Bowel cancer returned

Hi 

Welcome to the forum . I am so sorry to hear your sister has had such difficult news and I have to say I am in pain for her to have been given some of that information on the phone but not to be able to immediately have her questions answered in person . So much work had gone into this process over the years to ensure this was carried out in a compassionate way and covid has undone a lot of that no matter how nice people are on the phone it can be a very tough way to hear and to still have questions . 

However it is a good juncture for your sister to consider if she wishes to hear a prognosis or not ! My mum had a spread to her liver which was substantial . She believed drs could diagnose her and prescribe treatment which she was fully compliant with but could not predict at that point in time how she would respond so she declined a prognosis. She told them that at the start of the meeting ! That did not prohibit them from telling her how serious it was , how advanced or what treatment they could give and the stage and grouping of the disease as was their clinical duty ! 
However some people do like to have a rough timescale ! I always encourage people to think this aspect through if they get the opportunity. The oncologist would discuss it with her if that was her wishes but she may need to state her wishes if she does not want to hear it . 

My mum was on a palliative pathway too but bowel cancer that has spread still has quite a lot of treatment options and you will infact see a subgroup of patients who continue on maintenance chemo for five and six years and continue to do well . Some people do respond well to chemo . However , sadly not all . 
Hopefully the will be able to tell her a bit more about her cell type as a lot more treatment options have become available for people who are suitable for Immunotherapy . With bowel cancer having a lot of different chemotherapy options it does give the oncologist a lot of different chemotherapy options to help manage the disease long term . It still remains very individual as it depends how she as an individual responds and for me that gave some hope ! 
https://bowelcancerorguk.s3.amazonaws.com/Publications/Treating_advanced_bowel_cancer_Bowel_Cancer_UK.pdf

I have linked in a booklet from Bowel cancer U.K. which is a very helpful and thorough read and gives a bit more insight into how disease that has spread can be managed .

I take it the lymphatic spread has not reach organs , but is in distant locations from the primary tumour . Because of my mum’s spread they went Straight to chemotherapy as it was systemic and they wanted to use that approach to tackle all parts of her body where microsatellite disease may be working and to also reign back in the visible disease . It was a good plan .

How did your sister find chemotherapy the first time .

Send her our support and we are here for you both .

It might surprise you but my mum was diagnosed back in 2009 and is still here . She was very responsive to chemotherapy and it opened up other options .

Take care ,

Court