Colorectal cancer stage 1 with positive margin

I had stage 1 colon cancer in 2016. I had a right hemicolectomy which removed half of my colon. If not for the small scar around my naval, I would never know half my colon was gone. No problems whatsoever.

Why do you not want surgery? Surgery is curative for stage 1. Just be sure you find a colorectal surgeon who has a good reputation. My gastroenterologist sent me first to a general surgeon. I am glad I did my own research and found a surgeon who specializes in the surgery I needed.

My surgery was curative. No need for chemo or radiation. I have to have a colonoscopy every 3 years, but other than that, no problems.

I had stage 3C colon cancer. In my case, they took out the entire colon and 108 lymph nodes, a bunch of which tested malignant. While the surgery team thought they got it all, the oncology team recommended CT scans of the chest and abdomen then strongly recommended chemo.

My point here is that in my case (yours will be different) they didn't know about the involvement of the lymph nodes until the post-surgery analysis of them.

Since your situation is different than mine, I think you may want to ask the oncology people regarding what they think about the surgeon's opinion and any ongoing need of surveillance scans. And yes, I'd get a consult with a gastroenterologist as well.

Hope this helps. All the best.

Is there a reason why you are reluctant to do surgery? If there is remaining cancer cells, you may be facing an even bigger surgery in the future. I was stage 2 A and required surgery to remove a partially obstructing tumor. I attempted chemo but couldn’t tolerate it.

I am someone who has colonoscopy every year. I went 14 months between colonoscopy and when I had it, the tumor was found. It grew that quickly. I would not want to walk around knowing that I have cancer inside me.
Have they done a CEA ?

My first colonoscopy was performed by a general surgeon who didn’t mark a cancerous polyp location because he didn’t think it was a cancer. So in the second colonoscopy he marked the location but he’s now reporting 4inch farther spot he initially reported. After that he says you have nothing to worry about all the testing/imaging can be done after you come back from vacation. Then referred me to a colorectal Dr. After 2 months I saw a colorectal surgeon now he’s telling me a surgery because it has a positive margin. It was not what I expected to hear from him at all. Plus previous surgeon was not quite sure about the cancerous polyp location I felt very unease to go ahead to remove a partial colon
But now I’m having a stomach problems and feeling something else is wrong with my digestive system.

Thank you for sharing.
All my testing, imaging were clear including CEA in August.
I strongly felt when the first surgeon performed the first colonoscopy, he didn’t mark the cancerous polyp spot then tried to mark it in the second colonoscopy but he changed the location 4 inches farther up. That made me think when he’s not even clear where the spot is how can he remove part of my colon. So I opted out the surgery. But now I’m having a stomach issue so I’ll go ahead and see a gastroenterologist and may have a surgery.

Thank you and praying for you.

Yes, my CEA was clear. But now I’m having stomach issues I’m going to see gastroenterologist then I’ll most likely see my colorectal surgeon.

I was not aware the tumor can grow so rapidly. I thought it takes 10 something years …

Thank you for your advice and sharing what you went through. I’ll definitely consider the surgery.

@sos2000 I hope your stomach calms down. The whole process is stressful, which doesn’t help at all. I do think my rate of tumor growth isn’t as common. This group has some great info

I'm going to be really honest with you being someone that was 38 years old and diagnosed with colon cancer. I had a complete procto-collectomy which is a complete removal of my large intestine and rectum, had to have an ileostomy bag for 3 months while things healed and then they hooked everything back up and I can go to the bathroom normally now; basically my small intestine took over the job of my large intestine.

Anyway, I highly recommend you get the resectioning done. It's going to be a very small portion of your intestine! Nothing like my surgery was and the healing time should be relatively very quick. You're not going to even miss that small part of your colon! You may have a little bit of diarrhea, and maybe some changes in bowel movements and digestion initially, but you will get used to it very quickly and your body will adjust.
Colon cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. It is highly curable when caught early. There is no good reason to not have the surgery and to make sure you are being staged and it's being treated correctly! This is not something that you want to put on the back burner. Get a 2nd opinion if that's what you want and when they tell you that surgery is the best option to make sure that the cancer hasn't spread or went through your colon wall, then please schedule surgery and have it done. The sooner the better. Unfortunately with colon cancer and with cancer of the small intestine there is no way for them to tell how far or how deep the cancer has gone through the colon wall until it's removed and they can do a pathology on it, and check the lymph nodes to make sure it hasn't spread. After my surgery they did the pathology on my colon and found cancer in places that they did not see on the original colonoscopy. With that surgery I was in the hospital for about a week, and recovery went really well for me. Since yours is a resection, which I just had on my small intestine in March, you should only be in the hospital for a few days with no complications.
I just wanted to send this to you when I saw your post because I just can't see any good reason for you not to have the surgery. They do the surgery every day, this isn't like 20 or 30 years ago when this was new and there was a lot of complications. This is so common now and it saves so many people's lives. There is surgeons out there that specialize in doing only these sorts of surgeries and they are excellent at what they do.
If you have any questions I'd be more than happy to answer. But please don't mess around with this sort of cancer. It is deadly. There is no way for them to know how advanced that cancer is until they get it out of you.
Yours truly-
Angela

Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I deeply appreciate it. As I am re-reading my pathology results. I’ll schedule a surgery soon. Hopefully no open surgery though.

I will keep updating.
Again thank you for taking time responding to my concern.

Thank you. All the best to you!

I'm doing well with the cancer - I'm now doing blood work and surveillance scans every 6 months - about 32 months past my surgery and 22 months post-chemo.