Bowel Cancer surgery

Sbee 7 days ago

4 replies
125 subscribers
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Hi all

i just wanted to ask a quick question.

so on the 2nd October I had surgery to remove a tumor from my bowel and it all went as it should so I'm super happy.

on the 28th October I had an appointment with my surgeon and also a nurse whose been with me throughout the whole Can er journey and I was told that everything was as it should be and they had managed to get all the Cancer out and that I was now Cancer free which was fantastic but now I thinking that I haven't had any further scans so how can they be sure that they have got all the Cancer out.
I do have a CT Scan booked in at the end of November but that is to see if my bowel is healing and to tell me if they can reverse my stoma but nobody has said anything about any other scans and I'm hoping that's normal but hopefully someone here can tell me.

thanks for reading.

Kareno62 7 days ago

Hi Sbee and congratulations on being cancer free. When they remove the tumour they take some of the surrounding area too - known as clear margins - and this is all sent off for testing. If they’ve removed a clear area all around the tumour then that means they’ve got it all away. The lab will also test the lymph nodes removed to see if any of those are affected and yours have been found to be clear so no follow up chemo required.

I’ve attached a copy of the NICE guidelines which recommends the follow up protocol. It recommends follow up for 3 years but some of the hospitals still do 5.

1.6 Ongoing care and support Follow-up for detection of local recurrence and distant metastases 1.6.1 For people who have had potentially curative surgical treatment for non-metastatic colorectal cancer, offer follow-up for detection of local recurrence and distant metastases for the first 3 years. Follow-up should include serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and CT scan of the chest, abdomen and pelvis.

You could clarify with your CSN how often you’ll be tested and I hope the scan for the stoma reversal goes well

Take care

Karen x

Macmillan Support Line - 0808 808 00 00, 7 days a week between 8am-8pm

Sbee 7 days ago in reply to Kareno62

Thankyou very much Karen.

i was told they would keep an eye on everything for five years so I'm more than happy to go with that.

thanks again you're very much appreciated.

IonaF 7 days ago

Hi Sbee,

I had my surgery on April 1st. I had my 6 month check up a few weeks ago. I am being monitored for 3 years.

I am scheduled every 6 months for bloods etc plus a yearly CAT scan and colonoscopy. I am glad that they are being

thorough. Hope your scan goes well.

Sbee 7 days ago in reply to IonaF

Thankyou and I hope everything goes well for you too,