Last month, on the 10th, we met with the surgeon. He didn't have any real surprises for us. He wasn't happy Karen had to use so much pain medication due to the cancer in her abdomen, in and around her stoma, and said he could take out that growth. It's still right near the surface, and the other spots seem to be fairly stable, so he wouldn't go digging for them. This would be a fairly minor surgery compared to what she had been through in the past, but for any surgery she'd have to be off chemo for at least 4 weeks.
He told us the longer we wait to have it removed, the more it would grow, and the more surrounding tissue would have to be removed with it. Suggesting that if it does become unmanageable with pain meds in the future, it's possible to have grown so much that surgery might not be an option. As it is now, some stomach muscle might have to be removed with the tumor, and the intestines forming the stoma itself will have to be resected (recut). But he never said we "needed" the surgery, or even that we "should" have the surgery. He was very careful to just present it as an option, and to leave the decision entirely up to us. It's nice to have full control over important decisions when your life often feels so out of control.
I asked about what the oncologist mentioned, HIPEC, and he said it could be done again after a debulking surgery where they try to remove spots from all around, but this wouldn't be anything so drastic. I also asked if removing stomach muscle would make someone more likely to get a hernia. The answer is yes, but if much of the muscle had to be removed, he'd just put in a mesh right then and there to prevent any possible future hernias.
We were both leaning towards a having the surgery, so we opted to take a break from chemo for 4 weeks and meet with the surgeon again in a month. And that day was yesterday. We have decided to go ahead with the operation and had already contacted scheduling, telling them it was ok to schedule us for surgery after our appointment with the doctor. He agrees with our decision, and thinks it's best to do it now. The expected stay is five days, but depending on what they end up doing with her intestines, it could take up to a month or two to feel herself again.
They have us scheduled for tomorrow, but we don't know when yet. We have to call after business hours today to get a check-in time. This part reminds me of jury duty, where you have to call the night before to see if you've been excused. I guess if someone with an urgent need walked in today, they could be scheduled for tomorrow and push our surgery off to another day. Or maybe cancellations could move us earlier into the day.
So far when we've mentioned another operation to people, they seem to feel sorry for Karen. "Aww, I'm so sorry." But this growth is something we've noticed for a while now, even before we went on our long trip. In fact, Karen first noticed pain in that area over a year ago when she started chemo again. I remember her mentioning it and saying, "I hope it's just the cancer crying out in pain as it's dying." But we both suspected otherwise. This surgery will be a conclusion to that long and building concern, and we're both glad it's happening.
