Colon cancer and bowel incontinence

Hi Millycat, Sorry to hear of your Dad's problems and I hope that once the MRI results are in and the MDT discuss all the information a pathway is established for the treatment. Try not to Google too much, get information from here, or ring the Macmillan nurses for advice if you can't talk to the team dealing with your Dad yet.

I believe that Bowel Cancer can cause both constipation and loose movements and I used to control the latter with loperamide (immodium), taking a couple half an hour before meals. Has he tried any yet?

I hope you find some answers for him soon. All the best, John

Hi Millycat and a warm welcome to the board - I’m glad you’ve been finding it helpful. I had rectal cancer and that was diagnosed after loose stools although not to the point of incontinence. There is such a thing as overflow diarrhoea which is caused by constipation and then some of the stools manage to get through in liquid form. 
With this in mind I would be tempted to ring his doctor for advice or you could maybe try and speak to a colorectal nurse at the hospital that he’s under? 
Hope you are able to find some help for him

Take care

Karen x

Thanks so much for you reply John, he has not tried immodium I will suggest this!

Thank you very much Karen, I'll suggest this and hopefully he'll be able to get an appointment and start getting some help soon. xx

Hi Millycat, in view of Karen's reply it might be best to ask  the hospital/doctor first and certainly just try a small dose to begin with. If the problem is caused by a blockage you wouldn't want to make it worse!

John

Good thinking! I suggested it to my Mum on the phone just now and they're going to wait and mention it when he has his tests follow up appointment, which hopefully won't be too much longer.

Hi Millycat

Sorry to hear about your Dad, it is miserable having bowel incontinence. I had started to suffer bowel urgency just before the colonoscopy which found my rectal tumour. Before I left the hospital a colorectal nurse came to see me and said I must go straight onto a low residue diet. As a vegetarian I found this hard but it definitely helped.  (Two weeks later I had a colostomy, which removed the problem completely). Best wishes to your Dad x

Thank you for your reply, I hope you are doing well now. My Dad has his appointment following all the scans and tests to hear his prognosis today so hopefully he'll be able to get some help and treatment X