Ontopic So this doesn't suck as bad now...

My wife will be in the hospital for about a week, then recovering at home for 4-6 weeks, so we kind of have to tell him something. I don't think you can really explain cancer to a five year old. So he'll just know that mommy is sick but the doctors are making her better.

I'd also be interested in seeing how quickly this would all happen in the US, between the colonoscopy, CT scan and surgery.

thanks for the good words guys.

1. Honey, I am so so sorry :heart: I wish I could do something or say something that would make it all better. But my advice is, knowledge is power. Hopefully, as it sounds, the doctors caught this soon enough. Colon cancer is one of the slowest growing and least aggressive cancers, so if this was caught stage 1/2, prognosis is going to be like back to normal within 6 months. Your wife's a trooper, hell she married you, so I know that she'll remain positive no matter what. And that is so important especially in the early stages of the battle.

2. Being one of the resident experts on colon cancer because of my mom, here's how it worked here in the US with her Dx and Rx:

August '07: Diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer
2 weeks later: After we determined the best course of action for her treatment, she had a powerport installed in her chest for easy chemo access
3 weeks later: Every other week chemotherapy with Fulfox 5 (now they're on Fulfox 6, same idea but more refined platinum salt treatment) to shrink the primary tumor for ablation.
January '08: Surgery to remove 1/3 of her colon and the primary tumor. Hospital stay was 5 days (including day of surgery). Recovery without physical therapy or more chemo was 6 weeks. She started another volley of chemo after that and finished her Rx in May '08.

Obviously Mom was a different case altogether, because 1. she IGNORED symptoms for about a year, until she was pretty much bleeding out of her outhole every time she went to the bathroom, plus a lot of abdomen pain, and 2. the doctors had to treat her cancer differently. Chemo first, then surgery. That's the rub with tumors- angiogenesis, the process of forming new blood vessels to supply the tumor with blood and nutrients so it can keep growing, is much more of a factor. They had to stop the angiogenesis first so the tumor wouldn't grow any more, try to shrink the tumor, and then remove it. Another problem that arises with primary tumor removal is that it removes competition for any satellite tumors in stage IV, giving them ample room and nutrients to grow. But that's IV, not I or II. Prognosis exponentially increases with I and II.

:heart:
 
I have to get a colonoscopy in a few weeks as a follow up to my recent problem. I hope the doc at least roofies me before the date rape commences.
 
I have to get a colonoscopy in a few weeks as a follow up to my recent problem. I hope the doc at least roofies me before the date rape commences.

ya, my wife was only scheduled for a flex sigmoidoscopy (which stops after the ascending colon), and ended up with a full colonoscopy. Rather unpleasant. Amusing farting afterwards though.
 
What kind of symptoms has she been having? I like to try to match symptoms I've had with what other people have had and then convince myself I'm dying.
 
I have to get a colonoscopy in a few weeks as a follow up to my recent problem. I hope the doc at least roofies me before the date rape commences.
Judging by living with someone who had probably 20ish colonoscopys, the actual procedure isnt the worst part. It's the 2 gallons of tasteless electrolytes you have to drink the day before.
 
I am so sorry to hear this! And with all of those phallic inspections you were doing you would have thought you would have found something ahead of time :(

Give your drop dead gorgeous wife a hug for me and I hope she comes through with flying colors!
 
Dark blood or bright blood?


dark-ish. Her polyp is about 30 cm in, so it's fairly low (considering your colon is about 6 feet or so). If it's further in, the blood is more coagulated.


regardless, if there's blood in your poop, you got issues.
 
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hark, what air bubbles do I see on yonder window break?

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