people having or just had surgery

lisa42
lisa42 Member Posts: 3,625 Member
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Hi- I just posted to "limliess" hoping to see her post soon following her liver resection at MD Anderson and then realized there are sooo many of you who have either just had surgery, are having it this week, or are having it within the next couple of weeks.
There have been so many of you lately who have posted about having surgery (lots of liver resections- limliess, Mike, nana B., and I know others- but I've temporarily forgotten who else is having a liver resection. One recent lung surgery I think- Chip, I believe and one ileostomy reversal coming up in a couple of weeks- Krista). My chemo brain is having a hard time keeping it straight who's having what! I'd really like to pray for everyone and I definitely think of all of you. I'm wondering if we could get you to post here and have everyone on one thread who's experiencing surgery soon or just experienced surgery, so I can see everyone's names in this category.

Best wishes to you all!
Lisa

Comments

  • Annabelle41415
    Annabelle41415 Member Posts: 6,742 Member
    #2
    Just had surgery
    I just had surgery to remove my rectal cancer and they gave me a temporary ileostomy. My surgery came out better than expected so I am very fortunate. When I was first diagnosed, I was told that I needed a permanent colostomy. After radiation and chemo the tumor shrunk from 25 mm to 3 mm so the doctor was very pleased with the outcome that the radiation/chemo did. That had a lot to do with me getting a temporary too. He said it would be only 2 to 3 months but I think they will wait until chemo is done to reverse the ileostomy.

    I'm still recovering but seem to be getting better every day.

    The surgery was just one more hurdle I overcame.

    Good luck to all that are going to have surgery soon.

    Kim
  • lisa42
    lisa42 Member Posts: 3,625 Member
    #3
    Annabelle41415 said:

    Just had surgery
    I just had surgery to remove my rectal cancer and they gave me a temporary ileostomy. My surgery came out better than expected so I am very fortunate. When I was first diagnosed, I was told that I needed a permanent colostomy. After radiation and chemo the tumor shrunk from 25 mm to 3 mm so the doctor was very pleased with the outcome that the radiation/chemo did. That had a lot to do with me getting a temporary too. He said it would be only 2 to 3 months but I think they will wait until chemo is done to reverse the ileostomy.

    I'm still recovering but seem to be getting better every day.

    The surgery was just one more hurdle I overcame.

    Good luck to all that are going to have surgery soon.

    Kim

    glad to hear from you
    Hi Kim,

    My apologies for not including your name on my thread (I guess that's why I posted it- what I can remember well one minute flys out of my brain the next). Actually, I did see a post with your picture yesterday as I was reading older posts & I have prayed for you and have been wondering how you're doing lately. I'm so glad to hear you're recovering well. That was so awesome that you had such a great response to the chemorads, which helped you avoid the permanent colostomy.

    Keep pressing on!

    Blessings,
    Lisa
  • Annabelle41415
    Annabelle41415 Member Posts: 6,742 Member
    #4
    lisa42 said:

    glad to hear from you
    Hi Kim,

    My apologies for not including your name on my thread (I guess that's why I posted it- what I can remember well one minute flys out of my brain the next). Actually, I did see a post with your picture yesterday as I was reading older posts & I have prayed for you and have been wondering how you're doing lately. I'm so glad to hear you're recovering well. That was so awesome that you had such a great response to the chemorads, which helped you avoid the permanent colostomy.

    Keep pressing on!

    Blessings,
    Lisa

    Thank you Lisa
    Thank you for your prayers and thoughts. I know it can be overwhelming to hear and remember everyone's situation and procedures and you are great to start a thread like this. It might be able to help people that are coming due with surgery with ones that just went through it like me.

    I hope that you are doing well.

    Thanks for starting this interesting thread.

    Kim
  • VickiCO
    VickiCO Member Posts: 917
    #5
    Annabelle41415 said:

    Just had surgery
    I just had surgery to remove my rectal cancer and they gave me a temporary ileostomy. My surgery came out better than expected so I am very fortunate. When I was first diagnosed, I was told that I needed a permanent colostomy. After radiation and chemo the tumor shrunk from 25 mm to 3 mm so the doctor was very pleased with the outcome that the radiation/chemo did. That had a lot to do with me getting a temporary too. He said it would be only 2 to 3 months but I think they will wait until chemo is done to reverse the ileostomy.

    I'm still recovering but seem to be getting better every day.

    The surgery was just one more hurdle I overcame.

    Good luck to all that are going to have surgery soon.

    Kim

    Good for you, Kim!
    I, too, had a great result from chemo/radiation - my tumor was gone by the by time of surgery! I was expecting an ostomy that never happened.

    Keep walking - it really helps the recovery.

    Prayers to all who are having procedures.

    Vicki
  • kristasplace
    kristasplace Member Posts: 957 Member
    #6
    Thanks, Lisa
    Hi everyone! Yes, i agree...it was a very good idea for Lisa to do this for so many of us are facing, or have faced recently a surgery. Kim, it sounds like you just went through exactly what i went through a year earlier. I still have my ileostomy that was supposed to be termporary, and i wish now that i had argued more with my oncologist about not waiting to have it reversed. Most of my life has been put on hold because of the ileostomy. I don't know how active you are, or are planning to be, but it is my personal advise to have the surgery as soon as you can. My onc didn't want to postpone the chemo, and i never understood why because this cancer spreads so slowly anyway.

