Quick action removes stage II colon cancer

Lynn couldn't eat. She was nauseous and felt full all the time. Soon, she was exhausted. For more than a month, she had trouble even getting out of bed. She tried to wait it out, figuring it was some kind of flu. She slept all the time. It didn't go away. And the 69-year-old was used to moving and getting things done. Active in her community and her garden, this new sedentary lifestyle full of pain just wasn't her.

“Finally, I thought, I can't take not having any oomph anymore,” she said.

She went to an emergency room, but they couldn't find anything. They didn't do any tests, she said. They just did a perfunctory check and sent her home. They didn't know what was wrong with her but assumed it would resolve itself.

It didn't.

“I had a gastroenterologist, so I went to see him,” she said. “He checked my stomach, started pressing on it, but I couldn't even let him touch it. That's when he sent me to the St. Vincent's Medical Center emergency room.”

St. Vincent's did a raft of tests — a CT scan, bloodwork, a colonoscopy, labs, the works. And within a week, Lynn was scheduled for surgery. She had a large obstruction in her colon. It was pressing on her stomach, invading her abdominal wall.

“When I saw her, I could tell that something needed to be done urgently,” said Dr. Andrea Marcus, a colon and rectal surgeon at Hartford HealthCare Digestive Health Institute. “I spent a good amount of time with her and her husband. She had to have a pre-op appointment, scans done, labs done. Everyone mobilized quickly.”

Lynn had stage 2 colon cancer.

“Getting sick was a blessing in disguise because if I didn't get sick, it probably would have spread,” she said.

No one likes colonoscopies, especially not Lynn. So she hadn't had one in decades.

“I'm not one that goes for colonoscopies,” she said. “I always figured if it happens it happens, and it happened. My two doctors saved my life. I want to make other people aware to go have a colonoscopy and get checked. Because this could have gone badly.”

“Colon cancer is becoming more and more common,” Marcus said. “We are seeing it in younger patients, so we have lowered the age for colonoscopies to 45 from 50. With colonoscopy, the goal is to prevent deaths from colon cancer, prevent the cancer altogether.”

Colonoscopies allow healthcare professionals to find and remove precancerous polyps before they become cancer. So, by getting regular colonoscopies, people aren't just screening for cancer, they are actively stopping it from developing.

“I will be going for colonoscopies from here on out,” Lynn said. “I want people to be aware of this. If I can save one person, then I did my job.”

Marcus was able to robotically operate on Lynn and remove the entire obstruction. The cancer had not spread to her lymph nodes.

“We use what's called a surgical robot that is controlled fully by the surgeon,” Marcus said. “I sit at a console next to the patient and control the robotic arms. Because the robot is able to precisely dissect the tissues, patients often have less pain and a faster recovery. The robot offers more precision than laparoscopy.”

Lynn stayed six days in the hospital, recovering, and says her experience with St. Vincent's Medical Center was unparalleled.

“The staff was very compassionate. It was amazing,” she said. “When I was in the hospital, at one point, I had a meltdown. I just kept crying and crying, thinking I would never be able to get a normal life again. My nurse got the physician's assistant, and he sat with me and talked with me for a half hour. He took me for a walk down the hall. He took the time to listen to what I was feeling. And I've never had that type of hospital situation. I can't praise them enough.”

Lynn is recuperating at home now. Her months-long bedrest left her muscles weakened, so she uses a cane currently, but is working on her strength. She can walk the stairs in her home and get up and about without help.

“It's just a good feeling to walk and dust a shelf, or go in the kitchen and make pasta,” she said. “It sounds like little things, but, right now, to me, those are big things. And with spring coming, my goal is to be outside, working in my garden.”

Because of the quick work by the holistic team at Hartford HealthCare, she will be.This is just one example of Hartford HealthCare St. Vincent’s Medical Center bringing more specialists and providers to the community.

Tune into Hartford HealthCare St. Vincent’s Medical Center’s Facebook Live discussion on colon cancer, where you can ask your questions, noon, Thursday, March 27.

Click HERE to schedule a colonoscopy near you today!