The Verdict

After my MRI and CT, my case went before Moffitt’s tumor board and I was recommended for surgery. I had another appointment with the surgeon to go over the details of my surgery and what to expect. One of my main questions was whether I would end up with an ostomy bag after surgery. Based on the location of my tumor, the doctor said there was about a 25% chance I would need an ostomy, and if I did, it most likely would be temporary. Obviously my main concern was getting rid of the cancer and just surviving, but I was relieved that the chances of needing a bag were low. If I needed one, then so be it. 

The doctor explained that my surgery would be a laparoscopic, robotic-assisted procedure, which would be converted to an open surgery if for some reason they could not do what needed to be done laparoscopically. The surgery would take about four to five hours. They would remove the lower part of my colon and upper part of my rectum (my tumor was right at the rectosigmoid junction, where the sigmoid colon and rectum meet), and would take a portion on either side in hopes of getting clear margins, meaning healthy, non-cancerous tissue on either side. She would also remove all of the lymph nodes in that region. I could expect to be in the hospital for two to five days following surgery. She recommended eight weeks off work for recovery. 

Surgery was scheduled for January 14, 2026. My surgery was scheduled for 7am, so my mom and I arrived somewhere around 5am. We walked into Moffitt and were greeted by someone with a clipboard, who checked my name off their list and told us to have a seat and someone would call us. This is pretty unusual, if you’ve ever had surgery or a procedure, usually you have to find the registration desk, wait in some kind of line, and then do all your paperwork. The experience at Moffitt felt very bespoke. We were soon called to go over a few details, and then were taken back to the pre-op area. I changed into a gown that hooked up to a warm air blower, which would keep my body temp up during surgery in the cold OR. The surgeon came in to say a quick hello, and pretty soon after that they gave me the good drugs and the rest is just a blur.

I remember waking up in recovery multiple times with alarms beeping because I kept falling asleep and forgetting to breathe. They gave me a lot of morphine. Eventually I woke up enough for them to wheel me out of recovery and to my actual hospital room. We had a view of Busch Gardens (in the distance)!

I spent three nights in the hospital, surgery was on Wednesday and I went home Saturday morning. The worst pain was from my incision sites and the gas they use during laparoscopic surgery to be able to see everything. I would say the recovery was very uncomfortable but overall not terribly painful. Moffitt really wants patients up and walking as soon as possible after surgery, so the PT team was in my room first thing on the morning after my surgery to get me moving. I made a few laps that day, but walking was painful and exhausting. Friday was better, I was upgraded from yellow to brown socks, meaning I could walk around on my own, and I was able to walk the halls quite a bit. On Saturday I was given the okay to go home, and I couldn’t wait to get home to my own couch and bed.

Now, the long wait for my pathology results. The pathology report was really important because if the cancer had not spread to my lymph nodes and had not gone through my colon wall, then I wouldn’t need chemo and my treatment would be over after surgery. If the cancer had spread beyond my colon, I would likely need chemo. My surgeon said pathology usually comes back 7-10 days after surgery, but mine took more than two weeks. I spent so much time in the portal refreshing my results. 

Eventually, the report showed up. I held my breath and opened it, quickly scanning for the bottom line. There it was: “Metastatic adenocarcinoma in thirteen of twenty-five lymph nodes.” I felt numb. This is not the news I was expecting. I had geared myself up mentally for this roller coaster to quickly jolt me to a stop after surgery. And it wasn’t just a little worse than we thought, it was A LOT worse. Spread to thirteen lymph nodes is significant. My cancer officially was staged as T3N2b, or stage 3c. 

My pathology report showed up in the portal at night, but my doctor called me first thing the next morning. She explained that because of the staging, treatment would now involve chemo, somewhere between three and six months. She would refer me to medical oncology for a consultation and we would go from there.

It obviously took some time to process this news. I was a little numb at first, once again it did not seem real. I had my breakdown moments when I prayed to whatever higher power is out there to just let me live. Eventually I calmed down. I can’t say I got used to the idea because some days I still think to myself, “what the fuck, do I really have cancer?” But it became just another thing that I was going to have to deal with. Another thing I would learn to endure.