Pre-Op and Colon Cancer Patient

Hello Fuzzy Logic robots,

I talked recently with a colon cancer survivor. When she got diagnosed, she already had a little boy and she couldn't bear the idea of being taken away from her son. She sought many opinions, travelled to LA to meet specialists, pushed her case through various tumor boards.

Her main question was "what is the treatment that will give me the best chances of survival". This is what she ended up choosing. I don't know the details of the treatment but since I saw her yesterday, it was probably a good choice. She now has a beautiful boy, a rewarding job and what seems to be an extremely loving family. I think that she is wonderful.
OK. She has a dog. Nobody's perfect.

She had a few pieces of advice for me:
- the pain killers apparently cause constipation (that's bad news with a fissure...I am on my second round of these suppositories...one month was clearly not enough). My family doctor prescribed 2 more refills (total of 4 months of treatment) and if this doesn't do the trick, will consider surgery. There are two reasons for that. a) it's extremely painful and b) we don't want any rectal bleeding that is not caused by cancer to last for too long since women with uterine sarcomas are more likely to develop colon cancer, any early signs need to be easy to pick up on!
- do everything you can to treat the cancer early, this is when you have the best shot at a cure
- get everything that could remotely be cancerous out of your body ASAP
- cancer can be deceiving. Not feeling sick or not having any symptoms doesn't mean that it's not there, doing its thing and slowly invading you. A lot of people don't know they have cancer until it is diagnosed (often at a very late stage when it is not suspected).
- you have this wildcat type of cancer and it sounds like no one knows how it is going to behave so you shouldn't take any risks.
- Chemotherapy/radiation may not be proven solutions for your type of cancer because of lack of data and knowledge, but it probably won't hurt if you do it after your surgery (in my case, they wanted to try to do gene profiling to help them figure out what might work). I would try anything that has the slightest chance of preventing you from relapsing.
- No point in having a baby if it is to leave him/her alone after a few months

And we will probably have one more thing in common...Sounds like a yearly colonoscopy will be required.

This was my first in-person chat with a cancer survivor, and a very unexpected confidence. I feel extremely honored to be trusted with this. I admire her openness. It acted as a powerful incentive for me to share just about anything, even things I may have repressed for a long time. I am surprised at how easy it was to listen to her and talk about this. Somehow, nothing could get in the way of our communication. I felt very strongly drawn to her (I so desperately wanted to hug her!), very close - almost as if we were thinking the same thoughts, or feeling the same thing at the same time. It was a very powerful experience. I feel so grateful now!!

There are two main differences though. I don't have a beautiful boy right now and I would very much like to have one, one day (it will be just fine if it is a beautiful girl). And this cancer doesn't hold the same reality for me as it does for her, probably because I don't feel sick anymore (now that the main tumor was removed, my symptoms have gone away. The cervix still looks red, inflamed and hard and bleeds upon touch during GYN exams but thankfully, it is not part of my daily protocol...) Maybe after the next surgery will it start to feel like something I should worry about. So I couldn't grasp what her fear must have been like because I am not experiencing anything like this right now. Now, it could also be because after the little whale episode, I feel quite invicible.


I was sitting in front of the Cafe at the Cancer Center. Dr. Westphal just walked into this cafe. She must also prefer this food to the hospital cafeteria. Give it another couple of months and I'll greet everyone by name at this place. She came by to say hi and asked how I was doing. She's my hero :)

I had a scheduled appointment with the anesthesiologist the other day at 11AM at the hospital. I checked in 10 minutes earlier and then waited for an hour before I could be seen. After 10 minutes, I wondered where my usual personal assistant was because I wanted a drink but no one turned up.
Fortunately I had brought a book with me. Don Quijote de la Mancha, about 1,000 pages of old-style Spanish. Enough to put anyone to sleep so very appropriate in the pre-op
anesthesia prep area. Around noon, someone finally figured out how to pronounce my name and I got called in.

Lindsey was the nurse I first spoke to.
- Hi, my name is Lindsey and we are going to talk about your upcoming surgery. You're down in our computer for...
- Wow, that's very cool. I had never been in a computer before.
- Pardon me?
- Never mind

- OK, so you are down for a trachelectomy. And, Oooo, when did you get diagnosed with that!
- last year, why?
- That's a pretty rare one. The anesthesiologist has looked at your case history and doesn't believe that you need a prep talk with him. It's important to know about the PTSD diagnosis because this will help determine what drug to give you but this can be dealt with on the day of the surgery. However, if you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to have you talk to the doctor.
- Do you offer ice-chips?
- Pardon me?
- Never mind

- It looks like you are healthy apart from this tiny issue (I can't believe it, it's so random!) and you have talked to a lot of doctors recently. So we'll just do the blood test and the Chest X-ray which your surgeon has ordered and send you home. First let me go over the details of your stay with us next week.
Your oncologist has reserved two nights and three days in our facilities, and has booked the main operating room for 3 hours. You will need 1 to 2 hours in our post-surgery recovery room to wake up from the anesthesia after that and then you'll be taken to a semi-private room.
- what size bed?
- Pardon me?
- Never mind

You may be able to go home earlier but you should plan on spending the whole time in the hospital. Your current surgery time is 12:50pm, so you need to be at the hospital at 10:50am. However, this can change at the last minute, so we will call you the evening before to confirm. No food or drinks after midnight (if you are really thirsty, it's OK to have one or two glasses of clear liquids up to 7 hours prior to your scheduled surgery time) and you can take your morning medication with a sip of water. Bring all your medication with you on the day of the surgery and a little bag with whatever you feel you will need during that time. Leave your valuables at home.

(I need to find a way to smuggle in my laptop so I can post stuff to the blog)

Prior to the surgery, we will get an IV going and you will be offered some sedation to help you relax.
- No thanks, I already have a CD for that
- Pardon me?
- Never mind
(Lindsey is thinking: cancer is not the only condition this lady has...the mind is clearly affected)

- You don't have to accept the sedative, you can go into the OR completely clear-headed. We authorize up to two family members to be with you up until the time you are taken into the OR. Then they are welcome to wait around.
- Can I bring my two cats then?
- Pardon me?
- Never mind

- Ok, I think that this is about it. We need to draw some blood, and do a chest X-Ray. For that, you need to take this form down to XRay East which is just beneath us.

The form says: diagnostic test, Pre-Op CXR (Chest X-Ray) - Diagnosis: Cervical/Uterine Cancer.

After my little vampire session, I go down to XRay East to hand out my piece of paper. The lady at the reception puts a "PRE-OP" sticker on it and returns it to me.
"Now you need to go to XRay North. Do you know how to get to North?"
- I am confused, I was told to go to East.
- Yes, this is East, now you need to go to North.
- I see...Do you hand out compasses?
- Pardon Me?
- Never mind

I wait for another hour in front of "North" (it is close to 1pm by then and I am STARVING - my stomach is making all sorts of rock'n'roll harmonies).
An elderly gentleman whom I saw upstairs is wheeled in. He comments to the person who's accompanying him. "I really liked this doctor. She was hot."

Hilarious...

Upon reaching page 327, I get called in for the X-Ray which lasts for about 20 seconds and sent home with no further paperwork.