Imminent APR surgery

Hi Cows and sheep 

Sorry you have had this news. I had rectal cancer diagnosed last May. I had 5 weeks Chemo tablets alongside radiotherapy. Three months wait to see if the tumour had shrunk, which it had by 1/3rd. Lower anterior resection early November. I was out if hospital in 5 days. I was reasonably fit beforehand, so don’t know if the rest was down to luck, but able to get my own lunch and make cups of tea the next day! Managed short dog walks with my husband 5 days after hospital discharge. I had an ileostomy for just under 4 months. I gave my stoma a name which I used to talk to! I’d scold her if she was playing up and praise her when she wasn’t. The nurses make sure you can cope before you are discharged, and are at the end of the phone after that. You can go and see them if you have a problem, which I did. Had 3 leaks in 6 days! Turned out I needed a different type of bag which the stoma nurse sorted out. The weirdest thing I found was the fact that the stoma doesn’t hurt. I found that the nurses answered more questions than I could think of! There are leaflets to help too. My advice would be to ask as many daft questions as you can think of. They won’t seem daft to a stoma nurse. Good luck with your surgery and recovery. I’ll keep an eye out for any updates you post. Sorry about the long post.