I've been reading through some of the forums, groups on here, trying to get some sort of handle on what's happening in our world. Some heart warming stuff! Hasn't made me decide yet whether to go for the chemo or not.
I don't feel at this time that it's a roller coaster ride emotionally, while coming to terms with the changes to come in my lifestyle......
Advice about chemo or not,comments generally or personal experence would be very welcome.
FormerMember
I had a different cancer to you but a similar experience. Take it on or leave it alone. My surgery came after the chemo.
You need to be fully aware of the facts concerning your cancer in order to make an informed decision.
One thing that helped me to decide was I wrote down on a piece of paper all the questions I could think of. My wife did the same thing. Jointly we came up with a comprehensive series of questions which we asked of the surgeon. After this we wrote down all the positive things on 1 side of a piece of paper and all the negative things on the other side. After that the decision was easy; I had the chemo.
From the questions it was apparent that the stronger I was prior to chemo, the better I would tolerate the stuff. I took regular exercise in the very short time before starting chemo but kept up the exercise during the 3 months of having it. I ate a more balanced diet and kept up a high fluid intake.
The upshot was that chemo was a breeze for me. It also worked very well on my tumour and I had very few side effects.
I'm not saying it will be the same for you, each person is different and their respective cancers behave differently too probably.
Get the facts and do what you believe is best for YOU !!!
I hope the outcome is successful for you which ever course you decide to follow. Best of luck!!!
Cheers, Mike
PS: One question I asked of 2 surgeons a GP and an Oncologist was, "If I was your dad what would you advise me to do?"
I have bowel cancer with liver and lung mets. I had chemo (oxaliplatin and capecitabine) first and as Mike said I kept up the excercise and went to work thru the 4 cycles ( but not on one!! ). I had virtually no side fx. Then I had combined liver and bowel op, I was terrified but the surgeon said he would bring his mother to Kings to have an op and would go there himself. Anyway it was sucessful in removing bowel tumour and 2 from liver.The tumours didn't shrink with the chemo but when they looked at them under the microscope a good proportion was dead so it had worked, I went back on chemo willingly as I wasn't worried by the side fx but I am getting some now - but minor. I want the lung tumour to go and to mop up any micro mets so I can be free of this disease and the journey has not proved too difficult so far.However some people decide not to do it this way,that is their choice but I couldn't face knowing that there was an avenue I had not explored. I know there are a lot of alternative paths but I don't hear that they work. The best way for me is to keep up the excercise, eat a good balanced diet and maintain a positive attitude and it seems to help. Everybody is different with different reactions to chemo and to life itself. I'm not sure if this helps but this has been my experience.
