Doubts

Hi . Yes cancer totally messes with your head but you have to put your trust in the surgeons. Chemo tablets might shrink the tumour to virtually nothing but then will you spend the rest of your days worrying from one scan to the next that it might have returned and every little twinge or ache sends your mind into overdrive? 

Surgery is the gold standard treatment - get the tumour removed and then you can get on with your life. It’s a big thing - I’d never been in hospital before my surgery - but everything was explained to me and any discomfort afterwards was well managed. 

In my opinion you’ve made the right decision - I remember my anxiety being through the roof -but in a couple of weeks it will all be over and you’ll be on the road to recovery. Will your Bowel’s be better or worse? I don’t know but any changes can be managed and it’ll be worth it to be cancer free.

Take care and remember that we’re here to support you

Karen x

Thanks so much x it’s awful how it worries us I feel better reading this . 

Dear Jaimee

i can really endorse what Karen says.  Like her I’d never been in hospital before - I was even born at home.  My wife is a Dr, she was definite that surgery was the gold standard treatment and certainly advised me it was the way forward.  The surgery itself was in the Liverpool Royal, a hospital that was literally on it’s last legs, it was due to shut in Autumn ‘17 but because of the Carillion scandal it suddenly had to limp on.  The hospital was a mess the staff were brilliant.  The ‘star’ for me was the anaesthetist, he was funny, calmed a lot of my nerves and kept me alive while the surgeon did her stuff.  My overriding memory of my time in the Royal was the heat, it was late January and like a sauna.  Get some decent drinks sorted out.  As you won’t be eating for the first couple of days drinks seem really important.  I’m not sure position in regard to visitors atm, so take some with you.  I had some fruit juices which the staff kept in the fridge for me and seemed like a real luxury.  I went in early on the Wednesday, had the op that day and left hospital on the Saturday afternoon.  

I spent the next two weeks sleeping.  I went from my usual 7 hrs to 10 with regular top up naps during the day.  Be prepared.  I am definitely on the ‘total wimp’ End of any pain scale and abandoned Tramadol etc as soon as I left hospital and continued with paracetamol only.  I struggled a week after the op to go out with my twin sons for their birthday,  they had pints and full lunch buffet, I had two American pancakes.  Yet 3 weeks after that, a month to the day of surgery, I drove the car to our usual spot, walked 1klm to Anfield and watched Liverpool destroy West Ham; recovery is that fast.

you wonder if it will be worth it etc. Its impossible to say.  I have a bowel that now considers 3.00am the optimum time for operating, but that’s a minor inconvenience.  For many in Liverpool life is measured by football and so it is for my family.  Since surgery I have seen Liverpool do many wonderful things including become World Club Champions.  I stood being boiled alive with one of my sons in the Estadio Metrapolitano in Madrid to watch Liverpool become champions of Europe and best of all celebrated the Premiership title, something my children had waited a life time to see.  My wife and I have used the just short of three years since surgery to travel to some incredible places including Antarctica.  None of this would have been possible without surgery and the fantastic work of the staff at the Liverpool Royal.

i wish you the best of everything for the future.  Normally I say Google nothing but if you have time look at two things:

1 - highlights of the marvellous, marvellous Barcelona night at Anfield when Liverpool proved anything is possible, and Mo Salah’s Iconic ‘Never give up,’ T-shirt 

2 - footage of Brian Henderson in Madrid.  That night he wasn’t thinking about his recent fight with cancer which he’d won, he only knew he was so pleased to be alive and watching his lad lift the European Cup

YNWA

Mike

Thanks so much it does mean a lot to me people who have been through it . I’m so glad you got to see the football  I absolutely love the Liverpudlian accent I could listen to it all day . I phoned my nurse today and asked her .what if I sneeze or cough after the op will my bowels fall out  that’s how bad I am she laughed and said it will be glued and stitched so good don’t worry. I’m having my pre op on 2nd December then hopefully op is now on 7th December time to recover before Xmas 

You should be well recovered before Xmas! I take it that you are having a bowel resection? I had mine in May '19. Op. was on a Thursday, & I was discharged on the Sunday. You will have something like a Fentanyl drip to reduce any pain for a couple of days, & then on basic Paracetamol, if required.The tube down my throat during anaesthetic caused me an irritation, & I had a bad cough....& was scared of stitches coming apart.....but believe me, that won't happen! Once home, I ate normally, rested & read...but was walking within the week & drinking my wine. It will take quite some time before the bowels get to some sense of normality...be prepared for that! I found it a bit painful going to the loo for the first few days, but it gets easier. Keyhole surgery is very easy....I just had 4 small entry points on my abdomen. The largest, in my belly button was approx. 2" The dressings are changed regularly, & the healing is very quick.

Chemo. treatment alone may reduce the size of the tumour, but it's doubtful that it would eradicate it completely.

Wishing you all the best

Marianne

Thanks it makes me less nervous when I read this I always over think and this has reassured me so much . Yes I’m having bowel resection. 

Hi Jaimee1

      I know exactly what you mean and i was the same, terrified so i even asked my doctor to refer me to the Royal Marsden in London to see if they could remove the sigmoid tumour with a scope, there was no way i was going to let them remove a section of my bowel !!!

Any way after a very stressful 4 months the Marsden returned a response, they could do nothing and referred me back to my local hospital in Worthing, i was devastated and angry it took that long to answer even when they had all the previous scans and other tests.

I then had to accept that the surgeon would remove a section of the sigmoid colon which is about at the hip position. I had the operation on the 3rd september and was back home on the 6th at my request to leave asap but they was happy with the discharge !! yippee, so much better for recovery.

I had keyhole surgery  and the entries were glued together, brilliant and healed fairly quickly, the most awkward bit was where they cut a 3inch bit at the boxer line to remove the tumour, because of this i took to either walking around the house naked or wearing a womens nighty instead of boxers or shorts, then after a bit of walking to prevent blood clots i would lay in bed flat so as not to bend at the waist.

I was as concerned as you about the bowel working properly again but with managing the correct types of food and quantity it has recovered well, i found constipation to be the main problem so i increased my veg and fruit intake.

I am now well repaired but on my third round of chemo tablets as they found some cancer cells in one of the lymphh nodes, hopefully this will do the trick and start the new year with renewed optimism and fit in lots more trout fishing.

I wish you all the best

TG