Husband Diagnosed surgery this Thursday

Hi Sam,
As we tell others, Welcome to the site but, of course, we regret having to say that as we would like to see this cancer beast stopped in its tracks. Did they tell you what kind of surgery your husband is going to have? Where in the colon is it? With my last surgery, which was a complete removal of the rectum and having a colostomy I really only noticed alot of pain when they were wheeling me from the operating room. After that the pain was pretty well controlled. They gave me IV fentenyl and I could give myself a "bump" when I needed it.

We will pray for a good result for your husband with no spread.

****

Sam725 said:

Hi ****,
Thanks for the quick reply. The tumor he has is about 70 cm in and on the left side. The surgeon said he will try to do it laprascopy but my husband has a belly on him so he said he may have to do it the other way. I think the thing about the surgery that gets him is being put out and not having control over the situation ( I would feel the same way!) and it doesn't help that he has an anxiety disorder. Thanks for the prayers, we are taking all we can get! Sam

I had the same anxiety regarding being put out and depending upon someone else to breathe for me and keep me alive. It went well but I couldn't sleep the first nite, I think I was afraid I might stop breathing. They kept an oxygen moniter on me though and that helped as I felt it would sound an alarm if I was not breathing.
****

jsabol said:

Hi Sam,
Welcome to you and your hubby, but also sorry that you need to be here; your post is deja vu for me...I was diagnosed on my baseline colonscopy in Nov 03 with 1 cancerous polyp; surgery in Dec, with removal of a piece of colon. They did not do laporascopic surgery, and all went well. After 1 positive node and 6 months of chemo, I have No Evidence of Disease. My 3 year followup colonscopy is this week!
I would recommend that you both be sure to discuss hubby's anxiety with the pre-op anesthesia visit. His fear is not unusual, and some extra anti-anxiety meds the day and night before his surgery may help.
If your husband has not had surgery before, please reassure him that the pre-op meds also greatly reduce your anxiety, so he can experience much relief just prior to general anesthesia. (I actually look forward to the pre-ops because I know I'll feel a whole lot better with them in my blood!) I had an epidural in addition to general anesthesia, and woke to NO pain; it was left in for over a day, and was great. Be sure to encourage him to let the nurses know if he has any post op discomfort. He will need to be comfortable enough to get up and walk the next day, as walking gets the pipes working again.
Getting this diagnosis starts you on a horrible roller coaster ride, but you will both get through this, step by step. After surgery, your docs will discuss with you what options will be best for your husband, depending on the extent of the cancer in his colon tissue and whether there is any lymph node involvement.
Stay strong and focused; he's lucky to have your support. Keep us posted and best of luck with surgery on Thursday. Judy

I'm pretty sure - if memory serves me, that Judyis a nurse. This should give you some solice in that a professional is telling you like it is..
You both should be reassured that the tumor was caught early enough to remove it entirely-prognosis in this type of surgery is excellent. Tell Hubby to ask for anxiety meds in advance.
Tell him also that there is a lot of experience on this site..welcome to the most knowledgable cancer forum in existence.. Bud

Hi and a warm welcome to this site. As you are discovering, it is a wonderful source of both information and support. I am so sorry to learn about your husband's diagnosis. We rejoice with you that the CT scan and xray are otherwise all clear. It is normal to be anxious before surgery. I agree with others that there is no harm in letting the doctors/nurses know -- there are ways to reduce anxiety. I always request a mild tranquilizer or sleeping pill the night before surgery. I like to go into surgery well-rested. I will share with you the advice I always give when someone is facing surgery: (a) make sure you get adequate pain relief afterwards. Don't be a hero about pain. Good pain relief can aid recovery (b) get up and walking as soon as possible, then walk as much as possible. Also, you may want to consider jotting down any questions or concerns you have, so you can raise them with the doctors/nurses later. Sometimes it is hard to think of questions at the time, but they come to you later! Sending you both all our best wishes. We'll be thinking of you on Thursday. Please feel free to "visit" here anytime.
Tara

Hi Sam, again welcome. Like you, I'm the caregiver and our situation sounds similar in many ways. My husband was dx'd with baseline colonoscopy in Aug 06 and had the lap surgery done for left side sigmoid cancer. He had a morphine pump for a few days after surgery and he did quite well...it helped the anxiety as well as the pain but he was never "knocked out, as you are given a button to push for more medication to go into the system as you need it, however, it will lock-up once you've reached your maximum dose. Hubby did well with recovery and before we left the hospital (3 day stay), they told how many of the lymph node were affected and the stage of cancer. Obviously we're fairly new to this group as well but EXTREMELY blessed to be here. Let us know how things are going and don't forget...you're not alone. I'll be looking for you! Hugs and prayers!

Sam -

I am so sorry you have to be here.

It is difficult to not be anxious prior to major surgery, but the more knowledge you and your husand can gain, the better you off you are.

Scary as this is, realize you have much good news. A negative CT scan means there is little likelihood of metastatic Stage IV disease. Doesn't mean you have nothing to worry about, but does mean that the worst of your worries may be relatively speaking not worth worrying about.

You also need to take this disease one step at a time - and the first step is surgery. (For some chemo drugs you have to wait a few weeks post surgery, so if that is the case with your husband, realize it is normal and try to help him with his recuperation before worrrying about the next phase. SO, try to focus on that for this week. If your husband is especially anxious - I understand that completely - you might talk to the surgeon about a standard order for an anti-anxiety drug every night while he is in the hospital - e.g. IV Ativan or something similar. When I had my surgery (June 2005) I was hideously anxious late at night and had to beg for something. I was having panic attacks - brick on my chest feeling - knew it was just panic, but every nite it took a couple of hideous hours before a resident would visit and immediately say that I wasn't having a heart attack (which I knew deep in my heart)and then finally give me the meds which enabled me to sleep a few hours. If I EVER have surgery again, I am going to get anxiety meds arranged up front!

Anticipation is the worst part of the surgery. I had mine early on a Tuesday AM, ate my first solid food meal on Saturday AM and went home that afternoon. If I had not gone home that day, I think I might have died from lack of sleep. So, once home, I slept for several hours, took a shower, ate a little and went back to bed. The recovery started the next day, bt 4 weeks later I was back at work BIG TIME. (It did take until mid September for my appetite to recover - not everyone has that effect, but for me, the biggest surgery effect was appetite suppression).

Take care (will be thinking of your husband Thursday)

Betsy

spongebob said:

Sam -First let me say that I think it is wonderful how you are being so supportive of your husband. You will play a very important role in his recovery and long-term treatment. On note of caution, though, be sure to take care of yourself, too, as you walk this road with him for the next several months.

My suggestion is to have your husband log on here and just talk to all of us who have been down the road he's going to walk on Thursday. Having you tell him second-hand what we all say to you is good, but hearing it first-hand and having an opportunity to ask the "dumb" questions (there is NO such thing by the way) that he doesn't want to ask his doctors. Chances are pretty good that more than one of us wanted to know the same thing.

I don't know if you or your husband are particularly spiritual (note I didn't specify "religious"), but I am a military officer(can you say "epitome of control freak'?) and when I was diagnosed, I just let go - i passed the burden along to a higher entity and comforted myself with the knowledge that everything happens accordingto a Plan. i can invest a lot of sweat, effort, and stomach acid on trying to manage and control the events associated with this Plan, or I can just relax and enjoy (or at least accept) my e-ticket ride!

I hope this is helpful.

Welcome to the SemiColons.

- SpongeBob

Sponge: Your reference to "E-Ticket" gives away your age..I believe Disneyland discontinued the "E Ride" about 30 years ago.. bud