Met with my surgeon this afternoon and he said that there was some good news but not enough of it, to stop it from being bad news ....
The PET scan showed that the Radiotherapy HAD reduced the tumour but unfortunately not enough.
However, the MRI had showed virtually no change at all - so I'm glad I had the PET done as it showed the true picture.
It also confirmed that there is definitely no spread to the liver or lungs and the strange ache really must just be a 'all in my head' pain...
So, the tumour is smaller but not small enough. However it's smaller to remove and hopefully that'll mean that he manages to get it all during surgery.
We then moved on to discuss surgery...he initially said he would like me to go in and have the operation next Tueday (14th September) but then we discussed my worries about the Shingles virus being fully suppressed before surgery and also numerous reports that I've read that discuss healing issues after pelvic Radiotherapy treatment.
He agreed that healing is an issue after Radiotherapy to the pelvic region and he said that he's happy to wait a couple more weeks in order to provide me with the best chance of healing and hopefully avoiding 'further issues' (further issues involve further op's...not a road I really want to travel if I can avoid it)
I then said that I would contact my GP and discuss anti viral treatment to see if we can get the virus to behave before the op, during the op and definitely afterwards. My surgeon is concerned that if it re-flares it will interfere dramatically with the healing process....sigh.....
We then discussed the operation in (gory) detail.
The short version is my surgeon hopes to be able to do this procedure via keyhole surgery, he expects it to take approximately 6 hours and during this time he will remove the anus, rectum, tumour, lymph nodes, and approximately 15 inches of colon, provide me with a permanent stoma, stitch me back up and get me into Intensive Care for a day or two then moved to HDU (High Dependency Unit) and then finally onto a general ward for approximately 10 days.
My surgeon then informed me that depending on what they find in pathology tests after the tumour is removed, I may require a 3 month course of intensive Chemo BUT he also said 'We'll see after surgery, it may not be necessary' ....
So I'm holding onto that for now - 'may not be necessary' is better than 'definitely will be necessary'...
He also said I will be monitored for 5 years after surgery - this will include 6 monthly scans, blood tests, colonoscopy's and any other tests that they deem necessary during this time. The idea is that if anything else decides to appear they'll catch it quite quickly and be able to make fast decisions about possible treatment plans.
So, I've explored all my options...I've researched everything I can...I've read papers until 3am and used a medical dictionary to work out what they mean......I've weighed up different scenarios.....and I've now decided that I have to go ahead and have this operation and live with a damn colostomy bag....and just hope that it doesn't come back somewhere else!
Do I want this? No....but then I didn't want f&$king cancer either - that's just the way it goes I guess.
