Teaneck Man is Colorectal Cancer-free Just Days After Diagnosis..."Since Dr. Lee-Kong was able to surgically remove all the cancerous tissue and the cancer had not spread, Lenny didn’t need chemotherapy after the surgery"

Teaneck Man is Colorectal Cancer-free Just Days After Diagnosis

Published:

August 6, 2024

Lenny Croog likes to joke that he had colon cancer for four days. That’s because four days is all it took from the time he was diagnosed with stage two colon cancer to being cancer-free following robotic surgery at Hackensack University Medical Center.

In April 2023, the then 74-year-old Teaneck, New Jersey, resident was experiencing abdominal pain, nausea and constipation. It had been five years since his last colonoscopy, during which polyps were removed, but he had been feeling fine until his uncomfortable symptoms began that spring.

When he was 68, Lenny had had a stool test, which came back abnormal. A follow-up colonoscopy resulted in the removal of numerous precancerous polyps. Lenny has no family history of colorectal cancer, but it is not unusual for the cancer to develop in someone without a family history of it. Approximately 70% of colorectal cancers are sporadic—meaning they are not inherited.

Colonoscopy Confirms Cancer

Lenny had had regular colorectal cancer screenings until COVID-19 hit, but hadn’t had one since. Increasingly concerned by his symptoms, Lenny contacted his gastroenterologist in early June. Jeremiah Kurz, M.D. got Lenny into the office for an exam the following week. A colonoscopy was performed two days later.

“I woke up, and the doctor came over and said, ‘Lenny, you have colon cancer,’” Lenny says. “But he was already ready.” Dr. Kurz had called Steven Lee-Kong, M.D., a colorectal surgeon and division chief of colorectal surgery at Hackensack.

“As soon as I found the cancer, I reached out to Dr. Lee-Kong, and they took the ball and ran with it,” Dr. Kurz says. “So, four days after the colonoscopy, he was basically cured.”

Dr. Lee-Kong says that after Dr. Kurz called, his office got in for an appointment that same day. “Then he got all of his testing, and by Monday, we took him to the OR and he was home on Tuesday,” says Dr. Lee-Kong. “The care we were able to offer him was seamless—that's the kind of coordination of care that we pride ourselves on and can provide.”

The type of colorectal surgery Lenny had also contributed to his quick discharge from the hospital, explains Dr. Lee-Kong. “The benefits of robotic surgery are minimal scarring, less pain and a quicker return home,” he says.

Reassurance After Cancer Removal

Even with the whirlwind pace, Lenny says that Drs. Kurz and Lee-Kong, their teams and his oncologist, Tracy Proverbs-Singh, M.D.[1] , didn’t forget that a cancer diagnosis is overwhelming. “They were just so comforting and reassuring,” he says. “They made me feel that things were going to be okay, so I felt good about it.”

Following surgery, he could eat whatever he wanted as often as he wanted, but in smaller portions. The itching from his small abdominal incisions was more irritating than the slight pain he felt, Lenny says, and only three days later, he was driving again. Best of all, his constipation was gone. “My bowel movements were beautiful, which was a big thing to me,” he says.

Since Dr. Lee-Kong was able to surgically remove all the cancerous tissue and the cancer had not spread, Lenny didn’t need chemotherapy after the surgery. All his tests since the surgery continue to show no presence of cancer. “I was lucky that I got it then and [the margins were] so clear,” he says. “When they tell you to have a repeat colonoscopy in three to five years, you don’t have to wait five years. You can do it sooner.”