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At age 30, Pat* experienced one of the greatest joys as well as one of the
greatest fears life has to offer.
Shortly after learning that she and her husband were expecting their first
child, Pat was diagnosed with cancer.
"It was such an emotionally trying time," she said. "While my
husband and I were thrilled to be expecting our first child, we were frightened.
We wondered if I would be able to carry our baby to term, and if the cancer
treatment would harm our child."
Pat began experiencing rectal bleeding, a common symptom of colorectal
cancer, before she was pregnant. However, like many people with rectal bleeding,
she assumed the cause was hemorrhoids and didn’t seek a doctor’s advice.
"Although I had been bleeding for nearly five months, I believed I was
too young to have anything more serious than hemorrhoids," said Pat.
However, when she became pregnant, Pat consulted a doctor about the bleeding.
The physician determined the cause: rectal cancer.
Pat’s local physician referred her to Victor W. Fazio, MD, chairman of the
Department of Colorectal Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic. He said he could
perform the delicate surgery without harming the baby, but she would have to
wait until after the first trimester of her pregnancy.
Pat had yet another concern: Would she need a permanent stoma and bag to
collect stool after surgery? A stoma is an opening in the abdominal wall through
which part of the bowel protrudes and bowel movements pass into an external
pouch. Many patients facing bowel surgery share Pat’s fear. Many colorectal
surgeons, however, now are committed to avoiding permanent stomas in patients
who require surgery to treat colorectal cancer in situations where it is safe to
do so.
Advances in surgical technique are so significant that 90 percent of people
with rectal cancer can have curative surgery without a permanent stoma, said
Fazio. While many patients do need a temporary stoma to allow the rectum and the
colon to heal after surgery, most undergo a second operation about 8 to 12 weeks
later to have the bowel reconnected.
Pat had a stoma throughout the remainder of her pregnancy — which ended in
what she calls the perfect birth of her son. Soon after, she underwent a second
surgery to reconnect her bowel.
*Not the patient’s real name. She asked that her name be kept confidential.
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