Hello

Hi and welcome to the board. Unfortunately cancer does not seem to discriminate much nowadays so please don’t try and wonder why me or ‘what did I do wrong/eat/drink etc. My oncologist told me it was just bad luck. 

What are your chances? Of the doc being wrong? The biopsy taken will confirm either way but I was told at the time that they were 99% certain as it’s what they see day in and day out. Sorry if that’s a bit brutal -the doctor may be wrong but it sounds likely to be Bowel cancer by the way they’re talking.

What are your chances of survival? Very good. Bowel Cancer is very treatable especially if caught early. It’s also pretty slow growing. Some people have chemoradiotherapy first (depending on where the tumour is in the Bowel) and others go straight to surgery. Chemo may be recommended afterwards depending on the histology report but put that to one side for now and deal with things 1 step at a time.

Waiting for the results from the MDT meeting can be very stressful but once you have a treatment plan in place then things will feel a little easier. Stay away from google - it is out of date, misleading and downright scary in places. You can ask anything you want on here and I can send you some links to booklets to have a read through if you want?

It will be a tough few months but staying fit and healthy will help you deal with this both mentally and physically. Everyone on here will be happy to support you through this.

Take care and let us know how you get on

Karen x

Thank you Karen, you are reassuring me. 

I had the same thing a year ago, and spoke to my niece who is a bowel surgeon, who said that the reason she went into this, was that it is curable. I had an operation a year ago keyhole surgery, which was successful, I was back to normal within a few months, and have just had a colonoscopy a year after the operation, which showed everything was fine. So try and stay calm, not easy I know.

Hi Tincres.  Your chances are great. Your first positive is that having done the poo test you are ahead of the game by picking up the problem earlier than you would have if you hadn't done the test. (I couldn't bring myself to do the messy bits and so all the postal tests went in the bin.)

The next positive is that whatever the diagnosis is on the 16th there will be a path for treatment. Whatever it includes, chemo, radotherapy, surgery or even temporary stoma, don't be scared, once you know what you have to do you will deal with it and there are lots of people who will help you.

Best of luck

John

That’s really good to know, thank you! 

Thank you that’s reassuring.