Today marks 1 year and 5 months since the official confirmation of my cancer diagnosis. I am still cancer-free; the most recent scan on 12/9 was clear. The longer I live without a recurrence the better the chances that it won't come back.
In 2017 I'm (hopefully) getting rid of the new, anatomically speaking, and getting back to my old self. If all goes well I'll be almost all the way there on Friday, February 24th. That is when I'll have the surgery to reconnect. It's also my son's 5th birthday, so, auspicious.
There is no guarantee of success. It could go a few different ways:
1) they open me up and can't see what they need to see, thanks to scarring, adhesions, etc. - they'd close me back up and that's that; or
2) they can see what they need to but there isn't enough length left to reconnect - in this case they'll remove my colon all together and reconnect using my small intestine instead; or
3) they can see what they need to, there's enough length, they reconnect, reversing the existing colostomy in the process, and give me an ileostomy for a few weeks while everything heals. The ileostomy would be reversed 8-12 weeks later.
#3 is ideal. #2 would be different but doable. I wouldn't be happy with #1, but if it happens, I'd accept it in time. Since scheduling the surgery I've become more frustrated with having an ostomy. I think that means attempting the reversal is the right decision. My surgeon gives me a 90% chance of success. I would have done it for 50%.
