Newly diagnosed bowel cancer

Welcome to the forum! I was diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer 4 years ago and that period between the diagnosis and starting treatment was definitely the worse part of it! The wait for appointments and results does not get easier! I initially had surgery and chemo and although I imagined the worse, chemo was not as bad as I expected. I had another 12 cycles of chemo this year, finished in March and I managed to keep working part-time, and run around the kids. I am now waiting to start some radiotherapy. Everyone copes differently with treatment but they are things that can be done to help. This forum is a great support and you can ask any question, there is always someone to respond and share their experience.

Take care

Cecile xx

Thank you for your reply Cecile.

I am still trying to get my head around everything at the moment. 

My husband is trying his best to stay positive while I am a mess. We have a 14 year old son which I was dreading telling but he has been amazing and knows his dad is a fighter.

It ia hard to know how the treatment is going to effect people, I know my husband will still want to run around and not be dependent too much on people.

Thank you so much for your kind words, and good luck with the radiotherapy.

Take care

Kell

Yes, it is hard for the kids as well. Mine were 12, 10 and 6 when I first was diagnosed, my eldest is now 16 and she has struggled the most with it. She never talks about it, bottles it all up, but the last couple of year have been difficult for her. The other two talk about it openly and I think it helps everyone cope with it all. I've got a chemo port under my skin below the collar bone and they even joke about it, calling it Area 51! I found it did help to keep active and try to carry on with every day thinks but there has been times when I have just had to stop and rest, however frustrating it got. It is good news that the cancer hasn't spread anywhere else - stay positive!

Cecile x

Hi Kell and welcome to the board. Bowel cancer is notoriously slow growing but very treatable and no spread is good news. My tumour was 4cm but shrank to 1cm after chemoradiotherapy but size does not matter and is not an indication of severity.

I was diagnosed with stage 3 in 2016 and had chemoradiotherapy, surgery with temporary stoma, post-op chemo then my stoma reversed. It was a tough 12 months but I decided ‘it is what it is’ and tried to carry on life as normal where I could. I carried on working part-time in an office and found it helped as a distraction although I was lucky not to suffer too badly with any side effects.

I became friends with 2 ladies on the bowel cancer uk board who were also stage 3 and we’re all still ned (no evidence of disease)

Please keep posting and we’ll help and support you both through this

Take care

Karen x

I was so scared in telling our son but he has been absolutely amazing.

I found being absolutely straight with him and honest with him he has taken it in and understands more than I thought he would.

It is just the waiting now to find out what treatment plan he is going to have.

Good luck with the rest of your treatment, and thank you so much in taking the time to reply to me. 

Kell 

Hi Karen,

Thank you for getting in touch, I hope you are well.

We only found out on Thursday the diagnosis so it is all quite new to us.

We are waiting for his 1st appointment to discuss the treatment plan.

To be honest most of what was talked about on Thursday is a bit of a blur and all I remember hearing is bowel cancer and size.

We are just sorting finances out at the moment, my husband has decided to stop working at the moment so he can concentrate on treatment. 

It is great reading that there is ned for you.

Take care and thank you

Kell

I was given this booklet at my first appointment and a lot of people on here have found it really helpful?

https://bowelcancerorguk.s3.amazonaws.com/Publications/YourPathway_BowelCancerUK.pdf

I'm goin though the same diagnosis it's a tough time I've had my op my tumor was 5cm got it out keyhole and a small cut   no stoma !   It's has spread a little to near by lymph nodes  start chemo 21st June.   For 3 mhts Still waiting on another scan  result  praying it's ok.  Waiting on  results is  an awful  time  I'm just putting one foot infront of the other  . Trying to keep myself busy  . We have grt docs in this country we r v lucky x

Thank you Karen.

I have had a quick look at the booklet, I can't bring myself to read it all just yet as I start getting angry and upset.

Still so raw at the minute.

Thanks Kell

Hi Francis,

Thank you for getting in touch. I am so sorry to hear of your diagnosis.

It is such an awful time waiting for results etc. My husband hasbeen told he needs chemotherapy and radiotherapy before they can operate.

We haven't had the treatment plan as yet but hoping it will be this week so we can get it all started. 

Hope your chemo goes ok, and please update me with how it goes.

You are right the doctors are amazing in this country.

Take care Kell