Dad and his hospital journey

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Hi everyone,

I’m relatively recent to the cancer support groups so I thought I should introduce myself. My name’s Isabel and I’m 17 and dealing with the diagnosis/treatment of my Dad’s bowel cancer journey. He was diagnosed in May of this year and was told it was Stage 2 at first. So far his chemo had been going really well and was showing signs of the tumour shrinking. And so he had the operation to remove the tumour at the start of November.

At first everything seemed to be going well. However a week into his recovery, the nurses realised he was not absorbing any of the food and so lost 3 stone in a matter of days. Now he’s back at home but is still really struggling with coming to terms with his new stoma bag and life with a 3 month old baby as well! There are still many complications and I’m absolutely terrified incase the same thing happens again and he is still really ill. Or if they didn’t catch all of the local lymph nodes which had cancer in them too and could cause it to spread even further.

if anyone has similar stories etc to share I’d be really grateful!

Good luck to everyone on their own journeys

court over 2 years ago

Hi itsgoingtobeok

Welcome to the forum . I think it’s very early days in your dads recovery . It does take it out of you seeing them go through treatment but honestly all of a sudden they gain their strength back , gain weight again and as others report here learn to manage their stoma .

The cancer has been removed and that’s the main issue and big step forward in achieving a full recovery . In bowel cancer the chances of recurrence drops off after two years so it does get better and better .

My mum’s cancer had spread at diagnosis but that was back in 2009 and she is still here keeping a close eye on us all . They have robust scanning to keep a close eye on things and if need be get on top of it before it becomes a problem .

For now he is in a good place and the anxiety you feel just now settles .

If you ever need to chat or get support please contact our helpline staff on 0808 808 0000

take care ,

Court

Helpline Number 0808 808 0000

Cecile over 2 years ago

Hi Isabel! I just wanted to say welcome to the group! My journey is a bit different as I was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer and had surgery followed by chemo. I was lucky as I didn't need a stoma but there are many people on this forum with stoma. I'm afraid cancer mean lots of up and downs, but it sounds like it is still early days post surgery for your Dad and it will take a bit of time to recover and adjust to the stoma. I have 3 kids aged 9 to 16 and they keep me busy, which helps with trying to maintain a normal life and keep my mind off the disease. Hopefully your Dad will feel better soon and able to enjoy the precious times with a 3-months old baby. My 16 year old daughter tends to keep everything to herself and not talk about it so I think it is great that you have joined to chat; it difficult for the whole family but it will help you cope with it all.

Take care

Cecile x

Kareno62 over 2 years ago

itsgoingtobeokHi Isabel and a warm welcome from me too. Yes the operation can really take it out of you but I’m sure your dad will start to feel much better soon and start to put some weight back on - if you click on my name then you’ll see that I had a couple of set backs when I had my op 6 years ago.

The stoma bag can be a little daunting at first but he’ll soon get used to it and get into a routine. There’s a board on here for people with stomas and everyone’s happy to share advice and top tips

https://community.macmillan.org.uk/cancer_experiences/ileostomy-and-colostomy-discussions-forum

The surgeon will have made sure that he removed all the tumour and some of the surrounding area too. Has the lab report confirmed if your dad had any lymph nodes affected?

Glad you’ve joined us here and if there’s anythung you’re worried about please ask - there is nothing too daft or embarrassing!

Take care

Karen x

Macmillan Support Line - 0808 808 00 00, 7 days a week between 8am-8pm

itsgoingtobeok over 2 years ago in reply to Kareno62

Hi Karen and thank you to everyone who’s replied, it’s been so calming to know that there are so many people dealing with the same thing.

Unfortunately the lab report did show that the cancer had spread to local lymph nodes surrounding the bowel, but these were hopefully all removed.

In other news, my Dad has had to be taken back to the hospital (thankfully this time it’s only 5 minutes away and not 2 hours!). The nurses and doctors have said that they don’t know how long he’ll be in the hospital for as they need to try new medication and a new diet to keep his stoma output low. I’m not sure what the future holds currently and it’s still so scary to not know when he’ll be home or if he’ll be home for Christmas.

i wonder if anyone else has experience with a loved one being in hospital for Christmas just to listen to their stories?

Thank you so much again for your kind words, it really does mean the world

Isabel

CrumpetsOrToast over 2 years ago in reply to itsgoingtobeok

Hi itsgoingtobeok.

Welcome to the forum and sorry to hear about your dad.

If you click on our names, you should see a liitle more about our situations. You're welcome to private message (request "friend") if you ever find a topic or question you'd prefer to ask someone less publically.

As for Christmas - i hoping not to have a stay (as my hospital allows no visitors) but I do have treatment planned throughout. To keep things in my control and positive, i've opted to reschedule Xmas + NY to 25th June and 1st July... a time when i'm hopefully no where near hospital. I've also asked friends and family to swop gifts for donations to various cancer charities, so we all get to share the feel good/helping vibes. Could something similar help for your family?

All the best for now