hi to all you guys, Sept 2018, diagnosed stage two low down rectal cancer, told from the outset that permanent stoma would be most likely outcome, five weeks chemo/radio to shrink tumour down for surgery,got through treatment relatively unscathed,(12 trips to toilet a day& blowtorch bum for three weeks or so),then the dreaded ten week wait for results, I had a complete response & went on watch and wait,i would say to anyone, you have to be mentally strong to be on watch and wait, anyway had a wonderful nine months,and best of all got married to my good lady(albeit after 23 years of living together), then the devastation of being told they had seen something on last MRI scan, biopsies confirmed the bas--rd was back,so APR surgery on 16 October,started out keyhole, then because of radio scarring, surgeon had to do a c-section and then close the back door up, so to speak, eight days in hospital, so glad to get home, felt like I had been mugged by a herd of angry rhino's,glad I kept a daily diary,because you don't see the small day to day improvement's, week by week slowly getting stronger and fitter,first week home I could only walk 100 metre's a day,ten weeks on I am walking four miles now,as I am a keen cyclist my biggest fear was how my newly constructed derriere would cope with being plonked on a saddle,well after a few short rides and a steady increase in mileage I managed ten miles this morning,so more than happy,I am managing the stoma better than I would have ever imagined, as I was dreading it,so I just thought I would post this to give anyone that may well be about to go through anything similar something positive to read,it has been far from easy and there have been dark days, but fingers crossed i will be going back to work in a month or so, and I feel 90% back to being my old self, cheers john.