    Those are my two cents. Normally i would never go that much against what the docs recommend, but with this issue, i sure do!

    I will post on this thread again after my surgery. Much luck to everyone who's going under the knife, and a quick recovery for those who already did.

    Krista
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    #7
    This comment has been removed by the Moderator
  • lisa42
    lisa42 Member Posts: 3,625 Member
    #8
    Kim, Vicki, Krista, and Nana
    Thanks to you for posting. Kim- I'm sure you'll continue to recover well. Krista and Nana- I believe your upcoming surgeries will go well. Vicki- we share something in that we both had the experience of our rectal tumors going away during chemo/radiation. My radiation oncologist acted like it was unheard of, but I've learned that it isn't uncommon at all!

    Take care Ladies-

    Blessings,
    Lisa
  • impactzone
    impactzone Member Posts: 555 Member
    #9
    2nd lung resection here
    I'm recovering well after a 3/30 lung resection and am back at work. It really is amazing if you take it the next step at a time. If someone told me I was going to have colon, liver 2 lung surgeries and chemo..I would have just given up. But you take it one day at a time and it seems like people are stronger than they are given credit for. Congrats to ALL surgery survivors!
    Chip
  • lisa42
    lisa42 Member Posts: 3,625 Member
    #10
    you're a hero
    Chip,

    Wow- I've just had the one liver surgery but, who knows, I may still have more surgeries in my future. You're right in that it just has to be taken one day at a time, or at least one incident or surgery at a time. That's amazing to me to think you're back at work just two weeks after the lung surgery. I've had people ask me, "how do you do it?", and the answer is, of course, that we just do what we have to do- what would be the other option?! We're fighters! Thanks for posting-

    Blessings to you,
    Lisa
  • serrana
    serrana Member Posts: 163 Member
    #11
    Annabelle41415 said:

    Just had surgery
    I just had surgery to remove my rectal cancer and they gave me a temporary ileostomy. My surgery came out better than expected so I am very fortunate. When I was first diagnosed, I was told that I needed a permanent colostomy. After radiation and chemo the tumor shrunk from 25 mm to 3 mm so the doctor was very pleased with the outcome that the radiation/chemo did. That had a lot to do with me getting a temporary too. He said it would be only 2 to 3 months but I think they will wait until chemo is done to reverse the ileostomy.

    I'm still recovering but seem to be getting better every day.

    The surgery was just one more hurdle I overcame.

    Good luck to all that are going to have surgery soon.

    Kim

    just had surgery
    I had a complete response to presurgical chemorad in 2007,no tumor cells found in surgery whopeee, a j-pouch surgery w/ prevented a colostomy and had the temporary illeostomy reversed before they started post surgical chemo for 4 months.Some docs wait until after the chemo to reverse it.
    Be sure they test you for KRAS and the other two genetic markers so they will know what chemo to put you on.
    Best prayers for speedy recovery from all.
    Serrana
  • VickiCO
    VickiCO Member Posts: 917
    #12
    lisa42 said:

    Kim, Vicki, Krista, and Nana
    Thanks to you for posting. Kim- I'm sure you'll continue to recover well. Krista and Nana- I believe your upcoming surgeries will go well. Vicki- we share something in that we both had the experience of our rectal tumors going away during chemo/radiation. My radiation oncologist acted like it was unheard of, but I've learned that it isn't uncommon at all!

    Take care Ladies-

    Blessings,
    Lisa

    Lisa
    My oncologist said about 15% of his patients have complete response. I thought that was a high number, and was glad to be in that group. The radiation techs all cried when we told them after surgery. Their take on it was that it wasn't so common. I guess it depends on the type of cancer, and the location. I am finding more rectal cancer patients respond than other types. I am so glad that it enabled me to avoid an ostomy -- not that it would have been horrible, just one less procedure and change to my life.

    Vicki
  • Annabelle41415
    Annabelle41415 Member Posts: 6,742 Member
    #13
    unknown said:

    This comment has been removed by the Moderator

    Good Luck NanaB
    My thoughts and prayers are with you for your upcoming surgery tomorrow. Please let us know when you are home and feeling better.

    Kim
  • lisa42
    lisa42 Member Posts: 3,625 Member
    #14
    VickiCO said:

    Lisa
    My oncologist said about 15% of his patients have complete response. I thought that was a high number, and was glad to be in that group. The radiation techs all cried when we told them after surgery. Their take on it was that it wasn't so common. I guess it depends on the type of cancer, and the location. I am finding more rectal cancer patients respond than other types. I am so glad that it enabled me to avoid an ostomy -- not that it would have been horrible, just one less procedure and change to my life.

    Vicki

    Vicki
    Vicki,

    That's weird that you were told by your onc that about 15% of the patients have a complete response to the radiation. I wasn't told that by my onc, but that's what I read online from more than one source. The radiation techs and radiation oncologist were definitely pleased, but amazed to hear my news afterwards, which makes me also think that they must not see it happen very often.
  • dorookie
    dorookie Member Posts: 1,731 Member
    #15
    unknown said:

    This comment has been removed by the Moderator

    Good Luck
    You will be in my prayers for a wonderful surgeon and a speedy recovery. Stay strong and let us know how you are doing!

    God Bless
    Beth

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