Reading too much into recieving a holistic care package

Hi Helenhorses, sorry to hear your husband has recently received a cancer diagnosis. I'm not too familiar with a holistic care package - did they elaborate on what this incorporates? I've never heard that before from ppl with either a good or bad prognosis so I don't think too much can be read into it.  Is this via the NHS or private health care? 

I do know that it's a very standard course of treatment to have chemo initially if lesions are found outside of the bowel. This is to stabilise and shrink before the next steps. I wouldn't read too much into the "so sorry" comment tbh. 

Hi Helenhorses

Welcome to the forum ! I have not actually heard that being used before in oncology but holistic care just means they are caring for all aspects of the condition and how it impacts you emotionally , physically and spiritually and that’s how they would structure his care. I used it in my previous job although it was a bit of a buzz word really ! 

If it has spread to other organs they won’t guarantee a cure but that does not mean it’s not treatable. If you click on my  user name you will see my mum was in treatment for quite a few years but they took very good care of her . We viewed it as a chronic condition . Going straight to chemotherapy was actually a very good plan as it allowed the visible disease to be targeted ! 

“Treatable “ has actually spanned over twelve years for my mum so it turned out to be a good plan going straight to chemotherapy although I will be honest at the beginning I was devastated! With time and hindsight she learnt to live with it as a chronic condition !

Send your husband our best wishes with his care and we have some good tips for chemotherapy we can share with you once you know a bit more about his cell type.

We are here for you too!

Take care ,

Court 

Thank you for your reply and how encouraging to read about your mum's "journey". Its difficult to ask questions when my hubby isn't. Men can be very stoic. His response is always it will be alright, and I'll support him in that. Chronic condition - that is a very applicable term to use. Many thanks again. 

Hi I had one of these and I’m stage 3 , it was to look at all my needs emotionally financially etc . I’ve had surgery and mop up chemo so definitely not incurable . My colorectal care team and Macmillan nurses are very pro active and offer a great service - perhaps yours are tooo x 

I agree there’s nothing to read into yet.  Holistic just means looking at all aspects of health and treatment (nutrition, chemo, operative, comfort, emotional, etc).  If he is having chemo you’ll learn there are many aspects well beyond the medicine- ways to reduce his discomfort from the side effects, etc.  Cancelling the operation just means they’ve decided to use chemo to shrink the tumors and blast the “grains” that may be floating around in his system first - and can usually then pick up surgery later.  The first thing I learned is you can’t do it all at once - your body has to recover from an operation before they can start chemo, and vice versa - usually there is about 8 weeks after one thing before your body is recovered enough to start the next thing.  So the team has to decide what comes first.  The chemo should hopefully start to shrink the main tumor- which could make the operation easier.  And it can halt or slow the further spread.  The time waiting between treatments is hard but you’ll see it is needed.  You asked about “stage.”  Typically any spread beyond the primary cancer is called “stage 4.”  But don’t worry about that phrase- yes it is serious and letting people know it is “stage 4” helps them realise it is serious.  However many years ago that often meant it was terminal - that is not the case any more and prognosis can be very good and curable, especially with bowel cancer.  I recommend you ask your doctor/team all your questions. They will know best what you are specifically dealing with.  Our doctor told us to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.  Best wishes!

Thanks for your reply. They are really helpful and give me the encouragement I needed - and I get to drop these positive facts into conversation with hubby. Xxxx

Thank you juppy.  Very informative. So glad I posted. Thank you again x