Hi Everyone,
My name is Jeanne and I am recovering from colorectal surgery in 2008. I was diagnosed "accidentally" as far as I am concerned and probably could have never known that I had cancer except for one thing...I am usually pretty active and involved both in my school and community and I found that when coming home at night even if early, I was falling asleep.
Now if that sounds strange to you it was to me too, because I teach biology and anatomy and with my usual list of cancer detection freebies, never did it say you would be sleepy. So after many trips to doctors who tested me for Lyme Disease, Mono, Epstein Barr, and even did many blood tests to detect cancer, every test came out negative.
I then contacted a great gastro guy Dr. Beckman in Sussex and boy did things change quickly. He checked me out, scheduled a colonoscopy ASAP and within about two weeks I entered St. Clare's Hospital in Sussex for my test. I was pleasantly surprised by the whole cleansing process because all I had heard was how awful it was. Well let me tell you although it wasn't like drinking a nice big chocolate egg cream or for you youngsters a chocolate milk shake, it wasn't as bad as I had anticipated.
The surgery itself was for approximately 45 minutes and the staff at the hospital was so friendly and kind, working very hard to make me feel comfortable. I was put under by the anesthesiologist and then it seemed like I was waking up. Truth be told I was woken up after only about 15 minutes.
My one nurse Debbie (a mom of one of my students had tears in her eyes) she didn't have to say a word. I knew what she could not say! The doctor returned and told me that 30 nodes had to be removed. I was in Stage 3 colon cancer. What a shock! Physically I was at my best weight, blood pressure, etc. ever. All I thought was how could this have happened to me?
I then met with Drs. Hernando and Abbasi. Dr. H would do the surgical procedures while Dr. A. would be the oncologist that would be doing my chemotherapy. I could not have asked for a better surgeon although to me he was like a "Doogie Howser" He looked all of 18 years old while I was a 54 year old woman. He explained two different procedures to me based on what he might find once I was opened up in surgery. I chose to have a port put into my chest, just above the right breast. I did this because I do not have great veins for blood getting so this was a good choice for me. Some of you might prefer your arm. I do not believe one is any better, just personal choice based on my physical make up and how I wanted to appear. My intentions were that I would look less "cancerous" to students who might have a hard time dealing with my condition. Either way I don't think that ports are fun.
The surgery was approximately 4 hours in length. I had about 15 inches of my colon removed from the appendix up. An additional freebie was the removal of the appendix. It was not affected but Dr. H assured me that taking it out at the same time would be beneficial. We wouldn't have to worry about it later. I was truly lucky in that he was able to do this surgery via laparoscopy. In other words...basically through my belly button which warrants less surgical time, less recovery time, and for me this was great news with my stage of cancer. I had been working myself up into quite a state thinking I would have to have a colostomy bag. I knew this would not fit into my lifestyle and I am so happy that "Doogie" was an expert in this type of surgery. I think I fell in love with him for that brief amount of time.
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