Feeling worried

Hi  and welcome to the board. It’s a horrible shock for everyone and this waiting for scans, meetings, results etc. is very stressful but once you have a treatment plan in place then things will feel a little better. 
Bowel cancer is quite slow growing but very treatable nowadays. If your mother in law is passing blood in her stools then this may account for the lack of energy and add the stress of recent lockdown restrictions she probably is feeling depressed and under the weather.

With hindsight I was probably having symptons for a couple of years before going to my doctor - I put it down to a life style change - and I was stage 3 when diagnosed. The gold standard treatment seems to be to try and get each appointment within 2 weeks of the last but hopefully she may get a scan appointment through before then. Once the consultant has all the results through then the MDT (multi disciplinary team) will meet and decide on a treatment plan for her.

Unfortunately all you can do in the meantime is try and keep busy and distract yourself. Please stay away from google - it is out of date and downright scary in places. You can post on here whenever you like and ask anything you want and we will be happy to help you through this.

There are also nurses available if you need to chat on 0808 808 00 00 and that’s 7 days a week from 8-8.

Hope her appointment comes through quickly

Take care

Karen x

Thank your Karen that has put my mind at ease.

I know I should stay away from google but I keep reaching for it. :( 

i want to ask to try and be active as she can, but I feel like I am overstepping it if she has said she feels tired and drained. I am just lost and shocked, pre pandemic she was an active 75 year old, did tai chi twice a week and walked everyday. Would asking her to do fitness videos on your tube be too much if someone is feeling tired (low intensity ofcourse) I don’t want to upset her or my husband but I am trying to get everyone to be positive even though inside I am having such a hard time 

Hi . Personally I think walking is the best exercise as it’s low impact and you can do as much or as little as you like. There’s lots of nice flowers/gardens about at the moment and I find that people stop and chat a lot more nowadays. Perhaps you could take a couple of nice cakes round and go for a little walk together or stop off outside a coffee shop? 
I think lockdown has had a very demoralising effect, especially on the elderly, and it will take a lot of getting back to ‘normal’. My mum walks every day but her tai chi class hadn’t restarted and the dancing and games afternoons that her and my dad used to go to haven’t restarted - they basically go to sainsburys once a week and have a walk every day and garden and that’s it.

Hope you’re able to encourage her to get out and about a bit - it will also help recovery from any surgery that she might have if she’s fit and able

Take care

Karen x

Hi Karen,

thank you for all your advice I really appreciate it.

I did go to see my mother in law yesterday and I encouraged her to take a walk with me, unfortunately it started to rain :( I found a great YouTube video, walking with seniors. She enjoyed it. However she looked so tired and restless, she couldn’t finish her dinner and it was the first time I seen her not have any appetite. I asked how she been the last few days since the colonoscopy and for her to let us all know if she wasn’t feeling well. She then told me that there’s always blood when she goes to the toilet and not just in stool. It is now very worrying and other than say let’s be positive and wait for the results i don’t know what else to do :( is that normal symptom just blood coming out? 

Hi 

Just wanted to pop on and say if that was my mother in law I would probably be encouraging her to put a sample into her Gp of her urine to exclude infections if that’s where she is bleeding from other than her bowel . Or does she mean through her vaginal area ?

It is normal for tumours to bleed . If she is losing a lot of blood she may be anaemic . She should chat this through with her team to see how her bloods are . They may wish to look at helping her in that area . Some people have transfusions prior to starting treatment if they need them . I would however speak to her team as iron supplements can cause constipation and you don’t want to interfere in that area .

You could chat this through with our helpline staff to see what they suggest . 0808 808 0000

Take care ,

Court 

Hi . Good advice from court. It is normal for the tumour to bleed and I found that when I went for a wee I would notice a bit of blood drip from my bottom into the toilet bowl at the same time. It only takes a couple of drops to mix with the water in the toilet and it looks scary. I had radiotherapy before my surgery which shrank the tumour, my stools got bigger and the bleeding stopped. 

Im glad you managed to get your mum in law out for a walk - it may well be her worrying that’s causing the loss of appetite but no harm in checking with her gp. Please think about giving the nurses on here a ring too - they’ll be happy to help and advise you

Take care

Karen x

Hi all, I am back on again as we are experiencing very mixed messages and not much support from the hospital.

I joined here a month ago as my mother in law had her colonoscopy and was told there and then that she had cancer. We waited for the results of the CT scan she had and had to wait another two weeks for the mri scan. Since then we have heard little, they haven’t staged the cancer, but have told us that the cancer has not spread to other organs. The colonoscopy took place on 22nd June and there they did a biopsy.

on Friday, we were told she needs surgery but then can’t fit her in till September so she will have to wait. They’ve told us they can’t stage it, they will have to see how the surgery will go but no date on surgery. September seems like a long time away? What are the chances that this will spread. I am little stunned that hospitals attitude and providing very little information on what kind of surgery or what the next stages are

Hi . How are you all doing? First of all - no spread is good news so please hold on to that thought. The official staging is done by the path lab after the tumour and surrounding area has been removed. Having said that most people are given a ‘rough’ staging from the scans so I’m not sure why they aren’t doing this? I’ve attached a couple of really good books from the bowel cancer uk which cover staging and what the op might entail. Staging is based on how far the tumour has grown into the bowel wall and whether they suspect any lymph nodes are affected - I was T3N1M0 so the tumour had grown into the bowel wall but not gone through it, I had 2 lymph nodes affected and 0 mets.

https://bowelcancerorguk.s3.amazonaws.com/Publications/Your_pathway_Bowel_Cancer_UK.pdf

Bowel cancer is very slow growing and although september sounds a long  way away it is less than 3 months since diagnosis. My tumour was in the rectum so I had treatment to try and shrink it before surgery -I was diagnosed on 22/7 and had surgery on 28/11. 
https://bowelcancerorguk.s3.amazonaws.com/Publications/Your_operation_Bowel_Cancer_UK.pdf

Has your mother in law been allocated a Colorectal Support nurse who you could ring for reassurance? Alternatively you could ring the nurses on here for a chat? 
Hope the booklets are helpful and if you’ve any questions feel free to ask away

Take care

Karen x

Thank you Karen. What’s the details of the nurse I can call on here please? My mother in law had major emergency surgery last week and the nurses have not been great. 
thank you 

Hi . The number is 0808 808 00 00 x