Nearing the end of my treatment but scared of surgery
Hi all, haven’t updated in a while. Was diagnosed nearly a year ago with stage 4A rectal cancer with liver mets. 32 years old.
Everything so far has gone tremendously well since last November when my rectal tumor was discovered. The lesions originally found in my liver have completely resolved and have remained this way for several months now. Completed chemo in July and radiation in September. The original rectal tumor has shrunk to what my surgeon describes as an ulcer.
I have not received any bad news since day 1. My oncologist said they were aiming for curative measures and so far that’s how it’s been looking. Though yesterday I met with a liver surgeon and some of the conversation spooked me a little.
This surgeon was very kind and I feel comfortable. Though during my consultation he put my colon surgeon on the phone to discuss my case and he mentioned how he’s seen cases like mine go south post surgery. I didn’t fully understand the conversation but what I did pick up on is that their concerns right now are that my liver lesions could come back after surgery since my body will be in an immunocompromised state.
Of course they have a plan in place: closely monitor me post surgery. If something were to pop up in my liver: operate ASAP. As of right now they’re of the opinion that no surgery is necessary on the liver since there’s nothing there to remove (that they can see anyway). I just became concerned because my colon surgeon never mentioned this to me in the two times I have met with him, and in fact he was super optimistic about me case and said I should feel secure and happy about how things have been going.
Idk I feel like I’m ranting a little but considering I’ve not received any negative news about my situation since the beginning, anything that sounds negative right now feels like a gut punch.
Posted Nov 14, 2025, 6:51 PM UTC