Aftermath of bowel cancer.

Hi Sue321 and a very warm welcome to the Macmillan Community but sorry to hear about your diagnoses and your ongoing challenges.

Navigating the cancer journey can be such a stressful and challenging time but getting support from people who have walked the ‘exact same' cancer type journey can help a lot. (I have a completely different cancer).

The Community is divided into dedicated Cancer Specific Support Groups (Discussion Rooms) so can I recommend you join and post in our dedicated Bowel Cancer support group. This is a safe place to talk to others with a similar diagnosis, treatment experience, to ask questions and get support.

To connect in with the group click on this link> Bowel (colon and rectum) cancer then once the group page opens click on “Click to Join” when the black banner appears or “Join” under “Group Tools” (this all depends on the device you are using)

When you are ready you can introduce yourself by clicking “+new” or “+” in the top right next to the group title. You can copy and paste the text from this post into your new post.

The Macmillan Support Line is open 8am-8pm (timings may differ across services) 7 days a week on 0808 808 00 00. This service provides cancer information, practical information, emotional support or just a listening ear.

We also have our Ask an Expert section but do allow a few working days for a reply.

Talking to people face to face can be very helpful so do check to see if you have any Local Macmillan Support in your area, do also check for a local Maggie's Centre as these folks are amazing and give support to all the family.

Do get back to me if you need further help navigating the community.

Hello Sue and welcome. i too have bowl cancer. What you are feeling is perfectly normal, many people feel lost, frightened and anxious when all the meetings, tests, treatment and surgery are over as it feels like you have been cast adrift. But i would not think your oncologist would discharge you without future follow up tests if they were not confident about your treatment. I worked in healthcare for many years 5 in cancer, lost family and friends to it  yet when i was diagnosed 20 months ago apart from 3 of my closest friends, "they to had many years in health/cancer care" it took me nearly a year to tell family. Sue i would think the thought of cancer returning haunts many people, i cannot tell you how much you should share of your journey with your family only that for me it worked far better than i hoped. Sue if you do not feel it is time to let your family in could i suggest  you visit a local cancer drop in centre, Maggies are wonderful and you do not need an appointment, i use them  and  have counseling, which helped me through my dark days. I hope your cancer is gone for good and you find the support you need. None of us know how long we have so i try to make the most  of mine. please take care Eddie.

Hi Eddie, thankyou so much for your reply, i am not sure if i have been discharged or not all i know is after my op they said i would have follow up ct's and colonoscopies for 5 years and that time is now up so not sure what the next steps are, i think that is one of the reasons i feel so unsure about things, especially since covid seems to have made the hospital system all messed up. Like you said most people who have had a type of cancer are probably fearful of it returning and it may just be something i have to come to terms with, but i will certainly look into maggies though as i have heard good things about them. Once again thankyou for your reply it makes a difference knowing that there are others out there that understsnd how you feel and like i said my family are so supportive and caring but even they have said themselves they can give me loads of love but can never really know exactly how i feel as they were on the other side of cancer even though they try. Hope everything is well with you, take care Sue.

Hi Sue, It's true of many things that unless you have been there you  don't understand but i think having cancer is so different. Like you say we don't know if we may get a recurrence and it doesn't make sense  to worry about something that may never happen. As you probably know after five years your risk of bowl cancer returning falls and i have heard that taking asprin can also help with prevention. Sue i cry all the time in front of family and friends and for me it acts as a release and i feel so much better after, much better than bottling up your emotions. I'm sure you will like Maggies. take care, Eddie