Stage 4 bowel cancer with NED at present. Diagnosed on 13th March. And emergency surgery with stoma a day later. Following day my father passed also from cancer. And this was devastating. But from a hospital bed and 12 hr op. There was nothing I could do. Left hospital following week. And got to attend his funeral. Still not feeling anything tbh. In the weeks that followed seemed to be doing ok. And even managed a big family holiday in June. Which I loved and appreciated all my family doing. I was asked to do adjuvant chemo. Which I refused. As I had to watch my mum die after one session gave her sepsis. And my uncle the same. Was told basically by oncology if I did or didn’t take it.There was only a 14% difference in it coming back or not. As it was stage 4 it’s was always going to come back. I was told by surgeon I would get 6 month scan and colonoscopy. But had appt last week and only did bloods. I asked why n was told that it would be a year before I got these. I’m not spiralling and not sleeping. With a constant ball of stress in my stomach. I’m not eating or sleeping properly. And just really struggling to get out of bed. I just feel like I’m in a limbo and can’t look forward . As it feels every day is closer to the 5 years stat I was given. I can’t do this much longer
Hi Timmy te30a07 and a very warm welcome to the Macmillan Community but sorry to hear about your journey to date.
Navigating a cancer journey can be such a stressful and challenging time but getting support from people who have walked or are walking the ‘exact same' journey can help a lot. (I have a completely different cancer).
The Community is actually divided into dedicated Support Groups (Discussion Rooms) so can I recommend that you look to join and put up your own post in our dedicated……
Bowel (colon and rectum) cancer
Ileostomy, colostomy and stoma support
Living with incurable cancer - incurable patients only
……. Support Groups.
These groups are safe places to talk to others with a similar diagnosis, treatment experience, to ask questions and get support.
To connect in with the groups please click on the links above……. then and once the group page opens you will see a [Black - Click to Join - Banner] at the bottom of the page, click in this box and this will then confirm that you have joined the group.
You can then introduce yourself to the group by putting up your very own post by clicking [+ Create new post] or [+] in the top right of the group page.
You can copy and paste the text from this post into your new post.
The Macmillan Support Line is open between 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, benefits/financial/work guidance or just a listening ear.
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.
Do get back to me if you need further help navigating the community.
