New Diagnosis, Ascending Colon cancer

I have a plastic poo pass and used it in a shop in town and they were brilliant.

My sense of humour wanders easily into dark territory and my sons have inherited it ( in their 20’s) both get the cancer-related gags that I think a lot of people might see as tasteless and inappropriate. It’s how we function, but we play by the rules of keeping it in the home! Work gets dark at times as I’m sure yours does, probably darker, and you have to cope somehow by laughing internally at the sheer absurdity and irony and literal pain of being human.

Anyway enough of that! Just testing my new soup maker  ( 3rd one) and dancing to Underworld in the kitchen. Hang in there sweetie xx

Hi all I’ve just been reading your posts.  Toilet pass and incontincence pads……..please tell me more.  My surgery is on Thursday.  Btw I totally get the humour.  My daughter and I joke about this, it helps us.  We are careful to keep it between us but really get us through this awful situation. 

Hi SoniBee, I also was diagnosed with a right side tumour in November 2022. I like you am post menopausal and my only symptoms were shortness of breath on exertion, I collapsed in a HIIT class!. I had done the postal test a few months before and that was all clear. However the more sensitive test done by my GP showed blood and dangerously low iron levels. I had a colonoscopy in two weeks which showed a tumour on the right side. CT scan the next day to check if it had spread. The waiting time for the result of that was horrendous. Two iron infusions. I ended up in A&E with what I thought was a heart issue but it was an anxiety attack. It hadn't spread and I had surgery on 13th December 2022, a right side hemicolectomy. Also ovaries removed as they looked enlarged. I had to wait until mid January for the appointment where they told me the grade which was T3 N2. Four out of 19 lymph nodes affected. I was to have 4 rounds of chemo but became very unwell at the end of the second round, 9 days in hospital. My consultant was pleased I had managed 50%. I have had regular CT scans since, the most recent one a couple of weeks ago. The result came through yesterday and all is well. So that is two years since the surgery. I think it is impossible to stay calm throughout this experience, I passed out and was sick when I saw the envelope from the hospital yesterday! But I have approached my recovery with a positive attitude. I have overhauled my diet and exercise although they were good before the diagnosis. I get outside every day. I fortunately had just retired so I have worked to reduce stress levels. I plan our holidays and travel with an optimistic view. It really helps to have supportive family and friends around. So I would say that there is light at the end of the tunnel. At this stage you are a bit in the dark, but once you have a treatment plan in place you can take some control back and you will feel better. I wish you well. Do use this forum, the people here helped me through my darkest days two year ago as you find you are not alone.

Hi Scoutabout,

I can’t think of anything to add in terms of magical tips sweetie, but  the sense of humour is the most important thing I think! MacMillan do a plastic card to give to shop/cafe/bar owners etc that says you’re having chemo so please can I use your loo? Just having it with me has made going out much better. I haven’t had upset tummies really, but I think my shorter colon makes me feel that when I need a poop, it comes on quite urgently much more quickly than it used to!

You will be absolutely fine I’m sure! I had my operation on Friday 13th FFS, so that was extremely funny to me. Within a month I was itching to get driving again and the surgeon said “if you can do an emergency stop without your tummy exploding then you’ll be ok.” I could and I was! I did also quite liked chatting with the other women on the ward too, until an absolute nutter who took quite a shine to me was put in the bed opposite. The urge to go home became huge at this point. 

I told my family not to come in the day of the op unless they really wanted to, because I didn’t want to feel obliged to talk to anyone. Pretty selfish I know, but I was exhausted and didn’t even want to think! 

Good luck!

Nic xx

Hi Pet,

You’ve reassured me saying you only had half of your chemo, because that’s all I’ve been able to tolerate because of the capecitabine causing heart spasms. I was also T3 but N1b. I was also EMVI. Very happy for you that you’re still doing well, it really helps to hear that ️

Hi, I got through the first round ok ish, but it affected my heart also. Not seriously but I was told not to use the spin bike I have at home as my heart rate went crazy. I'm a very fit 67 year old. My consultant decided to put the dose up for round 2 and by the last day of the tablets I became very unwell and was admitted as an emergency. White blood cells crashed temperature of 40 and other horrible things. I did have a room on my own so it was lovely and quiet. Consultant has a morbid sense of humour and said that as the chemo nearly did for me, it probably did for any rogue cells as well. Lets hope he was right. I hope your recovery from chemo goes well. I lost about 30% of my hair about two months after chemo stopped and my skin aged terribly. but all is well now. xx

I will be thinking of you on Tuesday. You will feel much better once "it" has gone. You know at that point that the worst is over and you can start working on recovery. I was told that it would take about 10 days to feel benefit from the iron infusion, and I certainly felt a lot better a few days after the second one. 

Thank you for sharing your story x and congratulations on the all clear! You must be sooooo relieved!!! No doubt a mixed bag of emotions! 

I definitely have found kindred spirits on this forum & I am so grateful for the advice, support & smiles received thus so far!!!

Thank you for you support!! 

I’m definitely looking forward to a chillaxing Christmas, getting others to do the running around after me (which is an absolute change from the norm)!!! 

Not going to lie - I may milk it a bit!!…just to get a few more brekkies in bed!! 

Which soup maker did you get?

I fancy one!

I’ve been batch cooking like Mary Berry on fifteen espresso shots! 

I made the worst-tasting chocolate muffins the other day. Replace butter with rapeseed oil - because I ran out of butter and couldn’t be bothered to pop to the shops - it tasted horrific! 

Since bring on sick leave, I’ve been trying to channel my inner Nigella & failing miserably!