Reviewer: Zhizhong Pan (Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Hospital)
Chinese people who were once the target of gastric cancer have now become a thorn in the side of bowel cancer.
I checked a data two days ago. The latest data released by the National Cancer Center: About 10,000 people are diagnosed with cancer every day in China. Among them, digestive tract cancer is the main burden of morbidity and death for Chinese residents. .
Suddenly remembered that I met an old lady. When I met her, she was in her 80s, but she was so bright that if I didn’t mention it deliberately, I might not have noticed that she was in her 30s. He was diagnosed with advanced colorectal cancer years ago. We listen to her tell her story.
First, the oncologist’s wife was found to have advanced colon cancer
“Colorectal cancer, is it me?”
“How come I have cancer, I’m a doctor!”
After getting sick, many people asked me how I felt when I was diagnosed. In fact, the first reaction was suspicion.
My husband and I are both doctors, and my husband is an oncologist. At that time, my husband and I were very busy, desperately trying to see a doctor and doing research, trying to make up for the ten years of the Cultural Revolution. We never thought that cancer would be related to us.
On April 29, 1988, I felt a faint pain in my abdomen, thought it was a roundworm, and took two deworming pills. But when I woke up the next day, the pain was even worse. My husband gave me an abdominal examination, and I laughed at his occupational disease.
40 minutes later, I had an ultrasound and a barium enema, and it turned out to be colon cancer, and the diagnosis was advanced. Don’t say I don’t believe it, relatives and friends doubt it.
Some friends asked me privately, “Are you two getting divorced?” Everyone knows that my husband is dealing with tumors. How can my disease be delayed until late? Find it?
I don’t know if I have been a doctor all my life, but I always thought it was a benign tumor and it would be fine if I cut it off. It wasn’t until my husband hurriedly ordered the operation that I realized that it might be more serious than I thought.
Image source: Zhanku Hailuo
Two or six hours of Weber surgery, hollowed out most of my abdominal cavity
On May 4, 4 days after my diagnosis, I was wheeled into the operating room. Later, the doctor who participated in the operation said that when the abdominal cavity was opened, it was found that the cancer grew on the transverse colon, and all of them had eroded into the duodenum.
Although my husband and colleagues performed the surgery, the five doctors on the operating table looked at the man standing next to him, who made the decision for me and said, “WHIPPLE surgery .”
Weber surgery, also known as pancreatoduodenectomy, is a major surgery to treat cancer of the head of the pancreas. The surgical contents include en bloc resection of the pancreatic head, distal stomach, duodenum, gallbladder, distal common bile duct, proximal jejunum, and focal lymph nodes. Both surgical resection and reconstruction are very difficult and time-consuming.
Six hours later, I came out of the operating room with tubes inserted all over my body, and my abdominal cavity was basically clean and there was nothing left, and the right half was hollowed out.
In order to prevent the spread of cancer, 1/3 of my stomach, pancreas head, gallbladder, common bile duct, duodenum, part of small intestine, right colon, including more than 30 abdominal cavity All lymph nodes were removed.
When I was unconscious, I didn’t know that I had experienced life and death, but when I heard about this mighty project, I was very fortunate. If I didn’t survive, I guess they won’t in the future. Do this operation again.
Three, pull colorful stools and live a colorful life
Because the surgical wound was too large, my stomach “strike”, so I had to insert a gastric tube for nutritional support.
It’s nothing, that kind of heart-piercing pain that still hurts when I think about it. Because the abdominal cavity has a large area of cleaning, the pain of the wound is unbearable. How painful is it? I can’t stand morphine.
I had a stomach tube for 28 days after surgery and couldn’t eat anything. They all say I’m sure I won’t live more than a year…
But my husband was so positive that I didn’t even have time to be afraid, so I was pulled into chemo. After one year of chemotherapy, anemia, abnormal liver function, vomiting, diarrhea, and hair loss appeared one after another. I was so weak that I couldn’t stand. People in their 50s had to start learning to walk.
But how lucky I was at that time, I just thought that I must live, nothing else matters, and living well is more important than anything else. But I underestimated the 6-hour operation. The intestines are short and excreted three minutes after drinking milk.
