This is a difficult post to write because I don't want to appear to be insensative to other sufferers but at the same time I think my experience might give hope to people in the same situation.
I was diagnosed with bowel cancer in December and had the tumour successfully removed. But 7 lesions were found in my liver. After 6 chemo sessions there was no shrinkage so a second cathatar was placed in my hip that fed directly into the liver. 3 sessions later no change and the oncologist explained that I was inoperable. The lesions were too big, too widespread and dangerously close to the main blood suppliy. I understood what that meant in terms of my survival chances. As a single mother of three boys that was not easy news to hear. Not that it ever is of course.
Then after 3 more sessions everything changed. The lessions started to die. Two days ago I went into hospital to have the two lessions in the left liver burned away with radio frequency ablation and the right liver veins blocked to starve the right liver of blood. The idea is the the left liver will grow over the next month big enough to support me and then my right liver will be cut away (and the cancer with it). Incredibly when the surgeon looked at the left liver lessions one was benign and the other had disappeared.
I have gone from being a hopeless case to having a very good chance of recovery in the space of weeks after months of bad news.
I know this isn't always possible but I just wanted to say that there is hope often in the least expected cases.