Surgery - 5/29/08 1:30pm

2/27 - Talked to Dr. Robertson today about the surgery - he said that the incision would be from the bottom of the naval and down about 4 ". The pictures below are a sketch of what they will remove - my tumor is in about the same place as the picture. The reason that they remove such a large piece from the rectum to the colon is so they want to be sure to get all the cancer and margins, also to remove any lymph nodes that are affected. The reconnection issues are when the cancer is lower in the rectum and there is nothing to reconnect to, then there has to be a colostomy. Dr. said that after the operation that I would have to have an Ileostomy for about 5-6 weeks so that the surgery can have time to repair. The resection is done w/ a stapler and the skin has been radiated and he said they don't trust the connectivity.

As time gets closer I will add more..

5/28  Doing the ol' cleanout trick today to get ready for tomorrow - Surgery will be tomorrow @ 2pm.

Thanks everybody for all the prayers and good thoughts!!!!!!