Hello
Haven't had a meeting with the MDT yet but looks like I have bowel cancer.
Some of my friends and my husband are aware and are trying to be really helpful and supportive.
But, I have a feeling that they are possibly on apposing sides. Some of my friends are quite anti cancer treatments and are advising me to do other things. My husband is the other way and will want me to put put all of my trust in the doctors.
Right now, I'm being advised to drink alkaline water. But, looking it up, it states that doing that reduces the absorption of cancer meds. I haven't started any treatment yet. So, is it OK to change to alkaline water? And would I be able to drink it during treatment?
Hi RosieL25 and welcome to the community.
I’m sorry to read you might be facing a cancer diagnosis, and I notice that you have also asked our nurses if they can provide clarity around the advice you are getting, so they should reply soon.
An MDT meeting is a meeting of professionals involved in your care, and these meetings consider a number of patients. As a patient, you won’t be involved in the meeting yourself, but you would normally have an appointment with a consultant to discuss the outcome, after your test results/scan results etc have been discussed and a plan of action determined.
Members of the forum are all people who have been affected by cancer, either as patients or carers, so are not in a position to give advice on what you should or shouldn’t do. Always, as a patient, you have the right to choose whatever treatment path you wish-and you can refuse any treatment you are not comfortable with.
The best thing for you would be to wait to hear the outcome of the MDT and what the plan is, and discuss any changes you might want to make with your consultant. Sometimes we can have well meaning friends who want to give all sorts of advice based on what they’ve read online, but they are not you and don’t have the same potential diagnosis.
Ultimately it is up to you to decide what you want to do, but personally I’d want to discuss this with the professionals who are dealing with cancer and treatment every day as experts in their field.
Sarah xx
It’s natural to be in a state of panic at the moment, but that’s understandable when you don’t yet have all the information you need.
I appreciate there can be a temptation to go online and look for information, that’s understandable too, but it can be like going down a rabbit hole of “information” which might be neither relevant nor helpful for you at the moment. Some might be outright dangerous.
The most important thing for you will be to make informed decisions about everything based on available evidence, proven success of treatments etc. I hope you’ll hear soon about your results and plan-waiting is never easy!
Sarah xx
