Meeting the Surgeon

Yesterday, I went to Marietta to meet my surgeon, Dr. L. He was very personable and easy to talk to. I appreciated that he let me and my mom both ask as many questions as we needed. We both felt at ease after meeting him. He did emphasize that this is a BIG DEAL surgery and not something to enter into lightly. Also, he kept mentioning that none of the options available are "perfect", but I guess they all beat the other option (cancer) hands down!

One thing that I was a little disappointed about is that he won't do the operation laparoscopically. I assumed that most surgeries are now done laparoscopically, but apparently that is not the case with this operation. He also mentioned that there are no Colorectal Surgeons in the area that will do this operation laparoscopically (there are some general surgeons, but this is such a highly specialized operation, I want someone who really knows what they are doing). So, instead of having several small incisions and one medium incision below my pant line, I will have one long scar from just above my belly button down to my pubic bone. Not ideal cosmetically, but it makes for a shorter operation. I have heard that recovery is a little harder with the open surgery, but I will just have to tough it out.

Also, I had hoped there was a small chance he would agree to a "right hemi-colectomy" which would only remove half of my colon. This is a much simpler operation and requires no ileostomy and only one operation. However, because I have HGD accompanied by UC and PSC, there is literally no surgeon that would agree to only take half because of the risk of metachronous cancer/dysplasia (meaning it develops later down the road). So, it is decided that the only option is a total proctocolectomy (taking everything!).

Finally, they set me up an appointment to go meet with a stoma nurse at the hospital. This will allow me a chance to see the bag that I will be living with for several months between surgeries. The nurses at the hospital will help me until I am discharged following the first surgery, but after I go home, I will be mostly on my own. This is just a chance to get used to the bag while not in the hospital.

All that is left now is to schedule a date for surgery #1. I am hoping to have the surgery done toward the end of the semester (either November or December). This gives me the chance to plan my recovery time around school holidays and hopefully avoid missing too many days. I am also thinking that I may be able to defer surgery #2 until next summer if possible. However, this will depend on a lot of things, so for now I am going to worry about the first operation.