I am so sorry that you got the dreaded news.
I was having watery diarrhea for an extended period of time and I finally gave up on putting off my first ever colonoscopy.
We were looking for a cause for the diarrhea, not necessarily expecting colon cancer.
My polyp was lab tested during the colonoscopy and was cancerous.
You've got to like your doctors, your surgeon and your hospital.
You must have complete trust and confidence in them.
Otherwise, you will already be off to a bad start. Do not skip this step! Get it right!
My surgeon and I got on the same page pretty quick.
He knew that my concern with surgery was the possibility of waking up with a bag.
He didn't think I would need one.
My second concern was to do whatever necessary to avoid chemo.
I wanted surgery first, and to then make an assessment afterwards when much more would be known. (Best thing that could have happened).
I was still recovering at home from sigmoid colon resection when I returned 7 weeks later for metastasized colon cancer to my right lower lung.
That's called a lung wedge resection. By comparison, the lung is a tough surgery.
My goal was to have both surgeries and then have "wait and see" while doing blood tests and CT Scans every 3 months.
With no problems, we then go to 4 months.
And now 20 months later, we are still following this plan.
If you are diagnosed with Colon cancer today, too many patients are being quickly referred to Oncology tomorrow.
Chemotherapy prior to surgery is quite commonplace.
Cancer patients will be told to go "see what the Oncologist has to say". What they say is that you need to begin a chemo regimen pretty quick.
I don't like hearing that people have been talked into things that they did not understand.
Ask questions, get answers, understand the information, research, and research more!
My other advice would be to not become a nervous wreck over this.
Get it all planned out with the right people and have no fear.
Fear makes all things worse and adds nothing to the solutions and decisions that you will be making.
You will go to the hospital, have a surgery, be there 3 days, come home, have diarrhea and not know what to eat!
You can do this!!
Best wishes to you both!
Paul