from jordanlund@lemmy.world to world@lemmy.world on 24 Feb 05:03
https://lemmy.world/post/43510955
Had the surgery 2/19 to remove the entire sigmoid colon and all the related lymph nodes.
Was in recovery 2/19 to 2/23 and released to go home!
The biopsy results came in late today and confirmed 0/12 lymph nodes were malignant. That’s it! It’s clean! No stage 3, no chemo required!
Follow up with the surgeon on 4/1 to talk about where we go from here, my guess is colonoscopies 2x a year for life now since it went from 0 to stage 2 in 6 months.
March is Colon Cancer Awareness Month, wear blue and get checked!
#✅UR:
Not sure when I’ll be back modding, I still feel like someone slammed me in the gut with a baseball bat. Cricket bat for our international folks! Maybe another 2-3 weeks.
I still lurk and comment occasionally, just as my health allows!
Edit Bonus - Since my wife had her own medical event this year involving a massive infection, spinal intrusion and below knee amputation, we already hit the out of pocket maximum on our insurance for the year.
Sooo…
Get insurance guys, no, seriously, get insurance.
#world
threaded - newest
Congrats, love you!
live long and prosper
That’s some great world news! Congrats!
Wonderful news! Sorry to hear about your wife’s issues though. It sounds like you guys have been through it! Hope it’s calmer for you both now. Speedy recovery.
2026 has been the longest year of our lives and it’s FEBRUARY!
Alhumdullilah brother amazing to hear!
So glad it was found early. Take time to heal and care for each other. That sounds really rough.
Congrats! So glad that it was found early;
it’s crazy that you have to pay for these life-saver visits and operations btw…w
America - for profit everything!
It’s really anti-human.
But, think about the capital…
Congratulations!
Congrats, Jordan! Take as much time as you need. If things get out of hand here, there’ll always be people ready to help.
depending on your insurance, i recently had to switch ACA from state healthcare, trying to get back on state eventually as it covers everything, including dental. private is tricky since the subsidies has ended and you have to pay more for deductible/oop.
That’s some really good news! Congrats!
This post breaks rule 1.
✅
Wow that’s incredible news! Congrats! So glad you’re back 🎉
Congrats and fuck cancer!
Dude! Awesome! On all fronts, awesome.
Glad to hear! So sorry to both you and your wife for your medical ailments you’ve had to deal with. I wish you both speedy recoveries and better times ahead.
Everyone (edge-cases with health conditions aside) should be eating a high fiber, high probiotic diet, and cutting back on tobacco products and alcohol, while avoiding red meat. It took my siblings more than a year of trying to convince our high-risk dad to get his colonoscopy as his doctor wanted.
Edit: Thought I couldn’t be more clear that high fiber diet is a preventative one for people not with preexisting conditions or already having major medical interventions or other unique health conditions, etc. This is pretty much implied for ANY dietary advice in any dietary article you ever read. If you’re unsure, speak with your doctor of course.
Dude don’t tell someone who just got gut resection to eat a high fiber diet. There is 30% chance that will send them to the hospital.
I did not.
I guarantee their discharge paperwork and instructions were clear on this.
I explicitly noted noted, “edge cases with health conditions aside.”
Yes, of course follow guidelines by your doctor(s) and for specialized procedures. I thought it was extremely obvious my suggestions were preventative in nature.
this is the edge case. which is why you dont fucking practice medicine online
Yes, I’m aware — hence why it’s an exception to my advice. Is English not your first language? Because this sounds like trolling or gaslighting.
This is why reading comprehension is important.
i’m trying to pick this up: addressing a comment to everyone but the person to whom you are sending the comment to, that is not standard communication etiquette. that’s why this appears to be more of a cover your ass type thing. Do Not Tell People What To Eat. Do Not Presume To Practice Medicine Over The Internet
There is but no better thing to do than to reiterate that why was said for those who persist with fingers-in-ear denial without substantive refutation:
I did not.
I guarantee their discharge paperwork and instructions were clear on this.
I explicitly noted noted, “edge cases with health conditions aside.” (Ding Ding Ding)
Yes, of course follow guidelines by your doctor(s) and for specialized procedures. I thought it was extremely obvious my suggestions were preventative in nature.
Guys, guys, it’s all good. I got what they meant even if it may not have come across that way! We’re all fine now, how are you? 😉
They’re right in that a normal, healthy person, not recovering from major surgery, should be on a diet rich in fiber.
