total gastrectomy

[Rebekah89]

Monday November 24th my husband had a EUS this procedure was performed after a endscopy in June of this year showed a capret of polyps in his stomach.  The doctor that performed the EUS informed us that my husband did not have 100"s of polyps he had thousands of them.  The doctor stated that if this was him or his family member that he would have the stomach removed.

My husband had colon cancer in 2000 and has had 6 surgeries due to complication from perforated colon.   Because of the numerous surgeries all he has left is his small instestine.  How will a total gastroectomy effect his eating and quality of life.

[CalGal]

How is his quality of life right now? Has anyone broached the subject of (possible) familiar polyposis with him - or has been diagnosed as such?

I would agree with the doc if your husband hadn't already had numerous surgeries and had the whole of his colon removed.

Have you discussed the overall situation - truthfully - with the doc?

[Rebekah89]

No, he has not been diagonsed wiht familiar polyposis.  How is this done?   We have an appointment with the Gastroenterologist on Thursday Dec 4th to discuss further and to get the results of the bioposy.  He also has a 3cm lesion on one of his adrenal glands, as well a family history of other types of cancer, mother - bone cancer, father - lung cancer and brother - testicular cancer allare deceased.

His quality of life at the present time, very little energy, his last surgery he was in ICU on ventilator for 3 days from loss of blood, which has left him very depressed total different then before that surgery.  He says that he feels like he has a stomach virus 24/7 always nausea and diarrhea after he eats no matter how little or much or no matter what he eats.  

[CalGal]

Rebekah, he's unfortunately going to have diarrhea because of the loss of the colon. One of the main function for the large intestine is to re-absorb the fluids that are in the 'left-overs' coming out of the small intestine. Without that organ, everything he eats is going to come through 'as is' after the small intestine has done it's job of absorbing the nutrients.

Once the colon 'extracts' the water, the rest of the colon then compacts the mass and forms stool. Lacking that organ, he needs to add 'stuff' to his diet to make changes that will 'bulk things up.'  You'll find excellent posts on the board by Morecambe on the subject. I think they will be of help to your and your husband.

As far as familial polyposis, do a bit of browsing and I think you may get the idea that if that's not what he has it's darned close. There's typically colon/rectal cancer and they can have other growths in other areas of the body including the stomach. To my knowledge, however, the 'other' growths may be desmoid tumors which are not cancerous - again, I could be wrong about that. You need to do some checking and start asking a lot of questions.

Many people without stomachs do just fine and they have a good quality of life. But with what your husband has already gone through, I'm not sure he'd have an easy time of it. Even if he decided to go ahead with the surgery, perhaps it might be a good idea to let himself get stronger and enjoy eating for awhile before taking the next step (if that's what he decides to do), because it's probably going to change the way he is able to 'get' his nutrients.

[Rebekah89]

My husband received a call earlier today from the Gastro doctor stated that the three of the had been discussing his case and that the main dr. in the group had been talking to another doctor at the university and they have decided that they should do a Capsule Endoscopy.  We will now see this doctor on Dec 10th.   What kind of test is this, what is it used for and what may they be looking for now.  Based on what you have told me so far I am making a list of question to ask the dr. on the next visit and first and foremost is about the familial poloposis, which I have been reading and it does sound so much like what is going on with him.  The lesion on the adrenal gland has me worried also, what is the chance that this is cancer and if my husband has FAP what are the chances of the 27 and 24 year old daughters, shouldn't they be checked also.  By the way my husband is 51 years old and was 43 when they found his colon cancer.