The second post, and verdict time.

Today we met with the colorectal surgeon for news about the seriousness of my condition, and the treatment recommendation.

He told me that he wasn't actually sure how it was that we met the criteria for familial bowel screening based on what I'd told him, but it does seem to have been very lucky that I did have a colonoscopy because I could have been in a lot of trouble health wise if I'd waited until I was symptomatic.  I have something called Serrated Polyposis Syndrome which isn't awesome.  They do not know for sure if there is a genetic component, but suspect that there is one.  Unfortunately I have a lot of polyps and they are spread widely throughout the colon. The malignant one was in my rectum.

The only realistic treatment is to have my colon completely removed, as well as a small part of my rectum.  It is a big operation (and will take about half a day to complete).   I will be in hospital about a week, and will not be able to do much for about six weeks.  I will require a stoma for about eight weeks after the operation, at which point I will have a further operation that will join up the necessary bits and then hopefully I will not need a stoma after that.  I will then have about a year of frequent toilet trips before things settle down. During the first surgery they will remove some lymph nodes that are close to where the malignant lesion was.  These will be tested to see if any cancer cells travelled.  The surgeon feels that there is a very small chance that this happened, perhaps 10%.  If there are signs of cancer in the lymph nodes then I will be referred to oncology services.  However, at this stage, it appears that I will not require oncology treatment such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy.

There are likely some lame lifestyle considerations related to having no colon, I guess I'll learn about those sometime soon.

The surgeon dryly noted that the surgery wasn't urgent, but will take place in about a month.  That feels pretty urgent to us, and so we are rapidly considering what we need to do to make this happen, particularly in regards to childcare.  I filled in the relevant forms for the surgery today, and will be seen very soon for an anaesthetic pre-assessment and a lengthy chat with the stoma nurses.

We are both feeling pretty sad today.  I have focused on the worst throughout the last three weeks and actually having my colon removed was one of the least bad potential outcomes.  My husband focused on the most optimistic outcomes, so hearing about the colon operation wasn't great.  Regardless, the details of the condition, surgery, recovery times etc were quite sobering.  We are also sad that this next year will probably see a great deal of changes for our daughters, from their perspective not so great.

I also have renewed appreciation for our health care system.  There is no way that any of this would have been faster in the private system.