Bowel cancer

Mom of five

Welcome, you've come to the right place to ask questions. Others will be along later to help as well.

I remember the first few days after diagnosis as being like a rabbit in headlights, it was so surreal. Don't try and be too normal for the family, else it will be a bigger shock for them later, 'mom is unwell'  but do try and plod on with some normality for your own sake. Take deep breaths. This time between diagnosis and a plan is the worst. Once you have had the meeting with the consultant things will start to take shape.

Big (((hugs)))

Good morning,

I Feel for you and your family.

The whole cancer journey is best described at : waiting for the bus or on the bus. It is all a waiting game.

Try to talk about your concerns, hard when you have children. THey will be supportive of you. What ages are your children ?

if you need to talk more - this is a great site.

good luck and a big hug from me.

kind regards

paula 

 Morning Mom of five and a warm welcome to the board from me.

Yes the waiting for scan results and treatment plan is hard but things will feel better once you have a treatment plan in place. Once the scan results are back the Multi Disciplinary Team will meet and decide on a treatment plan for you. Bowel Cancer is notoriously slow growing and very treatable and if you click on people’s names then it will take you to their profile page which may show their treatment so far.

Please stay away from google - it is out of date and downright scary in places. Ask anything you want on here - there is nothing too daft or embarrassing. I can send you some links to booklets about various treatments or you may prefer to wait until you have a clearer picture?

Meanwhile just try to keep busy and healthy and get ready to beat this.

Take care

Karen x

Thank you for your reply. It’s definitely a scary time. 

Thank you, my children are 25, 21, 14, 11 and 6 it breaks my heart when my 11yr old asks every bedtime if I’m going to die, and when I look at my husband and he’s so sad  

Thank you, I was looking at google which really upset me so I won’t be doing that again. This is going to be the longest week of my life

I was diagnosed with bowel cancer early December 2019 had the various scans and had a successful operation end of February this year, and I must admit it was the worst Christmas of my life, but before I had the operation I had a few chats with my niece who is a bowel surgeon, and she said the reason she specialised in bowel surgery was that it is curative, and she loved making people better, so take hope from this it may not be as bad as you are imagining. Xx

Hi, thank you that’s so reassuring.  My big worry is if it’s spread as I’ve been so ill for what feels like forever. I was told I had Crohn’s disease. I don’t see how I can be this ill without it spreading x

Hi ,

Just want to reassure you have experiencing symptoms for a prolonged period of time does not mean it’s necessarily spread . Many people have passed through here with similar stories and had positive outcomes . On the other hand my mum had not one symptom and was picked up on a bowel screen . It was a shock to discover it had already spread to her liver . However chemo worked really well and she is still here 11 years later so even a spread to other areas is not always untreatable.

You are only human and it’s hard to navigate the tidal wave of anxiety that exits in the beginning but you will get there . 

take care ,

Court

I can imagine it is hard when you have children. However this will give you the fight to get through this.

Children are lovely and straight forward - they worry about everything. Just you being there will help them. Lots of cuddles will help you all.

Good luck - please update us on how things go so we can all help.

i found speaking to cancer patients the best way for me to get through it all. Macmillan nurses are simply the best - always there for you.

take care

paula xxx