New Member

2 replies
171 subscribers
571 views

Hi all,

I was diagnosed with bowel cancer and secondary cancer of the Liver in september 2021. Was rushed into hospital with what they thought was problems with my Adenomyosis (was actually booked in for a full hysterectomy that week!), then they thought i had a problem with my gall bladder and that is when the found the cancers. I had no symptoms other than what they thought was related to the adenomyosis/Endometriosis

I had the full battery of scans which showed i have 1 tumour in my bowel and 9 in my liver. I started Capox in October 2021 and they then added Panitumumab in November.

I'm half way through my chemo now and my latest CT scan shows the liver tumours have shrunk considerably, possibly enough for the surgeons to operate on them! Chemo has been paused until the MDT can have a look at the scans and make a decision.

I have been scared to even look on any websites, but now i know this is working and they already want to take the next step with the treatment then i thought i would take the leap and join this forum and hopefully get helpful hints and tips for if and when i can have these operations.

IJP over 3 years ago

Great news Pitstop77, it sounds like you've made a big step in the right direction. Being responsive to chemo is absolutely crucial at stage 4 so it's great that you're a good responder. Your diagnosis sounds very similar to my Mum's situation. She was diagnosed in July 2021 with a primary in her bowel and multiple secondaries in her liver. Like yourself, no symptoms whatsoever and was picked up by the bowel screening programme.

My biggest concern was that chemo wouldn't work on her but thankfully she became operable after only 5 cycles of chemo after having an excellent response. They decided to do a bowel resection first before operating on the liver. She had her bowel operation in Nov via open surgery (started with keyhole but they had to switch to open pretty quickly) and is now pretty much fully recovered. The next step will be chemo as they didn't get clear margins during her bowel op, and her liver has progressed during her 3 month chemo break, but hopefully chemo can get things going in the right direction again and she'll be able to proceed with the liver op later in the year.

Evington Boy over 3 years ago

Hi Pitstop, I have had an operation for bowel cancer, and you can telephone the hospital where you are having the scans, who in conjunction with your doctor shou be able to give you all the information you need on operation procedures. Also, if you can find out the name of the consultant who diagnosed you, and ask for a discussion appointment with him or her to find out all your options. You can also contact Macmillan directly, who are brilliant in gi you all sorts of advice. My best friend, Evington Boy