Hi all,
Here to share my journey so far with you all... I was diagnosed back in May with stage 4 bowel cancer with metastasis on the retroperitoneal area. I didn't have any symptoms other than dull back pain and some weight loss. It took 6 months to get diagnosed and when the diagnosis did come it was was a shock as I was told I had to go into surgery the next day to have a ileostomy, and stent insertion and staging laparoscopy.
I was told I was not eligible for surgery for the cancer at the time and that disease control was what we were looking at. At 40 years old and with a 5 and a 2 year old at the time, this felt like my world was crashing in on me. I did the surgery and recovered and got used to my stoma... after a few issues with it, it now is a part of me.
I started my 6 FOLFIRI chemotherapy cycles and in early august had to delay a cycle as I picked up COVID 19 and had to self isolate... My last cycle was on the 15th of september and I had a scan on the 18th.
I met my oncologist last week and naturally I was quite anxious about it but it was good news (as much as you can have good news when you have cancer)!!! The tumour in my bowel has shrunk to being almost undetectable on the CT and the retroperitoneal metastasis also shrunk significantly, which means I can now have surgery :-) I need to have a PET scan which is booked for next week and after that meet surgeon and to discuss what is involved...
My god my life has been turned upside down, but I now have hope of being cancer free which I didn't have initially. I still have a quite a bit to go through on my journey, but I am confident that I can beat this. My response to the chemo was better that I expected, and I thankfully I haven't suffered much with side effects and my life continued pretty much as normal.... people tell me they can't believe I am ill, because I look well, but I am like all of us in this forum... and to be honest I am terrified at the propsect of surgery, but what is the alternative???
My message to all of you is keep the faith and keep going, that's what I am trying to do and if we support each other we can get through it. Talk to us here on the online commmunity and to ypur friends and family, don't be afraid to share, cry, shout, whatever you need do it.
Take care everyone and thank you for taking the time to read this. Thank you for your support and encouragement... reading your stories keeps me going !!
