Mum's bowel cancer

Hi Stacey ,

A big welcome to the forum . I am very sorry to hear about your mum and hope you get more details on Monday .

Firstly I would suggest that they will not operate right away in most instances when Bowel cancer has spread . This frightened me greatly in the beginning but with time and a better understand of the disease I agreed that there were merits to this approach. Firstly it’s mostly a world wide approach as starting with chemo allows the existing spread to be tackled and hopefully stopped or shrink but it also starts reigning in any micro disease that might  be lurking around . It’s a good plan . Even if they say your mum is currently inoperable that dies not mean it stays that way . We were told that and I was devastated. However they scan and review those scans and if possible send them to specialist liver surgeons who can then operate if appropriate.

Some people remain on maintenance chemo and it’s treated like a chronic condition . Some people are literally up in the hundreds of chemo infusions and doing well .

There is also a treatment called Radio Frequency Ablation. After chemo they may consider using this .

There are many options for treating a spread to the liver . It’s certainly not without hope but chemo is a powerful drug and a good starting point . My mum’s tumours literally disappeared from the scan .

You can click on my user name to read her whole story but watch what you google . Most research is gathered over a five year period and new treatments have already emerged within that time frame . It’s a rear view mirror .

My mum is hitting her ten year mark from diagnosis so hang on in there . There is lots of hope in the mix .

Take care,

Court 

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply. You Really have helped ease my mind. It helps to hear from people who have been through the same and are coming out the other end.