Adenocarcinoma - Small Bowel Cancer - BALLAD Trial

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Hello,

I am not sure how best to start something like this but I guess to start somewhere, I can give you some background.

I am currently a 32 y/o man and had been suffering with abdominal pains since October 2020. In January of 2022 It was found that I was suffering with anaemia and in February extensive tests began. I was diagnosed with an adenocarcinoma in my jejunum on the 31st May this year. Since then I have had small bowel resection surgery in mid June to remove part 3 and 4 of my duodenum and 30 cm of my small bowel.

Due to the rare nature of my cancer I am now participating in something called the BALLAD trial which has randomised me to have two chemotherapy drugs (oxaliplatin and capecitabine) . I started this on Thursday 4th and last treatment is scheduled for 29th December.

I am scared of what the future holds for me and just wondered if anyone else on here is part of the study and how they have been doing?

Thank you in advance <3

RossC22 over 2 years ago in reply to LiverpoolJulie

Yeah I managed to stay calm somehow and just thought "this is really weird". Oh bless you that sounds horrible! I had some breathlessness but my biggest issue came from an unsettled stomach. Thankfully when I was on my weeks off I could see the difference and it settled massively so knew it wouldn't be permanent. This helped my mental health no end, especially when I had delays.

LiverpoolJulie over 2 years ago in reply to RossC22

Hey Ross, I know those drugs are not great but I don't regret having chemo. I had both lots of chemo, same as you so we have doubled the chances of fighting off any remnants that may have been left behind. I thought I was really lucky as I wasn't physically vomiting during or after chemo. Plus, I only lost about a third of my hair, I'd tried to prepare myself for losing all of it, so again, I counted that as a big positive. Got to keep Positive haven't we Ross, (or we'll crack) :-) You'll start feeling better and stronger as the weeks go on now, it's a great feeling. Get yourself a holiday or two booked. I did 5 holidays last year, I had double the amount of annual leave from work as I'd been off sick for a year so I made the most of it and went away every chance I got. Going to do the same this year, I've learnt that life is short, got to go for it now and enjoy it :-)