Doesn’t apply in my case because, recovering from major surgery, but you can bet once my 2 week low fiber limit expires, I’m increasing fiber. Have a plan all set and ready to go!
i think i need more coffee is what i am. apologies i think i am feeling a titch defensive of you since you had just a gut resection. i have here for you from my personal meme trove when i shared with my family i was getting a similar surgery. if you’d care for any practical advice or just to chat, i’m always here.
<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/f1d506ab-0e4f-4bf4-8c2c-5e0630901d35.gif">
This was mine following my 2nd heart attack:
<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/91659f68-26b4-44c1-899a-0a8d37b85485.jpeg">
i want to believe that is just a campfire story but i’ve seen someone have a (very mild) heart attack in a restaurant and have it not stop him in the middle of his rant. humans are remarkably adaptable and spite can keep us going when nothing else will.
Yeah, I fought my first heart attack for 5 days thinking it was just really bad heartburn.
Pro-tip - if heartburn lasts more than 24 hours, it’s not ‘just’ heartburn.
^ This I’m actually under orders for a LOW fiber diet for 2 weeks!
I know, counter intuitive. But the idea is to take the pressure off where they re-stitched the colon to the rectum.
Rectum? Damn near killed 'em!
you’re aware there are other health conditions besides colon cancer, right?
Yep! Those would be what are called, “edge-cases with health conditions” as aforementioned. Were you unaware of this?
That is really great news! Hope you heal well and minimal pain. Best wishes to the both of you for a rapid end to this health rollercoaster and a smooth slide into your healthy new normal.
Long days and pleasant nights!
Hey, glad to hear you’re doing better, even though the long term outlook isn’t the rosiest. Gastro surgery can be rough, and pain can impede the healing process so make sure to take care of yourself and take it easy.
Do you have family in the area (besides your wife, who you mention is also ill) that you can rely on right now? Not to scare you, but If I remember it took about 6 weeks to three months to recover from the more major gastro surgeries I had (I got complications though). Sigmoidectomy is pretty major. Normal (heh what’s that) might be sooner if you got laproscopic but I am a layperson.
Let me know if you need any Ilex or calmoseptine or don’t know what they are (you will likely need both as your gut adjusts to its new length)
My pain scale is marred by other things I’ve had so this really is barely registering. If I peg the 10 at “Spinal Stenosis”, so far this is like a 6, currently a 4. I didn’t even need the oxy today except to go to sleep.
<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/15fe0eba-cb15-4b13-90b9-0bffd6cee4d7.jpeg">
And yeah, was laparoscopic, so I have 4 small incision sites instead of one giant one like with the open heart surgery.
As far as other gastro problems go, I was pretty screwed up by the statins they put me on for the heart stuff. So being a little more “loose” than normal is nice compared to that:
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3291011/
Hopefully the two will balance each other out!
Congrats! Sounds like an excellent prognonsis!
Also, Jesus fucking christ a 100000 dollars for a workup+surgery? A similar case is propably no more than 10-15k€ in northern europe (paid by the taxpayer of course).
You can see, the doc himself was like $7,800, the bulk of it being “hospital fees”. It will be interesting to see the breakdown on the UB-04 as to what those actual fees were. Probably tens of thousands for all the lab work every 3 hours and the heparin drip I was on.
Yea in get that, i was talking in terms of total costs.
E: actually looked it up, most likely the whole thing wouldve been max 10000euros to the taxpayer around here (Finland). Workup+surgery+hospital stay.
Huzzah! Glad to hear of it.
Congratulations!
Congratulations. It went by so fast. For some reason I thought you were european. Due to my wifes medical issues a long time back paying max out of pocket every year became the new normal.
Nice!
Obviously you don’t have to answer since it’s personal, but I am curious: How does that effect your digestion? I always kinda wonder how much intestine you really need, because apparently it’s not all of it.
The colon is all about pulling water out of your stool to make poop, well… poop!
The sigmoid colon is the last line of that process. So without it, poop will still be poop, but maybe not necessarily as firm as it would be with it.
In my case, that works to my advantage, because I take statin drugs and statin drugs make me miserable. Having slightly looser stool might actually make me normal for a change!
Congrats! Nice to see you again and I’m glad it’s all working out! :D
Glad to hear you’re cancer free! My father in law just had colon cancer removed a few days ago and we’re awaiting the biopsy results. Seriously: get checked, people!
Congrats! Nothing better than being cancer free, except maybe being cancer free for free.
Cancer free without the whole “gutted like a fish” part.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!! I’m so happy for you! This was the post I’ve been hoping to see!