Found a 5cm mass in my husband’s colon

5cm is big, mine was barely 1cm. Prayers

First, I'm a colon cancer survivor - in the vast majority of cases it is treatable. Mayo took out my entire colon and 108 surrounding lymph nodes in Feb 2021, followed by chemo which ended in Dec 2021.

Several things can be helpful:

1) Get competent and trustworthy medical professionals involved like a colorectal surgeon and an oncologist. I was referred to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, but then I lived only 34 miles away at the time.

2) Learn all you can about the disease and treatment options. Knowledge displaces fear. There are plenty of reliable sources on the internet - this site is one of them but Cleveland Clinic and Sloan-Kettering are others.

3) Your husband will probably have surveillance scans to see if there is possible spread elsewhere. They found 12 "irregularities" which could have been cancer - but don't panic because these don't necessarily mean cancer has spread - none of mine have changed so they aren't of concern. I had scans every 90 days, now am doing them every 6 months.

4) You and your husband will need support of friends/family. While the surgery often is ~3 days in the hospital (robotic assisted - minimally invasive is recommended) and my recovery was quick, he may require chemotherapy - typically a FOLFOX6 regimen and help driving to/from the infusion center is necessary. If he has to do chemo, getting a port surgically installed is recommended - surgery to install is done outpatient as is removal when done. I can describe the chemo process in detail in another post - I have in other discussions in the Colorectal Cancer group.

5) Faith was vital to me during this time particularly to minimize fear and to persist with the chemo. I called it "patient insistence" - you patiently insist on one step at a time, particularly with chemo. The medical teams do have latitude to adjust the chemo regiment and frequency when it gets to be too much.

Anyway, that's a start. I hope this helps. My prayers for you and husband.

Thank you for your response. It’s been a long night. I’m just looking for success stories right now so I can cope.
Thank you again for all this info.

This comment does not help!

That comment is not helpful!!
I have never before seen insensitive comments on this forum!
Like really!?

I apologize I didnt mean to sound sarcastic.

No problem. Totally understandable.

Since they haven't yet done scans, there are lots of unknowns. It's those "unknowns" that are most difficult to deal with because we tend to think the worst case scenario.

Colon cancer is no longer a death sentence. Medical science has advanced and improved the cure rate and the post-cancer quality of life.

I get really upset when insensitive people tell someone looking for support “oh that’s a really big mass, mine was only small” or “ don’t have chemo it’s really really bad” Not everyone reacts in the same way! I had a big mass and it was removed successfully. I had many rounds of chemo and it wasn’t as bad as I thought. PLEASE if you can say something positive don’t say something very negative.

I really agree with @paul28 see my comments.

I had 4cm or 40 mm had. A resection noncancerous . Many people can have them removed emr without colon resection. The best doctors are Clevand clinic in Ohio with most success rate