Has my time come?

[Colin Pook]

For about 2 weeks I suffered excrutiating pains after eating. All came to a head one morning when I thought my end had come. Missus phoned G.P. and couldnt get through. Last resort, she phoned ambulance.

They took me to A&E, where I was examined. Sent me for X-RAY and scan.

Cosultant came to my bed and announced that I had a large tumour in/on my colon, but couldnt decide if it was benign or malignant.

Due to all my other health problems, he was loathe to operate and referred me to the big hospital in Cardiff.

I am now literally terrified as to what the end result may be.

What a fine 80th birthday pressy, (Sept)

Watch this space!!

Colin
R684420

[Keith Tindell]

Stay positive Colin. i know thats easily said, but if the spirit stays it all helps. They can do incredible things now, so don't give up, and the very best regards KT

[Red Lead Ted]

Collin, I sincerely wish you nothing but all the best with the out come, Terry.

[Captain Kong]

Hi Colin
You will be in good hands at Cardiff Hospital, They are GOOD. my son was a Surgeon there, before moving to Portsmouth.

They are excellent these days.
In 2013 I was in severe abdominal pain and Emergency room gave me four days to live without treatment.
Two life saving operations later I was discharged after seven days. Super fit ever since.

This is what is involved.............................

Surgery for colon cancer
If colon cancer is at a very early stage, it may be possible to remove just a small piece of the lining of the colon wall, known as local excision.

If the cancer spreads into muscles surrounding the colon, it's usually necessary to remove an entire section of your colon, known as a colectomy.

There are 3 ways a colectomy can be performed:

An open colectomy – where the surgeon makes a large cut (incision) in your abdomen and removes a section of your colon
a laparoscopic (keyhole) colectomy – where the surgeon makes a number of small incisions in your abdomen and uses special instruments guided by a camera to remove a section of colon
robotic surgery – a type of keyhole surgery where the surgeon's instruments guide the robot, which removes the cancer
During robotic surgery, there's no direct connection between the surgeon and the patient, which means it's possible for the surgeon to not be in the same hospital as the patient.

Robotic surgery is not available in many centres in the UK at the moment.

During surgery, nearby lymph nodes are also removed. The ends of the bowel can be joined together after bowel cancer surgery, but very occasionally this is not possible and a stoma is needed.

Both open and laparoscopic colectomies are thought to be equally effective at removing cancer, and have similar risks of complications.

But laparoscopic or robotic colectomies have the advantage of a faster recovery time and less postoperative pain.

Laparoscopic surgery is now becoming the routine way of doing most of these operations.

Laparoscopic colectomies should be available in all hospitals that carry out bowel cancer surgery, although not all surgeons perform this type of surgery.

Discuss your options with your surgeon to see if this method can be used.
................................

Hope it all goes well for you Colin.
Have Confidence these Surgeons are doing this every day, They are experts and you will be OK again. No problems.
Keep us informed.
All the best
Brian

[Ivan Cloherty]

Chin up Colin, we're all rooting for you

[Keith at Tregenna]

Wishing you more strength with each coming day.

May good health and happiness be closer than you think.

Keith.

[vic mcclymont]

Wishing you well, hope everything works out.
Vic

[Doc Vernon]

As said Colin
Its easy to say but one has to try and stay positive in all circumstances mate, they are so good these days with most everything so i am sure you will be just fine .
All the best and do let us know how things pan out
Cheers

[John Pruden]

colin i am sure if anything we see as bad will be worked on soon fight for every day mate i was in with people in their 80s having a lung taken out even if it is cancer it is not the killer we once knew stay strong mate every day is a good one thinking of you shipmate.. jp

[happy daze john in oz]

Colin, never say die mate, there will always be some positive news from this no matter how bad you may think it is.
Medicine today has some wonderful methods of keeping us alive, you will be a living example of this in the coming years.
Just stay positive and hang in there, the sun will still come up in the morning for you.