A new diagnosis of colon cancer

Hi and a very warm welcome to the online community

It's perfectly normal to be nervous waiting for your treatment plan but hopefully once that's in place you'll feel more in control.

Could I suggest that you join our bowel cancer group where you can ask questions, share experiences and get support form others with this type of cancer.

To join this group just click on the link I've created and then choose 'join this group' on the page that opens. You can then post by selecting 'start a discussion' and reply to existing posts by choosing 'reply'.

When you have a minute it would be really useful if could pop something about your journey so far into your profile as it really helps others when answering or looking for someone with a similar diagnosis. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Edit Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.

x

Dear Fifibluebell

Firstly welcome to the community.  Secondly, sorry to see you on here, it’s somewhere none of us would be with choice.  For me initial diagnosis of Sigmoid tumour  was 12/12/17, the MRI/CT scan was 21/12/17 & the meeting with the surgeon was on 4/01 - that was with Xmas/New Year bank holidays.  Those were the longest days by far.  You will feel better with more knowledge and a clearer idea of what is to happen.  

DO NOT GOOGLE ANYTHING.  If you have any questions, and you will do,  ask the team who will care for you, or the support lines on here.  Google is to be avoided at all costs, I looked after surgery.  My favourite was a woman living on the California/Arizona border.  She advised giving up all food completely and sitting outside for 8 hours a day to take in the 'nutrients sent by nature', clearly she had never wintered in Liverpool!   

Keep a paper/pen handy & jot questions down as they ‘occur’ to you; you don’t have to ask them all.  Make sure someone goes with you to the meeting armed with pen/paper - ask them to note down what is said - especially any letters/numbers referring to your diagnosis.  There will be a colorectal nurse present, make sure you get their name, number & email address, they are incredibly useful people.

There are a couple of, I think, important things you should do.  A cancer diagnosis means you are entitled to free prescriptions, book an appointment with your GP to get the necessary form.  Consider sleeping tablets.  I’d never taken them in my life, but got some from my GP & took one on a couple of occasions.  You need to get some sleep. Try to keep busy on routine things - only an idiot would say don't worry, but I'm sure the reality will be better than you expect.  You may find yourself getting irked by trivial things.  I was diagnosed at Xmas - the radio kept telling me it was, ‘the most wonderful time of year’, I didn’t agree.  Also i suddenly noticed the sheer amount of ‘cancer adverts’ one encounters on a daily basis, they suddenly seemed to be everywhere.  I also got exasperated with the hand holding/head to one side type offering advice such as ‘be brave’ as if it was a conscious choice to get cancer.

Try to focus on things you do as a family.  For my family it is football.  I went back to Anfield a month to the day after surgery - recovery is that quick.  The surgery was nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be, the most painful moment was when I persuaded my wife, a hardworking doctor, to take a break from looking after me and go with the rest of the family to see LFC Vs Spurs.  Mo Salah scored a brilliant goal in injury time and I inadvisably tried to leap off the sofa in delight; BIG mistake, that hurt. 

Hospitals are hot, the Royal Liverpool was at sauna level in January!  This and the fact you hardly eat anything at first meant drinks are really important.  The g/f of one of my son's had a relation who had just had the same operation - she visited armed with frozen fruit drinks one day & a Costa to go go another; both wonderful  .

The period which you are enduring is by far the worst.  Things DO get better.  In January 18 my thoughts/worries were everywhere, now they’re focused on only one thing, How long can we keep this great season going? The waiting is awful but somehow it passes.  Now I think in the future if 2018 is mentioned my first thoughts will not be about the diagnosis & surgery, instead they will be those fantastic nights when Liverpool rolled back the years and destroyed Man City & Roma in Europe .

Hope everything goes as well as possible - if there's anything I can help with please ask.

YNWA

Dear YNWA, that it the kindest most informative message I could have hoped for. Thank you so much. I shall absolutely take note of everything you have said. Again, thank you xxx

Sorry Fifibluebell I forgot to put my name - it’s Mike.  A couple of other things I forgot - try to keep as fit as possible, before and after treatment; my wife and me usually complete 10,000 steps a day.  In a fit of ‘morphine induced euphoria’ I decided to do a run for Cancer Research.  Before starting some training I thought I disliked running, soon after starting I realised I was wrong; I absolutely detest it.  I did see it through thanks to the free ‘couch to 5k’ app - it works!  Secondly you are going to sleep a great deal after surgery.  I went from my usual 12.00 - 6.30 to 10.00 -8.30 with substantial naps during the day.  Lastly, your modified bowel will not corespond to your current one.  My bowel now believes optimum time for activation is 3.00 am - ho hum.

keep the forum updated as to how it goes - there are a lot more ‘readers, than ‘posters’ on here, so your story is likely to be that of several others.

YNWA

Mike