Newly diagnosed

Thank you all for the replies!

It has been a week since I'm discharged, and I have been healing well. Walking 2-4km a day with our dog, getting as much sunshine and fresh air, and sleeping a lot. Eating normal food with a few supplements with Boost and other normal doses of vitamins. 

The scrotal swelling was gone on Day 7. It seems like all back to normal now :P

I have stopped taking any strong painkiller like hydromorphone since Day 7, but still, I'm taking 500mg Tylenol 4 times a day. There are quite a few random not-strong but dull pains on my left and middle abdominal area, where the sigmoid colon was removed. I think it might be still some wounds inside not fully recovered. There was a time when I get up from the bed, I felt there are something torn apart in the middle-lower belly where no incision exists. That was a little scary, but I couldn't find anything wrong from outside.

As it's 10 days after the surgery, I peeled the stitches (which caused quite a lot of itchiness due to my allergy to adherence) as the discharge notes advised ("if Steri-strip tape does not flake and fall off on its own, you may remove them 7 to 10 days after the surgery"), and then I saw my incision was still not fully closed with a deep cut in the skin. I feel uncomfortable and put back the stitch once again Hope it take another week or two to really fully close it.

I'm still anxiously waiting for the pathology report, but that should come out in the next week or two. I wonder if I can get a copy before my appointment with the surgeon on Nov. 18.
I know there will be many routes to take with its findings.

Thank you all for the tip and advice! I can't imagine how many things happened in the last 3 weeks. It really helps me to have someone to talk to and learn your experiences on this path.

Thank you very much, RBlakeward!

Yes, it freaked me out! The nurses and surgeon team are mostly female, and when they check on me, they didn't check my scrotum and I didn't ask.
I should have questioned this before I was discharged, but I think it's my 1.5 hours walk in Costco really made it much worse.

I'm so relieved that this swelling could be treated with ice and rest. It was completely back to normal after 3-4 days.

I am meeting the surgeon again on Day 29 after surgery. Hope it's not too late for the chemo to start. 

Hi Sandia!

Thank you very much for sharing this!

I did some further research. There are quite a few researches from 1990s to this year:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7736883/ (1995) this one suggested "Cimetidine does not seem to reduce mortality in patients with colorectal cancer, but there seems to be a tendency toward a survival benefit in patients undergoing surgery for Dukes Stage C carcinoma. Results seem to justify trials in this patient category to reveal a benefit of H2 receptor antagonists in adjuvant therapy of colorectal carcinoma." So if this is stage III colon cancer, there is a benefit to taking Cimetidine (H2 receptor blockers, or called antagonists).

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10919677/ (2000) "We found that the cimetidine-mediated down-regulation of E-selectin did not involve down-regulation of E-selectin mRNA or blocking of the nuclear translocation of nuclear factor kappaB, a transcriptional activator of E-selectin gene expression. Because two other histamine type 2 receptor antagonists, famotidine and ranitidine, did not show any similar effect, these actions of cimetidine probably do not occur via blocking of the histamine receptor. These observations support the idea that cancer metastasis can be blocked by cimetidine administration through blocking the adhesion of tumor cells to the endothelium when an interaction between E-selectin and sialyl-Lewis antigens plays a role." So it says the cancer metastasis can be blocked with e-selectin interaction.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11870500/ (2002) this one says "Robust beneficial effects of cimetidine were noted: the 10-year survival rate of the cimetidine group was 84.6% whereas that of control group was 49.8% (P<0.0001). We found that cimetidine treatment was particularly effective in patients whose tumour had higher sL(x) and sL(a) antigen levels."

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15573918/ (2004) "We aimed to examine the effects of histamine, cimetidine, and ranitidine on in vitro proliferation and apoptosis in two human colorectal cancer cell lines, Caco-2 and LoVo. Results show that histamine (10(-5) to 10(-9) M) had no effect on the growth of either cell line. The proliferation of Caco-2 was inhibited by ranitidine (10(-7) M) alone and in combination with histamine. Cimetidine (10(-5) M) only suppressed the growth of Caco-2 in the presence of histamine. The H2 antagonists had no effect on LoVo irrespective of histamine. We conclude that cimetidine and ranitidine inhibit Caco-2 cancer cells in vitro, independently of the H2 receptor. In addition, both drugs induce apoptosis in the same cell line. Growth inhibition and apoptosis are likely to contribute to the tumor regressive properties of cimetidine and ranitidine in vivo" So this one finds Cimetidine works for some type of colorectal cancer cell lines with other conditions (e.g. with histamine).

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22895966/ (2012) this concluded: "Analysis of the five cimetidine trials (n = 421) revealed a statistically significant improvement in overall survival (HR 0.53; 95% CI 0.32 to 0.87)."

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34439898/ (2021) "High levels of histamine and histamine receptors (HRs), including H1R~H4R, are found in many different types of tumor cells and cells in the tumor microenvironment, suggesting their involvement in tumor progression." this suggests some new direction with a bigger view, not only H2R blocker like Cimetidine, but other subtypes may be related too. further researches will be needed.

I think it would be something I would bring up with both the family doctor and the GI surgeon/chemo teams.

Hi Kim,

Thanks for the advice! Yes, I have filled the "About Me" in my profile and I have been reading other people's. It's great to see you have been free of cancer for 10 years!

I'll patiently wait for my pathology findings to determine what's next for chemo. The treatment for CRC seems to be very common and regulated. There are very detailed guidelines and protocols to follow, and my case would be just as normal as it can treat. 

So I don't worry about the treatment. It's more of the unknowns (e.g. how bad will I react to chemo cocktails and its pains that sometimes worry me:)

Thank you again for the good wishes and for replying to me! It helps me a lot!

Thanks, Sandia!

I think by Day 10, my incision is still not healed like a scar. It looks like when the skin heals after a cut, with an obvious opening, but no blood or not deep. That worries me a little bit, but I believe it has made good progress.

I do have similar phantom pains as you described on the other side of the incisions. I don't know why the cuts are on the right side, but my left colons (sigmoid and partial descending colons) were removed. I still feel left and middle pains very occasionally where there should be nothing. Probably the wounds there are not fully grown well.

This morning, there was a time when I trying to get up from bed, I felt a sharp pain that was like something torn apart inside in the lower middle belly button, but the pain was gone quickly and I can't figure out anything wrong from the outside look. I ignored it but hope it won't cause any problem.

The nerve definitely was damaged in my case. I can't feel any touch within a few inches around the exit incision. I don't know if it will heal.

Day 1-3 was about 1 mile a day, but after Day 4, I did quite a few walking, around 3500-5000 steps for around 2-4 miles a day walking our dog. I think that's a good start while the weather is still suitable.