Hello

6 replies
174 subscribers
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I am aged 65 and was very lucky to have my bowel cancer picked up last August through the screening programme.

I had 2 cancers removed by quite a big operation last November and now have a (hopefully) temporary stoma.

I started chemotherapy in January - 8 three weekly sessions so all being well this will be complete by late June.

My hope is that the stoma can be reversed later this year but appreciate that I may not be so fortunate.

So far, although it's been a difficult 6 months or so, it all could have been much worse and I've had great support from family and from all the doctors and nurses that I've come into contact with along the way.

Kareno62 over 3 years ago

Hi IC228 and a warm welcome to the board from me. You sound to be coping very well with everything and hopefully you will find the board just as supportive too?

We’re all at different stages of treatment and recovery so feel free to post if you’ve any issues or just join in the general chat on the monthly catch up post

https://community.macmillan.org.uk/cancer_types/bowel-colon-rectum-cancer-forum/f/bowel-colon-rectum-cancer-forum/233261/february-2022-catch-up-thread

Take care

Karen x

Macmillan Support Line - 0808 808 00 00, 7 days a week between 8am-8pm

greente over 3 years ago

Hi sorry to hear about your bowel cancer, it's lovely to know you have a lot of support, as I understand how you feel about the stoma, I have my good and bad days, but I hear it gets better, hope yocan get a reversal for now take your time and also all the help that is given xx

Aneta xx

IC228 over 3 years ago in reply to Kareno62

Thank you - much appreciated

IC228 over 3 years ago in reply to greente

Thank you. First time I've really thought about the last 6 months as a whole so writing it down was a help.

Net77 over 3 years ago

Hi IC228,

A warm welcome to the board from me too, but so sorry you find yourself here.

It’s great to hear you’ve got good support from your family and have confidence in your team, it means you can just concentrate on yourself and getting better. I’m about a year ahead of you and had a different chemo (mine was 6 x 2 weekly cycles) – it’s hard but doable and lots of support on hear from people who have been there done that.

The time from diagnoses through surgery and recovery is a bit of a whirlwind and I found it was a few months later before I could begin to process all that had occurred and I too found writing things down helped. I also found Dr Phillipa Kayes’ book ‘Doctors Get Cancer Too’ a big help – she articulated much of what I felt and this helped with processing what had happened.

I hope you can get a reversal at some stage but in the meantime my advice would be try and take things one step at a time otherwise it can become overwhelming.

Lots of advice on here – ask anything you want.

Take Care
Net77x

IC228 over 3 years ago in reply to Net77

Thank you. That's really helpful