Hi,
My extremely active and fit 69 year old dad, diagnosed with bowel cancer in Jan, was advised that he could have an operation, a temporary colostomy bag, no chemo, reversal & a 6 monthly check. The operation took place end of Feb and all looked well, my mother, brother and me visited that night and he was awake, alert and good humoured. I was surprised how well he looked after a big operation. The following morning a phone call confirmed that over night his blood pressure had dropped dangerously low and that we should get to the hospital. He was on life support and our world was turned upside-down. His colon had not cleared prior to the op' resulting in septic shock. We were told he could die that day, I knew he wouldn't but never-the-less an extremely tense and anxious week followed. A further month on an ICU ward and he was sent home, albeit with a chest infection which developed until he couldn't breathe, another week in hospital to drain the infection. While this was going on the emphasis was put on him to build himself up to enable chemotherapy as he was showing positive in 8/18 lymph nodes. He has now been told this would have only been effective up to 6 weeks after the initial operation, clearly impossible in his current weakend state. They say his own body may fight this itself and they'll review in Sept.
I'm sorry this is long winded but I wanted to explain the scenario, does anyone have any similar experience and is this a situation we can hope will get better? We put our faith in the professionals from day one but seem to have been built up and knocked down from day one. The care he received after the operation was A1 and he still respects his surgeon, I am not so benevolant.
I stay positive when I am with him but know that he uncharacteristically, but understandably, breaks down when he's with my mum and his own thoughts.
Thanks for any advice/observation/experience
N
