Recovery from Lower Anterior Resection?
I’m scheduled for a lower anterior resection for my stage 3 rectal cancer. I’ve had 6 rounds of FolFurinox and six weeks of 5fu and radiation. I’m 46 and still working full time. I would like to hear from anyone who has had the LAR and what the surgery recovery is like? When were you able to return to work? Any helpful advice for quick recovery? I’m trying my best to balance cancer and career and family…. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks in advance.
Comments
-
I had Sigmoid Colon Resection in July 2024, taking 6” out (Robotic “knitting needle” instruments, very non-invasive). This was my first approach, with FOLFOXIRI Chemo to follow. I was in Hospital just 4 days, walking fine on the night of surgery, very little pain, refused all pain meds. Hospital stay goal was to tolerate solid food. Surprisingly easy.
1 -
I see this post is from August. I had stage 3 rectal cancer 7.5cm from the anal verge. Lost my sigmoid and all but about 2 inches of my rectum. Surgery was Aug 23' and bag reversal Feb 24'. I had really loose stools for about the first 3 weeks. Things are going way better than expected. My new normal is very manageable with stools being formed and solid. I do take lomotil and loperamide. Loperamide is rare , but the lomotil is about a half hour before meals. I pretty much eat what I want and have good bowel control. Things definitely improve as time goes on. My best advice is test/introduce foods such as salads, mexican etc. and give your body/bowels time to adjust. I do get occasional tenesmus which has lessened with time. You'll learn new signs when its time to go compared to just being gas. My quality of life is very good and i can work, go out, do normal pre-op things without worry. Exercise is very therapeutic as well.
0
Discussion Boards
- All Discussion Boards
- 6 CSN Information
- 6 Welcome to CSN
- 121.8K Cancer specific
- 2.8K Anal Cancer
- 446 Bladder Cancer
- 309 Bone Cancers
- 1.6K Brain Cancer
- 28.5K Breast Cancer
- 396 Childhood Cancers
- 27.9K Colorectal Cancer
- 4.6K Esophageal Cancer
- 1.2K Gynecological Cancers (other than ovarian and uterine)
- 13K Head and Neck Cancer
- 6.3K Kidney Cancer
- 671 Leukemia
- 792 Liver Cancer
- 4.1K Lung Cancer
- 5.1K Lymphoma (Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin)
- 237 Multiple Myeloma
- 7.1K Ovarian Cancer
- 61 Pancreatic Cancer
- 487 Peritoneal Cancer
- 5.5K Prostate Cancer
- 1.2K Rare and Other Cancers
- 538 Sarcoma
- 730 Skin Cancer
- 653 Stomach Cancer
- 191 Testicular Cancer
- 1.5K Thyroid Cancer
- 5.8K Uterine/Endometrial Cancer
- 6.3K Lifestyle Discussion Boards