Advice for colon resection surgery

[kim11]

My 86 year old mother has been advised to have colon resection surgery after finding
a mass on her colon during a colonoscopy. The pathology report is not back yet, but doctors
believe it is cancerous, hopefully stage I or II. They believe this can be a successful surgery
for her and it looks confined to the colon at this point. She on the other hand, wanders
if this is worth it at 86. If anyone can share experiences, I'd appreciate it.

[kim11]

Thank you for the information. I hope once the shock wears off, she will realize the surgery
is her only option.

[April2]

It actually went very well with me. They had found a mass in my small intestine near the Terminal Illium through a CAT SCAN. It was causing some blockage so they decided to go in and see what it was. They weren't able to get to in through a colonoscopy. They tried. It was just in a hard to reach place, I guess!
Anyway, they did the surgery two months ago. They went in through laproscopic (two tiny incisions) and one larger incision (about 4 inches). They cut out the mass and reconnected the small intestine to the large intestine. The pathologoy report came back saying it was fibrous scar tissue with ulceration appearing to be Crohns Disease. I was pretty sore for awhile. I was in the hospital for 5 days. I could have left the day before but they left the choice up to me. It was a miitary hospital. They all treated me very welll. They allowed me to self-medicate with morphine through my IV.

When I went home I was still pretty sore. We were fortunate that people from our church brought over meals for two weeks. I was uncomfortable sleeping the first week home. We had a hospital bed brought in because I couldn't lay flat and I couldn't lay on my side. After about a week and a half, I felt better enough to sleep in my own bed. It took me about 6 weeks after the surgery to feel pretty much back to normal. Right now I'm doing great!

It's hard to tell how your mom will do. She's older so it may take longer for her to heal. However, my grandmother had colon cancer twice and paritinitis once so had three surgeries when she was in her 70's and did really well. She never got cancer again and never had to have surgery again.

You said they found a mass. Is it consticting the colon or causing blockage? If it's not, then maybe they could wait on this. Is she having stomach pains, nausea, diarehea? That's what clued me in that something was going on.
Sorry, I just reread your post and realized that they think it's cancer. If the pathology report comes back that it is indeed cancer, then she'll have to have the surgery or it will spread. Whether or not it's worth it is her decision. Is she in otherwise good health? If so, then I'd say the surgery is worth it.

I'd listen to the doctors. If they think it's worth it to do the surgery and the mass is contained, then I'd let them take it out. She may never have to have surgery again, then. She doesn't really want to let this go. If it were to start causing blockage, that could get extremely painful and she'd feel real sick. That's just my opinion. Yes, it's major surgery, but if she's otherwise healthy I think this is the best option.
Best wishes for you and your mom.