Things that new and old but afraid to ask colorectal patients might want to know

This is for the patients and caregivers of colon cancer patients that may have had lower tumors that might have caused slight or complete male potency problems ...

OK, Frank but to the point, since the women of this forum have been bold enough to go beyond (star trekkie jargin) and talk about romance issues then I too will expose a little about myself under same simularities...
Just after surgery I was asked by a member on here about issues with sex. I am very sorry to say that I never tried to use the PM or message part of this forum and missed his question completely . I hope he has found his answers he wanted and my apologies for that missed opportunity.
Before I was taken into surgery my surgeon spoke with me about all the percentages and possibilities of surgery in the area where mine was to be..Low rectal area where they took out the inner spincter muscle, the rectum, and I have an ostomy at the sigmoid.
He talked about the regions that were to be removed and the possibility that the nerve endings that stimulate male reaction were in the general area of removal that there was a 50% chance that I would be left unable to raise the flag anymore....There was another surgeon on his team that told me that if that were to be the outcome then he could take care of that part too.....I never had to ask what that part would be....It seems that the general removal of the tissue surrounding the nerves and the anti depressant that I am currently taking (Florextine) together has made it a slight bit hard (no pun intended) to raise the flag but with the introduction of Viagra it is enough of an aide to keep what was there before alive and well.
My libido has fallen off dramatically, I won't try to be macho and say that it hasn't, so when I went back to the Onc for my 3 month checkup he asked if I needed anymore Viagra, against all of my manly man intrained instinctive answers I told him "no" and that I probably had enough to last me until retirement......OK, not very good when you have a 35 year old wife so I have incorporated into our "new life" that we have date night once a week at least and it has become something I look forward to now as opposed to trying to avoid the situation entirely. Although its a small part of our life it is an important one just the same, and its not being fair if I can and choose not to just because its a little "unmanly" to use Viagra or so I thought.
My wife and life are more important to me now than they have ever been and the "macho" has been squeezed out of me by this feeling of mortality that becomes so apparent when cancer strikes. Hopefully this will allow a few more to find answers that are hard (again no pun intended) for the male going through to ask in a public forum.
If anyone would like to pm me for other answers or just to ask questions on what expect or anything for that matter feel free...I actually can use the PM part now.....

Bless you all.............