Dads cancer is back, im terrified.

Sorry you are in this very worrying situation Wizzle21. I will tag court whose mum has   survived mets in lung and liver from stage 4 bowel cancer. 

Wizzle21  Don't forget the Macmillan helpline, they will help you too as a carer. Xx

Hi Wizzle21

So sorry to hear about your dad . It is very hard when you only have part of the information. It really generates such fear and can make things so much harder to process .

Firstly if you click on my name you can read my mum’s story and how her team navigated a spread to the liver . Bowel cancer is a bit more fortunate than some other primary cancers in that regard . Whilst they may not be able to cure it , they do generally try to treat it by stabilising the visible disease and reigning in any microdisease . They generally like to us what they call a systemic approach where they tackle all the cells at once through chemotherapy. Depending on the size and location of the spread they will rescan and reassess to see if there is another approach they can add to the treatment plan . For my mum that actually mean surgery . Which has been very successful. Others may not get surgery due to location of the tumours but you will see people on forums five and six years using chemo to treat cancer as a chronic condition . Obviously not all people but they will do their best to find a good treatment plan .

I will link in a booklet that goes through the various options open to oncologist to help treat a spread but it is certainly not without hope . The oncologists don’t know how individuals respond until they have gone through treatment and rescanned and are inclined to be cautious at this stage in regards to prognosis which can be hard to hear but understandable. This can however change in the future and it’s important to keep that in mind .

I am sorry for your friends parent . Life can be very difficult. However others of us have accompanied our parents to these meetings and had different outcomes so please let that give you some encouragement.

Our helpline is 0808 808 0000 they would be happy to chat any aspect through with you .

Please ask anything you like . My mum is heading towards 13 years since a stage 4 diagnosis. Hold onto that .

Take care ,

Court 

https://bowelcancerorguk.s3.amazonaws.com/Publications/TreatingAdvancedBowelCancer_BowelCancerUK.pdf
This is a booklet that gives so much information. It will give you some insight into the various options and approaches .

Only recently I have been reading about two new approaches to treating a spread to the liver in the U.K. .

Court 

Hi Court, thank you for the info, im still however, even reading it all finding it very scarey and upsetting. My dad cant have chemo he has other health issues which provents him from been able to have it, (i cant find much on that, where someones not had the chemo and been ok?) Anyway they thought they had removed all the bowel cancer and said to have chemo, but after discussions with the chemo team the risk of the chemo to my dad was said to be of a higher risk than that of the cancer been back.... The cancer is now back! This is why im worried as he cant have chemo. I dont know where they will go from here? 

Hi Wizzle21

The MDT consider all aspects and are used to patients with multi factorial health conditions . They will consider if other avenues are possible like radio frequency ablation, surgery  or biological treatments . They will reassess his ability to have treatment . He may not have a large tumour load . There are so many variables . It’s just so hard as there are many questions you want answered .

Do you know your dad’s cell type ?

Take care ,

Court 

Hi Court, we are due to see the doctors tomorrow, im out of my mind with worry right now but i guess we will know more tomorrow. I dont know what you mean by dads cell type?

Also do you know if a face to face appointment will mean bad news? Esp been as they asked if dad was to bring somone along. 

Prior to covid that would be a typical visit . Given they have found something on the scan they will want to discuss this . They frequently get relatives to come along to ensure the information has been understood. But that is all it means from this information. Hopefully they will have a plan for your dad . 

Bowel cancer has different types of cells that they find under the microscope when they have removed the tumour . This lets the oncologist know the best treatments to use .

So sorry you are having such a tough time . Hopefully tomorrow will help get a better idea of how they are going to help your dad .

Take care ,

Court 

Hi court, today was nerve wracking but the outcome for now is a PET scan and an MRI to look at the tumor more closely. We have been advised though that surgery may be an option but it would be major as they'd need to remove 70% of his liver and the cancer is not in a good place, aparently between the two major blood vessels that run in the liver? How do you get through feeling scared by it all? Did you experiance feelings of fear? Also could you advise on a 70% liver removal from between major areas? Did your mum have a sizable ammount of liver removed? Thank you. X

I sure did Wizzle21 I was shaking my way through a couple of years to be truthful . However that sounds quite positive .

My mum had 73% removed . It was a big hit and they did have to get creative around the major blood supply as a tumour was abutting it . However they did a great job . 
As long as you prepare from them to take their time and rest after surgery to allow their body to heal it worked out ok . The liver does start to regenerate reasonably quickly . Although self care returned quite quickly I would say she still needed a lot of rest . Six months down the line it was much more manageable . That was back in 2010 and the liver has not only remained clear but functions well .

The way I handled fear was to try and live in each day . I would get up in the morning and say what is required of me today and follow through . Not tomorrow. One day at a time . A patient told me to keep my head where my body was . Not allowing my mind to go to back outcomes . Some days were more successful than others . But I tried again the next day .

How did you dad feel about the consultation? Is it something he wants to pursue ?

You did really well . These meetings are tough . You got through it together !

Take care ,

Court