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Awaiting Surgery and need advice about discomfort

Posted , 4 users are following.

zowie45501
zowie45501

Hello. I've had a colonoscopy and a CT scan and I've been diagnosed with bowel cancer. I have a quite big cancerous tumour in my right (upper) large intestine. I've probably had it for several years. I'm 49. It was spotted because a few months ago I saw my GP because I had become gluten inteloerant (I didn't know at the time). So I was lucky there.

Anyway, I saw the surgeon two days ago. she has scheduled me for surgery next week (wednesday) because she wants to ensure I do not suffer an occlusion (a blocking of the intestine by the tumour).

My concern, and my reason for posting, is that I am getting more discomfort as the days go by. I cannot sleep on my right side and my right side is sensitive. My stool are very small, like rabbot poo  (though they have been that way for a couple of months). Sometimes I am short of breath. Sometimes I experience pain, though it is not extreme, but it is increasing.

Basically I'm a bit scared I won't make it to the surgery and/or I'll suffer an occlusion. Thinking rationally, I'm not worried. The surgeon seems very competent. But nevertheless, I'm worried and in increasing discomfort. I think if I hadn't started having checks before now I would have been in serious trouble. Are my gradually changing symptoms normal? I have the pre-op today and I have six days till surgery. I'm counting the days...

 

0 likes, 5 replies

5 Replies

  • shazsilverwolf
    shazsilverwolf zowie45501

    Posted

    If you are going today for your pre-op, make sure you mention all this. If you're scheduled for next week, I can't imagine anything is going to change in that time. She would have been able to see it's size from the CT, and be able to be oretty certain of how long it would take before a blockage occurred.

  • zowie45501
    zowie45501

    Posted

    Thank shazsilverwolf. I think I'm okay and they know what they're doing. I freak out sometimes because I can't speak to my partner about what I'm going through because it would upset her. Again, thank you for your response. This process is quite the emotional roller-coaster. I've never been sick, and today I just went through the pre-op and what to expect. Oh, my. The whole experience is quite unreal.

  • anthony10484
    anthony10484 zowie45501

    Posted

    My cancer was similar, looking at it during the colonoscopy it was almost filling the colon.  I opted to take part in a clinical trial which meant that I had three cycles of chemo before surgery rather than going straight for surgery.  This meant that it was close to 4 months between the colonoscopy and operation, there was also a CT scan in the interim, obviously neither the surgeon nor the oncologist would not have allowed such a time to elapse if they considered that it would be detrimental.

    The operation itself, by the way, was almost a non-event - in the theatre in the morning in a recovery side ward in the afternoon eating a normal meal and discharged 4 days later.

    A side issue from the endoscopy session was the diagnosis that I was suffering from coeliac disease!  This was something that I did not expect beause I was not experiencing any of the usual symptoms.  Getting used to a gluten free life has been quite an experience.

     

    • anthony10484
      anthony10484

      Posted

      It's always the case that typos are not noticed until a message has been posted!  A spurious 'not' has got itself inserted between 'would' and 'have allowed' at the end of the first para.

  • zowie45501
    zowie45501

    Posted

    Thanks anthony. I don't know why the surgeon is opting to go straight for surgery rather than reducing it. It is almost filling the intestine. The CT image was shocking. I could barely look. I'm quite brave in general, but I've become very squeemish about the inside of my body. There is the suspicion of some enlarged lymph nodes, so maybe she's not taking any chances. In any case, I'm not arguing with her! Glad to hear the surgery was a non-event. I had the pre-op today and I found the whole thing shocking. I'm rarely ill and I'm robust, so the experience is totally novel to me. Thanks again for both your reponses. I will try to do the same in future to help those who follow me.

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