Hello. First post here. Sorry it's a long one.
I was diagnosed last month. First had symptoms over a year ago whilst pregnant with my second, and was basically told by the gastroenterologist that it wouldn't be cancer at my age (36) so let's check for colitis after I had the baby. Then colonoscopy arranged in March was postponed due to Covid, so fast forward to the end of July when it was rescheduled and they found a bloody great malignant tumor in my sigmoid colon.
Was rushed through CT/MRI etc under the 2ww and told by the head of colorectal surgery that it was operable without shrinking it first and had surgery scheduled. Then had a call from the CNS 6 days before the planned surgery saying they've looked at the MRI again and have changed the plan to chemoradiotherapy first because my actual surgeon, having done a pre-surgery Colonoscopy, wasn't convinced there was a clear enough margin/it was too close to lymph nodes etc. I've been very pragmatic about it all up until now, and even though it sounds like it's all for the best, the last minute change of plan has hit me like a ton of bricks. I've got a 4 year old and a 7 month old and having been told one thing by the head surgeon then another thing 3 weeks later by ostensibly the same group of people sitting round the same table has completely rocked my confidence in the whole process. And obviously it's pushed everything back by at least 3 weeks as well, which feels like a real kick in the teeth having finally thought I had some clarity for the first time in a year.
I'm really worried about how it's going to be with the kids while in treatment. Not being able to lift the baby for 8 weeks after surgery was a huge worry to start with, and from what I've read the potential side effects from chemoradio are likely to make things pretty tricky too. Has anyone been in a similar situation and can reassure me? (Or, equally, confirm that it will be pretty much as bad as I think but that it'll pass eventually..?)