Moreover, if you eat anything, you will have diarrhea. If you eat red tomatoes, your stool will be red; if you eat green vegetables, your stool will be green.
I was joking with my friends that I was pulling colorful stools and living a colorful life.
I don’t know if that doesn’t count, the inability to absorb nutrients will soon punish me in other areas of my body. Osteoporosis, comminuted fractures, and after four or five consecutive fractures, all teeth were lost.
That was the hardest time, more painful than being diagnosed. When I was diagnosed, I had the surgery before I could react, and I didn’t have time to feel sorry for myself, but these successive sequelae were tormenting me, and even the strongest person couldn’t stand it.
Image source: Zhanku Hailuo
4. It has been 30 years since the surgery, and it is a miracle to reach today
Fortunately, there is Mr. In fact, since we got married, we spent half of our time going our separate ways, busy with our own work, and didn’t take much care of each other.
But since the diagnosis, my husband has turned from a workaholic to a warm man, and I have become his top priority. The old couple is actually the same as when they were in love.
Study the combination of donkey-hide gelatin, Gorgon, barley, lotus seeds, and yam every day, and tell me about the outside world while simmering the soup, which has become a daily program in our family.
I don’t know if it’s because of various problems in my body that I felt the love of Mr. in the soup, but I actually endured for five, ten, fifteen years…Unconsciously , next month will be 30 years.
In the past 30 years, I have battled and tolerated each other with colorectal cancer. Now I guess they are friends. It has been a lot better to me, and I can hardly see it in me. to it.
Over the years, I have often been asked how I did it. In fact, it is done step by step.
A cancer friend said that when he went to get the test report for the diagnosis, he wondered why the word cancer was written in such a large size. After a few years, he took out the diagnosis certificate and looked at it, only to find the words on it. Actually the same size.
When we cultivate the mentality of treating it as a cold or a fever, it can no longer scare people. So, I always say, fight for life, don’t be afraid of death; don’t care, don’t be careless.
No matter how sudden the cancer is, if you are scared at the moment, you must find a way to pull yourself out as soon as possible. Suffering from cancer already consumes physical strength, so you can’t save a little effort to compete with it. Cancer patients need the guidance of scientific spirit.
Image source: Zhanku Hailuo
5. Don’t get carried away when the hat of cancer is taken off
In addition, we have always advocated that after cancer patients are cured, they should return to society as normal people. In the first few years, I was wondering if we are really like normal people?
If you have cancer, you still have to put your body first. After all, it’s not that your body has any problems. If you feel uncomfortable, you should stop.
There was an old cancer friend who participated in the art team and was named “Anti-Cancer Star”. Later, the cancer recurred and left us.
She has always been optimistic and active. She has participated in various activities. I used to envy her optimism. Why did she leave so suddenly? After thinking about it, she may have gone too far and got carried away, after all, we are still cancer patients.
Don’t be careless if you can’t find cancer cells. Always hold the cancer hat in your hand and weigh it repeatedly. If you feel uncomfortable, don’t be brave. Just like car tires, if you don’t care, drive hard, and don’t maintain them, they will deteriorate quickly.
In the past, more people in our country would get stomach cancer, which was said to be poor cancer. But now the rich disease of colorectal cancer is increasing.
I am sharing my own experience, just want to tell the cancer friends who are unfortunate like me, no matter how sudden, no matter what stage it is, they must be actively treated and believe in science.
Today, cancer does not equal death. You see, I’m in my 80s now, and you must be better than my old lady.
*The content of this article is for the popularization of health knowledge and cannot be used as a specific diagnosis and treatment suggestion, nor can it replace the face-to-face consultation of a licensed physician, and is for reference only.
*The copyright of this article belongs to Tencent Medical Dictionary. Unauthorized reprinting by media is prohibited. Illegal reprinting will be investigated for legal responsibility according to law. Individuals are welcome to forward to the circle of friends.
*Welcome to search on WeChat and pay attention to the public account “Tencent Medical Code” to get more knowledge about health science.