Cassidy Morrison Dailymail.Com Senior Health Reporter
November 10, 2023 18:18, updated November 10, 2023 18:24
- Doctors discover stage 3 colon cancer, requiring several years of chemotherapy
- Her uterus had to be removed because it had a tumor the size of a baseball that was “fixated” on it.
- Read more: Colorectal cancer to double in people under 40 by 2030
A Canadian woman who underwent colon repair surgery was shocked to wake up to find that doctors had removed her uterus.
Surgery to repair her ruptured colon revealed stage 3 colon cancer and a baseball-sized tumor in her uterus.
Doctors ordered her uterus and cervix to be removed, leaving the 38-year-old infertile.
Devlin Seal, a retired emergency medical technician in Alberta, said, “I couldn’t have a hysterectomy because I felt like having another child wasn’t an option.” Told.
Shea went to a local hospital for a stoma, a test in which doctors create an opening in her abdomen to allow her body’s waste to drain through her intestines.
When she woke up from surgery, she discovered that she had a baseball-sized tumor “stuck” in her uterus, and learned that doctors would have to remove her uterus and cervix in a hysterectomy.
Mrs. Seal Said Her heart sank when she heard the news from her husband, Greg. There is no indication yet whether the Sills plan to take legal action.
Prior to the surgery, Shea had experienced abdominal pain and constipation, but doctors initially thought it was another illness, such as Crohn’s disease.
During a procedure to surgically repair a hole in the lining of her colon, doctors discovered she had stage 3 colon cancer.
Doctors later said her uterus and fallopian tubes were “like cement” due to cancer and would need to be removed.
Shea was under anesthesia when the cancer was discovered, and her husband, Greg, was informed that the damage to her reproductive organs was irreversible.
“Okay, this is what’s happening. This is becoming more real,” Seal said, adding that his wife of 6 months “made it difficult for me to have to make that decision.” He added that he was worried that he would become angry and resentful. We were talking about having kids.
Devlin was also upset to learn that doctors were unable to retrieve healthy eggs from her ovaries before removing her uterus.
She said, “Did they take out some eggs so I can have children in the future?” For example, do they even think about these things?
The pain that robbed her of the ability to give birth naturally was made worse when Devlin learned she would need to undergo long-term chemotherapy for stage 3 colon cancer.
She told her TikTok followers: “Unless I want to survive this cancer, there is no hope of making it out of chemotherapy.”
“Given my family history of my father having cancer twice and my mother having colon cancer, they said radiation therapy was what I needed to do now.”
People with a family history of colorectal cancer approximately twice the risk To get it. People over the age of 50 are also more susceptible to this disease.
Colorectal cancer is the third most common type of cancer diagnosed in men and women in the United States.
In 2023, it is estimated that 107,000 new cases of colon cancer will be diagnosed, along with 46,000 new cases of rectal cancer.
Colon cancer incidence is rapidly increasing among young people, and scientists are still grappling with possible causes, including unhealthy lifestyle habits.
The American Cancer Society reported in March that the national colon cancer rate among 50-year-olds is now nearly 60 per 100,000.
For comparison, between 1975 and 1979, the rate was about 40 per 100,000 people. This represents a 50% increase in approximately 45 years.
About 43% of diagnoses were in people between 45 and 49 years old.
One of the things that makes colorectal cancer difficult to diagnose is its symptoms, which are often caused by other diseases.
Many young patients are often misdiagnosed because their symptoms resemble other diseases, resulting in delayed treatment and a lower chance of survival.
A 2019 study conducted by the American Cancer Society found that more than two-thirds of colon cancer patients see at least two doctors before receiving an accurate diagnosis, and some see as many as four doctors. Some patients reported having to attend medical appointments.
Just five years ago, the ACS, an influential organization that develops guidelines for appropriate treatment, revised its recommendations for colon cancer screening, lowering the age range from 50 to 45.
If detected early (stages 1 and 2) before it spreads to other parts of the body, the five-year survival rate for colon cancer is about 91 percent.
Stage 3 cancer means cancer cells are found in lymph nodes in surrounding tissue and is diagnosed with a 5-year survival rate of 72%.
If the cancer spreads further throughout the body, including the bones, liver, and lungs, the chance of survival plummets to 14%.
