Greetings! from Soul. Dear Colleen! How are you? It has been almost a year since I joined you. I am now back again in Thailand to visit My Mom for her Annual check up after surgery related to her colorectal cancer. We have been grateful to Mayo Clinic and everyone participated in the discussions with individual experience, support and advice mentally . I am so blessed to see my Mom is still in a good spirit. My Mom has followed up and has been carefully on her healthy eating habits till now. She went for the PET scan 2 days ago. The report came out great that she does not have cancer cell. I am so pleased to see her recovering well but slowly since she is now 79 years old. I would like to share with everyone who has been suffering the same disease like my Mom ( colorectal cancer) . Just keep positive and move on the right channel and follow up with the doctor's medical advice along with the support. Mental support to the patient is one of the most critical part when you are battling with cancer. I will keep on monitoring on my Mom progress and keep you posted. Thank you for letting me be in the group. Have a good evening. Warm regards, Soul

Hi Colleen,Want to say thank you for your help   many have responded to the Discussion i began yesterday and today,  will respond to them today as much as possible, it is very rewarding to know their are real people who care about others such as you and those who have responded thus far.   Hopefully i will be able to help someone else as well, be a Champion.Are you a canc. patient and live in AZ?There are 3 Colorectal  surgeons at Mayo in Scottsdale AZ.Each use less invasive surgery, Da Vinci/robotic resection, minimally invasive techniques, including single-incision surgery.  This is the surgeries that each of the surgeons perform.  The two surgeons including Hakimen have said i would have to have the bag permanently however he did not encourage this.  the first surgeon said i could have it reversed.  this is a major operation i could not survive that due to age and other issues, however i am ambulatory.Have a wonderful day.Starrlight

@starrlight.. i thought i would share with you how i approached my personal plight.

LIke you, i thought i knew my best option. And your option, just may as well be the right one. I have no idea.

I went to mayo wanting the least invasive colon surgery. Being 53 yrs old you want the least invasive possible surgery option. I understand your thinking.. However, what it boiled down too, was that Mayo felt my best option to beat the cancer was removing 1 foot of colon by laparoscopic surgery and taking 20 lymph nodes to be 100% certain i was colon cancer free.

I reccommend going to Mayo with an open mind, and let them choose their top doctors to treat you. Cause i can tell you, all three of the Drs listed you saw, will have a say in your care. They work together as a team. When i had my surgery, there was a constant flow of Drs coming in, and checking on me. They all made the rounds to observe and evaluate me. I was super impressed.

Nothing goes unnoticed or missed. They do not operate like any hospital you been too in the past.

When i told my friend that they found i had lymphoma . (Who is a consultant for the joint commisionion). His answer , what do you expect? You went to the best, they find stuff, you don't even know you have. Lol..

Good Luck Starrlight..

Hi travelgirl,Wow what a testimony you have on Mayo Connect, so your surgery was less invasive and no bag which i will not have.I am alone my daughter lives in W VA and unable to come here to offer support, not sure how to go to Mayo as do not drive  that far which is about 2hrs. from where i live. i do know that the Canc Society has a House for Canc patients  in AZ like the McDonald house for children, cannot remember the name right now.  Have had the runaround on this canc. because i waited to long in going to Dr. i thought i was healing the Brst Canc via healthy living and methods, it did not work for me the tumor got out of control.  The rectal tumor do not know how long i have had it, they found a mass in 2015 through colonoscopy and that Dr. gave me two different diagnosis, he removed two polyps which he wrote as canc. then called me in person the next day and said the biopsy was negative no canc. so i did not think much more about it then continue to have loose bowel so went to a MD. surgeon here who was so negative that i felt i had no help at all and there is not colon surgeons where i live.  I truly pray that someone where i live will come into my life as a support person to go to Mayo, i have always taken care of myself however am tired now.  I have other medical issues however will not discuss as this is about Canc.Have a Wonderful Day and thanks again for the great Testimony.starrlight

@starrlight..Please contact the American Cancer Society and a local cancer support group. The American cancer society offers free rides for cancer patients. You can also contact Mayo clinic. They may know of a local transportation company in your that takes people to their facility. But for certain the American society does have a servive that takes you too your cancer appountments.
Mayo may correct your other issues too. So please give them all your medical details.

Hi travelgirl,Truly curious when they removed the foot of colon and lymph nodes what did they do after that, reconstruct or???i am in my mid 70's and my body has been through many serious maladies during these yrs. Hopefully you had support during this ordeal.  Hope you had a nice day today.Starrlight

@starlight. I had my surgery 13 months ago. They reattached the small intestine to the large intestine. They used Titanium staples. I went into the hospital on Monday and went home on Saturday. It was a stage 1 Cecum cancer. Since my lymph nodes were clear and clean there are no other treatments needed. Just a CEA blood test and Ct scans for 2 yrs. Once a year for now on, I need to have Colonoscopy. I am what they call a Polyp Farmer. So I need to be checked yearly. My body seriously adjusted just fine. There were mostly people your age having the same thing done. As a matter of fact they handled the surgery better than me. They went home, most of them in 3 days. I took 5 days to get adjusted to the new plumbing in my body. I can eat most everything but Dairy now. Dairy is harder to digest, but then again, I always had an issue eating dairy..

Welcome back @soul. Such great news about your Mom. Enjoy your visit and send greetings from the members of Mayo Clinic Connect 🙂

@starrlight, I, too, am encouraged by the conversation you've ignited here on Connect. I'm not a cancer patient, thankfully. But I was a caregiver to my father who had colorectal cancer. I am watching this discussion with interest.

Thank you Colleen, I will convey the message from Mayo Clinic to my Mom. Many thanks again.Soul