Hi, I’m new here and struggling with the unknown and what to expect in the near future.
Last year my mum got diagnosed with a 6cm rectal tumour which travelled to a handful of lymph nodes. She received around 6-8 weeks worth chemoradiotherapy as well as x3 Chemo IV infusions which showed exceptional results in her final scan. The tumour was pretty non existent and only scar tissue was to be seen. The oncologist and surgeons suggested the next steps would be to remove her rectum to void out any risks of microscopic cancer still being present and it coming back.
Mum had her operation in March and recovered well. She started vomiting weekly in April this year. The vomiting then became persistent and daily unable to keep anything down. Following a routine check in with palliative care who were managing her pain meds we flagged the vomiting and they wanted to keep her in hospital for further investigation and monitoring. She was told she had a bowel blockage or kink and so surgery to unkink was scheduled. Following the surgery, the surgeon could not go ahead with the planned procedure of unkinking the intestine as upon opening her up he discovered nearly the whole of her small intestine is filled with cancer.
She is hooked up onto fluids and TPN for nutrition and we’ve been told treatment for cure wouldn’t be possible and that this will be a case of management. Although treatment is unlikely as we’ve been told this could do more harm than good, her exceptional treatment results were discussed so the oncologist may want to look at something but we don’t know what to expect in terms of management and time.
Has anyone gone through anything similar?
Hi Jenny
Welcome to the Online community and the Bowel Cancer forum.
I am really sorry to hear of Mum's cancer and understand what a worrying time it is. I am sorry that Mum has had to under go all her treatment and that the cancer is now in her small intestine.
My own cancer was different to Mum's so I hope you do not mind me replying but by doing so it will bump your post and someone in similar circumstances will see it and reply. Sometimes it can just take a little longer.
My own Mum had bowel cancer but many years ago now and some of the treatments that are available now were not around when she was ill. It sounds that her oncologist is thinking that there may be something that could be tried and hopefully at some point very soon, they will be able to answer some of your questions about it all. In the meantime perhaps her Palliative care team can give you some idea about what to expect.
While you are wating for a reply to your post, perhaps consider giving the Macmillan Support Line a call and talking things through. Supporting someone through a cancer journey can be a challenging time and one where you naturally need support yourself. We are here when you need us.
Jane
