Colon Resection

The surgery took several hours, an emergency delayed it a while, two patients did not come thru theirs, it was such a long and frightening day; and then

the doctors fully explained to me what they had found. A malignant cancerous tumor, the size of a very large grapefruit, had grown from the "outside" of the colon, went through and completely blocked the Upper Transverse Colon. It had to be "peeled" away from the stomach, although there appeared to be no signs of mets there.

The tumor was peeled away from the underlying skin of his body, where a plastic surgeon was consulted about the closure of the incision. He advised closing with a mesh material, with the skin over it, but since so much tissue was lost under the skin, the risk of hernia was very high & should be watched.

The surgeon also told us that he examined every inch of the colon & had found, removed a few other little "spots" on the outside of it. He advised removing three feet of colon to get clear margins but could not guarantee there were no microscopic cancer cells still there. This was a very advanced, agressive colon cancer "dukes d" stage 4, because it had spread from it's primary site and it would be back. Lymph nodes were involved.

Something else they explained was that the microscopic cells cannot be all found and removed; sometimes the tumor returns in its previous location due to this.

He spent the night in ICU and the nurses let me sleep in his old bed since the room was not needed during the night.

Charlie's "after surgery" care was a lot of work! He had an epidural for the first 3 days to access a morphine pump for pain relief. He had tubes everywhere and was allowed nothing to eat nor drink for one week.

His nurses were wonderful, and took very good care of him. There was a very long incision down his big "beer belly" which was left open on top <yikes> for drainage purposes and to create a stronger healing process. It was held together with retention sutures that just looked like plastic tubes across the incision. It was cleaned twice a day and when we got home, the nurse came to the house to do this. He wore a big wide binder around his waist for support and protection.


	Colon Cancer Diary \| home Colon Cancer Diary \| About Us \| More To Come \| Coping with Today \| Colon Resection \| Chemotherapy & Radiation Treatment Colon Resection The surgery took several hours, an emergency delayed it a while, two patients did not come thru theirs, it was such a long and frightening day; and then the doctors fully explained to me what they had found. A malignant cancerous tumor, the size of a very large grapefruit, had grown from the "outside" of the colon, went through and completely blocked the Upper Transverse Colon. It had to be "peeled" away from the stomach, although there appeared to be no signs of mets there. The tumor was peeled away from the underlying skin of his body, where a plastic surgeon was consulted about the closure of the incision. He advised closing with a mesh material, with the skin over it, but since so much tissue was lost under the skin, the risk of hernia was very high & should be watched. The surgeon also told us that he examined every inch of the colon & had found, removed a few other little "spots" on the outside of it. He advised removing three feet of colon to get clear margins but could not guarantee there were no microscopic cancer cells still there. This was a very advanced, agressive colon cancer "dukes d" stage 4, because it had spread from it's primary site and it would be back. Lymph nodes were involved. Something else they explained was that the microscopic cells cannot be all found and removed; sometimes the tumor returns in its previous location due to this. He spent the night in ICU and the nurses let me sleep in his old bed since the room was not needed during the night. Charlie's "after surgery" care was a lot of work! He had an epidural for the first 3 days to access a morphine pump for pain relief. He had tubes everywhere and was allowed nothing to eat nor drink for one week. His nurses were wonderful, and took very good care of him. There was a very long incision down his big "beer belly" which was left open on top <yikes> for drainage purposes and to create a stronger healing process. It was held together with retention sutures that just looked like plastic tubes across the incision. It was cleaned twice a day and when we got home, the nurse came to the house to do this. He wore a big wide binder around his waist for support and protection. It took about three months to completely heal !