Rectal cancer lower stage 3

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Been to see my surgeon today he wants to do open surgery its a LAR just want to no wot experience others have had I would prefer keyhole stage 3 had capecitabine and radiotherapy the tumor has downsize hopefully thay will beable to re connect thanks helen x

  • Hello Helen . So sorry I missed your post ! 

    Sounds as though you have a final treatment plan to move forward with . My mum had a right sided tumour but had open surgery too as they decided to do a liver resection at the same time . It does sound as though keyhole surgery has an easier recovery but despite that she was well medicated with pain relief and her they got her up and about after about five days . Her bowel started to work quite quickly and she was able to eat small amounts ! After about two weeks she was well on her road to recovery and I have to say it was well worth it as her bowel had never been an issue since . They got great margins and fully removed the cancer .

    Hopefully popping this back to the top will draw other readers attention. It is so east for things to slip off the first page on a busy day and others not get the chance to read it .

    Take care ,

    Court 

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  • Hi @Bop. I had open surgery for my LAR. He said he would prefer to do open to make sure he got everything away but, if I wanted, he would start with keyhole and see how it went? I decided that this would potentially lengthen the time the op would take and if he did keyhole and I had a reoccurrence then I would wonder if it might not have happened if I’d had open. I told him to do whatever was the best in his eyes and had open. He said that although recovery from keyhole is initially faster, after the first few weeks there is not much difference between the 2. It’s quite a long scar and I was in hospital for a week and then the stitches were removed at my doctors. 

    Have you got a date yet?

    Take care

    Karen x

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  • Thank you ive got my pre op on Thursday I'm going to talk to the team on wot thay say is best but I'm so scared to have the op put I need this cancer out x

  • Hi Helen,

    I had keyhole surgery for my LAR and right hemicolectomy with temporary ileostomy. I was really scared of having the op, scared that I wasn't going to wake up. The morning of the op, the anaesthetist came to talk me through the procedure. Although I was still scared, I felt better after talking with her (even though she looked about 12). I was in hospital for a week. They'll probably have you up and walking a bit as soon as you're able and will make sure your pain is managed. Having anxiety about the op is normal. You'll no doubt feel better once you've spoken to your team. Do voice any concerns to them. You're in good hands.

    Cheryl x