Hello - stage 3 rectal tumour

Hi Moirq

Welcome to the forum . I am just going to pop it back up to the top and see if Kareno62 can be of any help to you .

Have you managed to chat with your team about the side effects . Our nurses on the helpline might be of some assistance 0808 808 0000 . Macmillan has also teamed up with Bupa to offer six free counselling sessions if you feel it might be of benefit to you .

Take care ,

Court 

Hi Moirq. I had the same diagnosis back in 2016 although the procedure was a little different then - chemoradiotherapy, then surgery then post op chemo. The new system of having chemo before the op has been found to be very effective and easier in the body rather than having chemo while still recovering from the op.

 Mentally I just broke it into stages - tick off your chemos then think about the op. It’s tough but we’re happy to support you through this and feel free to ask about anything. If you click on my name then you can see my journey to date - I’m now 5+ years cancer free

Take care

Karen x

Hi, I had a similar diagnosis last year and was having chemotherapy with the possibility of having surgery if the chemo worked, my body had other ideas in mind so that is different. But yes I remember the spinning head and emotions at that time. It can be a real roller coaster. The only way I could cope was to prepare for the worst,  while hoping for the best. That seemed to level me out a bit, that and going "well I won't  have to worry about dementia"

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I will definitely look into the counselling …. my mind is not being my best friend at the moment!

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply, Karen. You have no idea how much better reading outcomes such as yours makes. I am going to have a permanent colonoscopy I’m told, due to the location of the tumour. Take care and thanks again. Moira x

Hi Moira I had an emergency colostomy op, after my3 session of chemo and am now told no signs of cancer anywhere even in the lymph node that made my tumour inoperable  (my bowel perforated and then burst) had a colonoscopy a couple of weeks ago and was amazed at how healthy my gut looked

Hello Matilda, that’s so encouraging to hear. Well done you! I’m worried I won’t cope with the chemo - 4 x 3 week cycles. I was badly affected by the 5 days of radiotherapy and don’t seem very drug tolerant! Been bleeding - period or menopause- for over 2 weeks and the meds they gave me to try and stop it don’t seem to be working. Just so hard to stay positive, but stories like yours are the best thing to hear x

How draining for you, sounds as if I was lucky having gone through the menopause before the cancer. I don't know what drugs they are giving you, but mine didn't really cause any side effects, wasn't nauseous was a bit tired. Turned out my bad reactions were caused by the perforation and sepsis. First a and e I went to just said to take diarolyte. My lovely oncologists were a bit worried and pushed my treatment back by a week and reduced the dose in case it was the drugs and told me in no uncertain terms that if I was taken poorly again I had to go to either Lewisham or Woolwich hospital as they both had access to my records. So definitely let your team know if you start feeling unwell and just to say I gave up smoking on admission to hospital and haven't had one since.

Hello Moirq,

I also have stage 3/4 rectal cancer. I had 1 week intense radiotherapy followed by 6x cycles of chemotherapy (Oxaliplatin and 5fu)

Finished chemo about 8 weeks ago and had a very good response to the tumour shrinking, due to have an operation on August 9th to take it out and hopefully be cancer free. 

Wishing you all the best, you can get through this.

Julie

Hi again Moirq. I became friends with 2 ladies off the bowel cancer uk site who were diagnosed at the same time and same stage. One of them has a permanent colostomy and you would be none the wiser - she’s been on a cruise, flown to New York and enjoys eating out and drinking red wine! They’re both still cancer free too x