What happens during colon cancer surgery?

2 Comments

1. heckenhocker says:

   January 14, 2010 at 9:08 am

   Incision will depend on the location of the cancer (the colon is pretty long) and the method of surgery – it can be "open" or "laproscopic".

   A laproscopic surgery will have only a few relatively small cuts in the lower tummy, and recovery will be up to a week if there are no complications.

   An open surgery will cut from below the navel for about 6-8 inches, and will take up to 2 weeks in hospital.

   There are no straight answers here – everyone’s recovery time is different. To be allowed out, you have to be able to eat, drink, have a bowel movement (either regular or to the stoma bag), pass gas, pass water (or manage your catheter), get out of bed and sit in a chair. These are basic ways to assess that the body is recovering.

   Recovery time is likely to be longer if your friend has already had chemo or has been noticeably ill for a while before the cancer was found – s/he’ll already be worn down a bit by that. My husband had no symptoms until 2 weeks before his surgery, and took 10 days to get out of hospital after open surgery.

   Be prepared when you visit for the first time post surgery, especially if it’s open surgery. This is a big operation and your friend may well look dreadful after – NG tube, catheter, wound drain, PCA IV, fluids IV, oxygen mask. That all looks really scary….but it’s actually normal post surgery. Practice a blank face and a big smile – s/he doesn’t need to know how awful s/he looks…and s/he’ll lose some of the gadgets in a few days.
2. Goldie says:

   January 14, 2010 at 9:08 am

   The above answer is what I experienced too. I had both laproscopic and open surgies, and that’s what I went through.

   Unless there are no complications, which I was unfortunate enough to have, the patient can go home when they are using their bowels and eating properly.

   Something else that can happen is that it may also be necessary to create a stoma. This is when you have an opening where your bowel comes out and all your waste comes out of there, into an attached bag. That can be either a temporary or permanent one. You can only go home when you are able to look after that yourself.