Many questions, just don't know what they are?...

Fmsb11
For starters. don't feel your mom is too old for aggressive treatment. I was 77 when dxed. Am now NED (no evidence of disease). You don't supply quite enough information,But after the polyps are removed why does she need colon surgery if no tumor exists. You are at the right place. Hope many others will jump in with better questions for you than me. Good Luck

Welcome
Yes you are in the right place to ask any question about colon or rectal cancer. Unfortunately we have many here who have years and years of experience with fighting one or the other, but each is glad to share what they have experienced and what they know.

If I understand you correctly there are two issues. First there are some polyps in the lower portion of the colon ( sigmoid colon perhaps ) and one has shown to be cancerous. These are the ones they want to remove first. Second, the colon itself has many polyps and may be the primary site, and they want to remove it, while leaving the sigmoind colon intact, perhaps so that she will not have to have a colostomy. Is any or all of this correct?

Also you mention it being 'a hereditary thing'. Was this determined by taking a family medical history or by test results? Either way, use this as a reason for you and other siblings to have a colonoscopy to make sure of your own health.

As for questions to ask...there are probably lots of them but you can start with:
Why is it necessary to do two procedures and how long will it be between procedures?
Will she or won't she require a colostomy?
Is the doctor very experienced in this type of surgery?
How is your mother's overall health? Are there any other issues to be considered?
Will there be any treatments before or after surgery ( chemo and/or radiation )?
What type of cancer does she have (there are a number of different types which attack the colon)?
Have they done a CT scan or PET scan to determine if the cancer has spread to other organs?

Once you have these answers let us know the results and we can help with more specifics as to what to expect and possibly more questions to ask.

Also let us know what part of the country or world she is in, as we have folks here from around the world and treatments vary depending on where she is. Also let us know if she is in a local hospital or a major hopsital or an NCI certified hospital as the experience level can vary among them.

As Danker mentioned, age is not an issue unto itself. Her overall health is more important.

Wishing your mother success with the surgeries and any treatments.

Please come back here and let us know what you find out and how she is doing.

Marie who loves kitties

Fmsb11 said:

Thanks for the support and guidance
I appreciate all of the support, I will give up dates as I get them. The doctors removed some of the polyps yesterday and my mom came home yesterday. You are correct they are leaving part of her colon so she won't need a bag. From what I understand. They won't know if the cancer has spread until they do the colostomy, I guess it's a partial. She will be scheduled for that this week. Thanks for the guidance on the questions.
The hereditary part was determined practically by family history, I will have to check on if the did a test for her. I know the doc said he was going to check into some of that.
Your comments will be helpful the next time I see her doctor I will have some questions in mind to ask.
Thanks!

I also have a family history
I also have a family history of colon cancer- but further testing showed no genetic connection. My family history is on my father's side and this issue with polyps seems to be the clincher- in some family memebers, like one of my sisters, polyps removed showing no signs of cancer, in others some removed showing this pre cancer stage. So, it is like the polyps developing tends to be genetic? maybe? Yes, it would be a good idea, great idea, for further testing on your mom's polyps to rule out the genetic link. My undeerstanding from my colorectal surgeon is the testing does determine the direction that surgery will take. She was anxious to get my results back before surgery as with the genetic colon cancer (humm, sorry, thinking this is Lynch syndrome?) she would take the entire colon, otherwise just a resection. She got the results on a Friday, which were negative and did the resecttion on Saturday!

Some questions I have, when was your mother's last colonoscopy? How many years for all of these polyps to develop? If she has never had one- then at age 74, she could have been growing all of them for years. If she just had a colonoscopy a year ago and was clear- I think I would be a bit more concerned.

The staging of my cancer was gradual- and nerve racking. I had ct scans and all kinds of testing before surgery- one surgeon I saw said more than likely the size of the tumor and that it WAS cancer, would indicate NOT a stage 1 or 2. The surgeon at Mayo who operated on me, refused to even speculate, told me that was not something she would do. After surgery- she was saying stage 3, the oncologist at Mayo said 3B and my oncologist up in Mpls after the PET said definitely no spread, stage 3B.

Your mom, you, family, friends have just been dropped on the opening door of cancer, the beginning stages of anxiety, shock, un realness. What I did for myself that helped a lot- I would ask myself, what have I done today to answer my questions, is there anything else I can do? am I set for what I need to do tomorrow. And then let the rest go. My questions led me to a second opinion at Mayo in Rochester- I went through 3 days of tests, starting on Monday. Met the surgeon on Wednesday, set for surgery the following Monday. She called me in Mpls (where I live) on Friday to give me the thumbs up for Monday surgery. Then my bowel promptly blocked that night, I was rushed to Mayo in the middle of the night and met by the surgeon and her team. I went in scared out of my mind, but truly knowing I had asked everything and done everything and I so trusted this wonderful surgeon, that I knew no matter what, I had done everything. And let Dr Chua and God take care of the rest. And they did. This asking of questions, getting answers, being so comfortable in your own skin with the results- knowing everything has been done, that you have done everything- it is a critical part of getting through this mess in front of you.

hugs and all the best

Fmsb11 said:

Surgery This week to remove colong
So it has been a quick two weeks since my mom was diagnosed with the cancer in her colon. They believe by her symptoms that it is limited to her colon. I guess the Dr. said that the next spot it goes to is the liver, which her's seems fine. However, I guess they wont know for sure until they take her colon out. So hopefully that is the case. I don't know what the name of the procedure is but they removed some of the polyps and are planning on removing the colon and connecting everything back up to the section they removed the polyps from. If it doesn't leak then she wont need a bag (???).
Also, just want to say that I have learned a lot from just reading the other discussions...so thanks all for all your contributions.

Can't stress the remarkable
You are in the right place as you now know. I am a recent poster and can tell you that the help here is phenomenal. Holding good thoughts for you and your mother.