyn in Ky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 18, 2004 Report Share Posted December 18, 2004 I was diagnosed T2 with a smallish tumor 10cm in. Sound familiar? It sounds like the Drs. are doing their job. Your surgery is the next step. Walk all you can (but don't hurt yourself). Walking will help keep your stamina and take time off your recovery. I think you have all the information you will get until you see the pathology report. I recommend reading the text yourself so you can ask about anything the Dr. may gloss over as unimportant. You will need all the pieces of the puzzle to make decisions about what to do next, if anything (T2! I hope it really is since T2 has good survival odds!) I did not have an ileostomy at all. I was very close to it and I spent 4 days in the hospital a few weeks after surgery because the anastamosis leaked a smidgen and caused a fever. I had 6 weeks radiation and Xeloda since my tumor was moderately to poorly differetiated (i.e., aggressive). I would not have done that stuff if I didn't feel like I needed to to be safe. Anyway, good luck with surgery and watch the nurses closely :-) We'll be praying for you. Miracles happen! Cliff H. > .. for all the support and advice I received from my first post! You are all awesome. My timeline has been 12/7 colonoscopy ... 12/9 biopsy came back with dx rectal cancer .... 12/10 CT scan results no evidence of cancer in any other organ ... 12/13 appt. with surgeon ... 12/14 appt. with oncologist .... 12/16 ultrasound results showed T2 tumor about 1 " in diameter and up to but not through the rectal wall and no evidence of any lymph node involvement. All my drs. agree that since from all appearances that the tumor is contained that we should do surgery first to avoid degradation of good tissue from radiation which would increase my chances of a permanent colostomy. As it is there is a 50/50 chance that I will have to have a permanent colostomy. The tumor is only 10 cm. into the rectum. So I will go into surgery Mon. 12/20 at 7:30am. I guess when I wake up I will learn alot more but until then I'm just busy scrambling to get things ready for Mon. We have a 27 yr old daughter who is severely disabled and total care and our other daughter is due any day now with our 5th grandchild and I was supposed to be down there helping her! Whew ... this has been a whirlwind experience but at least it doesn't give one much time to think! Well, what do you all think ... does it sound like things are going as they should? Also, I'm so sorry for those of you who have lost loved one recently. My thoughts and prayers are with you. > Carolyn in Ky > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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