Treatment

Hi Gerbie The tumour needs to be removed with a clear surrounding area so the smaller the tumour then the more bowel remains behind to be rejoined? 

The chemo part of chemoradiotherapy is a mild dose given in tablet form to enhance the effect of the radiotherapy. The reputation of chemo is often worse than the actual experience and most people tolerate this level of chemo pretty well. 

I’ve attached a copy of a booklet that I was given at my first meeting which a lot of people have found helpful

https://bowelcancerorguk.s3.amazonaws.com/Publications/Bowel_Cancer_UK_Your_Pathway_V10.1.pdf

Hope your meeting goes well and please keep posting and we’ll help and support you through this

Take care

Karen x

I also had to have my tumor shrunk before surgery.  I was told that my tumor was too large to be effectively removed by surgery. This did not make a ton of sense to me at the time. Now rhat we are planning my surgery, it makes more sense.  Karen has given a good technical explanation. 

I know how hard ot is to live with this thing growing inside you while you do these difficult treatments. In the end I chose to trust the research that showed this process was most effective. 

Good luck to you. I know this initial period is the hardest in many ways.