Pending Surgery

[Doberman]

New to the site officially, but have been reading here for some time. I am scheduled for surgery end of May. In April 2016 diagnosed with rectal cancer, 3TN1. It is really low. Underwent 6 weeks’ radiation and chemo. Long story short, was considered 100% responder to the treatment. All my MRI’s and CT scan showed I was disease free. Recently, my Doctor wanted to do another sigmoid scope and get a biopsy. Well, that showed latent cancer cells. Went through two different surgical procedures to avoid radical surgery, but were unsuccessful at removing the tumor bed. Seems the radiation created scar tissue of the tumor bed.
Now scheduled for temporary ostomy. My Doctor initially told me that I would have a permeate ostomy. That is one reason I gambled on the cancer cells not returning. After the scopes and such, my Doctor feels he can do a temp ostomy and then a reversal. Did not want a permeant ostomy, now what concerns me is that I will have a bad reversal and have to undergo a third surgery.
Looking for advise in dealing with all of this, not dealing with it well.

[BillV]

In order to have a successful reversal you will need to have a sufficiently strong anal sphincter. It is possible that the treatments you have already had could have affected your sphincter muscles. Your surgeon can perform a manometry exam to determine the strength of your sphincter. He/she can also advise you if there is an adequate cuff that is free of pre-cancerous cells to make the attachment of the rectum or intestine to the sphincter. Your post does not indicate what portions of your intestinal tract remain or what your surgeon plans to remove. If your surgeon feels that a reconnection will produce satisfactory results, I would go for it. Once your anus is gone, the option of eliminating the “normal” way is gone forever.

[aloha66]

Hi. I've been through the ostomy and reversal. First I was petrified too but you need to have positive thoughts. It will be fine. You will be fine. I had a horrible urologist evidently. Kept getting uti's and he kept just giving different antibiotics for almost a year. Finally he recommended I go to a infectious disease dr. Luckily I knew of a wonderful doctor. I've known him for years as he dealt with my mom's infection. Anyway he looked at everything and said something else must be going on and gave me a great urologist's name. Without even meeting him, he scheduled me for a CT or maybe it was an MRI scan that very day. By that night he called. Told me I had a dime sized hole in my colon and there was 5 inches of diseased colon. The first one never thought to send me for a scan????? So that's how I ended up with an ostomy bag. After quite a few months, I had the reversal. It's been a rough go, though not as bad as I am reading other people have had. When you come home just take it really easy and add foods slowly. Pay attention to what your body will and will not tolerate. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! I can't emphasize that enough. It's been an adventure and this was done back in March of this year. I feel I'm still recovering. I get a tendency toward constipation and that's really scary. So hydrating helps with that along with red grapes and a bit of Colace! Low fat, low residue in the beginning. After the surgery, I only had one incident where I wish I had been wearing a pad or depends! Thank God I was home at the time. Do a lot of those keagel exercises. Just really be careful with your diet. 2 weeks ago I ended up being hospitalized with acute pancreatitis. It was the most horrible pain and I'm praying it's not going to become a chronic thing. But the point is my GI doctors were stumped as to why I'd get this since it's mainly caused by alcohol and I drink only on occasion. There was only one thing I read and that it can be caused by abdominal surgeries. The Pancreas is a sensitive and important little organ it seems. I now am trying to limit my fats and cholesterol diligently, drinking more water. I wish you the best of luck. Stop reading stuff on the internet for now and just visualize you recovering perfectly! Aloha