Hi All. My name is Jack and a little under two weeks ago a tumour was found in my (33 year old) wife's colon during a colonoscopy investigating some adominal pain. A week later and she's had an extended right hemicolectomy and is now home recuperating well. It's been a whirlwind and I don't think it's really sunk in for either of us, but we've just just had the pathology results and have a follow-up meeting with our surgeon next week, then a referral to an oncologist.
The good news is it appears to have been caught early. The tumour was large (T3) but hadn't gone through the serosa (wall of the colon) and crucially it hadn't affected any lymph nodes (N0). I think that makes it a stage 2a, though that's just me googling. The histology also seems encouraging.
Ahead of our meeting next week I'd love to hear from anyone else that has gone through something similar. What should we be asking our oncologist, and is chemotherapy a given for a stage 2a?
It appears all the cancerous tissue was removed with a decent margin, and the CT scan and bloods were clear. However is chemo normally still recommended as a de-risking/insurance policy?
Pre-surgery (and pre-pathology results), it was said that any follow-up chemo would be less intensive than other forms, but what does that mean in reality?
Thank you for any help and advice,
Jack
Manly, Sydney
