Hi,
I was diagnosed with bowel cancer in June this year. Only discovered because i was having terrible stomach aches / diarrhoea / sickness etc during the whole of May. After being admitted to hospital on the second occasion i was told i had a complete blockage in the last part of small intestine where it joins the large intestine and had to have major surgery to have it all cut out along with my appendix. I was told after surgery that it was tumorous and i had 18 lymph nodes removed of which 6 were cancerous - likely to be stage 3 - told they couldn't be 100% sure they got it all but wanted to do 8 cycles of chemo as a sweep up to help to give me the best chances of getting rid of it.
Finally started chemo begin August as had to wait for my wound to completely heal first. I was put on Oxaliplatin / capecitabine (CAPEX) 100% - cycle 1 & 2 seemed okay with the basic side effects of this drug being pins & needles / numbness and advised to avoid touching or drinking anything cold. Cycle 3 hit me for six and i was really lethargic / tired / life less etc and bloods showed my platelets / neutrophils were very low and I was forced to have an additional 3 rest weeks until it was safe to continue. My chemo was reduced to 80% and continued on 11/11/22 then after 1 week i had a terrible tummy ache / back pains and was sick and went to a&e. Bloods taken / pain relief / CT scan was given and was told they ruled out Ischemia & ileitis being the cause for this outburst and was told more likely to be adhesions (scar tissue from op). I was kept in for observation and finally discharged but not long after leaving was called to return as docs had missed the 2nd addendum of the CT scan which mentioned ileitis and the oncology team wanted to see me.
After seeing the oncology team they said the CT was showing that it was ileitis (inflammation of the intestine) and they advised me to stop taking the rest of the tablets for cycle 4 as a precaution. After seeing my chemo consultant on Tuesday he said there is a risk if i continue with the chemo it could make the ileitis worse which could cause issues in the future. If i stop the chemo now i am also not giving myself the best outcome than if i complete all 8 cycles. If i continue they will reduce the chemo down to 50%. So i am in a bit of a dilemma and having to make a big decision.......just wondered if anyone has been put in a similar position and any words of advise?
Many thanks
