High-risk surgery experiences

BigTuna
BigTuna Member Posts: 1
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Hey folks. I have a sister having surgery to remove a colon tumor within the next week or so. My sister has several factors increasing the risk of the surgery (COPD and blood thinners). I'm curious as to whether anyone else on this board, or their family members, had similar risk factors for their surgery and how these factors affected the recovery time after surgery and the types of techniques used by the surgeons to excise the tumor. Any thoughts you could give would be appreciated. Thanks.

Tuna

Comments

  • AnneCan
    AnneCan Member Posts: 3,673 Member
    #2
    Hi Tuna,
    I don't have
    Hi Tuna,

    I don't have experience with this, but I wanted to say "welcome" to the board. I know at least one member talks about COPD so hopefully he will see this + comment.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    #3
    AnneCan said:

    Hi Tuna,
    I don't have
    Hi Tuna,

    I don't have experience with this, but I wanted to say "welcome" to the board. I know at least one member talks about COPD so hopefully he will see this + comment.

    This comment has been removed by the Moderator
  • coloCan
    coloCan Member Posts: 1,944 Member
    #4
    unknown said:

    This comment has been removed by the Moderator

    Have COPD too and lung doctor made cancer team aware (as did I)
    do not think it had any influence on treatment ie:oxi/Xeloda/radiation prior to colostomy with post op FOLFOX til oxi did me in and it was deleted from mixture( COPD is a factor in the checklist surgeons may use in determining risk of operation.)

    Part of my preop prep was lung Xray; don't know if thats SOP (standard operating procedure)or because of COPD (my regular doc is my lung doctor)

    Pneumonia is one possible worry as are infections. In hosp after surgery they should give you a device for you to blow into several/many time-depends on how you feel,how recovery is going- throughout the day to keep lungs going and prevent pneumonia,etc.(Tho it sounds unreasonable, doctors will generally want you up and walking ASAP to aid in recovery)

    I was able to use my Advair both before and after op and oxygen was administered when I awoke (SOP) from colostomy and was given whenever I asked (of course) tho as lungs got stronger (at first had difficulty getting the Airlife device to register beyond 500ml --goes up to4000ml on device I was given but with time, lung strength improved.)didn't need it.

    Do not think chemo affected breathing much, if at all, except when I had my episodes of shaking/sweating/freezing/broiling attacks from the oxi and couldn't catch my breath....that was scary but lasted an hour each time, which felt like an eternity when going thru it. Don't know how bad your lungs are; make sure all your doctors are aware. I didn't/don't take blood thinners but was told to stop all my vitamins,minerals,supplements,etc except a multivitamin when treatment began and thats still continuing.

    If I can think of anything else, I'll let you know. Hoping your sister has excellent results with her treatment and remember she can and will survive this......steve

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