Reduced appetite while having chemo.

Sorry I keep hitting the return button lol. She’s so much stronger & ready to face the next step in her treatment, the relief all round our family I’m sure you can understand. She’s had her scans & tattoos today ready for radiotherapy starting soon for 5 weeks…..Still a way to go until her operation but her consultant is thrilled how well she’s done so far…..Thanks for everyone’s help & advice….Best Wishes xxx

This is such good news . It’s so lovely to see them re-emerge from the side effects of chemo and get their strength back . Well done her and well done her support team . You did a marvellous job .

take care ,

Court 

Hi Bernadett,

Thank you for updating us.  Good news to hear your daughter managed to finish her chemo and it’s had such a good effect in shrinking the tumour, you must be so pleased. Great to hear she’s managing to put on some weight and is feeling much better.  Wigs, wonderful things – no bad hair days! I still wear mine sometimes even though my hair has grown back now.

I’m so pleased to see her emerging from the horrible side effects chemo can have.  Well done to you all getting through it.  It’s been a scary time for you all; now time to take a breather and do some nice things before starting on the next leg of treatment and I hope you can all see light at the end of the tunnel now.

Please keep us updated and sending you all a big hug and best wishes for continued improvement.

Look after yourselves,

Net X

Good Evening,

Thought I’d send a final update as you’ve been such a great supporter for me personally, our daughter & hubby plus all the family.

Our daughter managed her radiotherapy with just a few small sore areas that were quickly dealt with with creams, she had her last round of scans a few weeks later.

The whole team plus her surgeon reviewed the results, the surgeon met with my daughter & our son in law to give them the news that all the treatment had done what they hoped it would do so he was happy to go forward with surgery the following week.

The issue they then had to decide was would she prefer to try a reversal at a later, unfortunately that came with problems as her Tumour was so low down the rectum the surgeon was not sure there’d be enough tissue left for a good reversal outcome, but was happy to try due to her age. 

The surgeon felt it was likely they might be seepage after a reversal it had to be their decision. The other option was a long term stoma with fully removal above & below the tumour of all lymph nodes.
They both discussed long & hard & came to the decision for a fully stoma, the other option could have entailed more another surgical procedure to reverse plus if that didn’t work another long surgery to do the long term stoma. 

Her surgeon did the operation on 22nd August, originally we were told it  would be 4hrs to 5 hrs it turn into 7hrs, this was because it was a  radical bowel & rectum removal. Her surgeon explained after he was determined to do the best removal possible as thankfully the cancer had not reached the lymph nodes.

He also managed the surgery by keyhole, which obviously gave her a better recovery time with less scars to cause pain. She was in hospital 1 week, the stoma team have been extremely supportive, all tissues removed have come back clear of cancer thank god. She will have the usual bloods 6 monthly & annual scans. We’ll deal with them as they arise but right now…

….As of today, our daughter is 90% the gorgeous funny chatty adaptable girl she always was before the dreaded news we received in October last year. She’s looking forward to have more increased child care of her granddaughter, thank god for my sister & brother in law who took over that roll & are loving it…Nora is two & a half going on 6 lol & loved to the moon & back by us all. 

Our daughter had her 60th birthday celebration at home with close family plus a second celebration 2 weeks later when her brother & our daughter in law came over from Canada to celebrate not only her 60th but our other daughter in laws 60th ( not the Canadian D-in-l ) Also my sisters 70th. 
As you can see our family are extremely grateful to our wonderful NHS, it’s exceptional cancer teams & nurses, Doctors, Surgeon not forgetting the stoma nurses, auxiliary staff & last but not least cleaners.

I’m hoping this good news outcome may help others know there can be light at the end of a dark tunnel when you get the dreadful news no one wants for anyone in their family. 
Thank You Macmillan for this forum, obviously a donation has been done & will continue annually.

Kind wishes to all who help with advice, letting us know we were not alone.

Yvonne. ( Bernadette)