Recently diagnosed with Colon Cancer

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185 subscribers
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Hi,

I'm a 64 year old male who most people would describe as fit, active and healthy!

I had my first appointment with my GP on 23rd May 22 due to a change in bowel habits, she recommended that a provide a poo sample (I'd done this previously at 60 and 62, all negative), my GP contacted me a month later to say that the level of blood in the sample was over 200 and it should be below 10.

I had a colonoscopy a week later which showed what was a suspected malignant tumour near the sigmoid section of my lower bowel, biopsies taken and I was booked to have an MRI a few days later.

A week later, a consultant told me that I had a cancerous tumour, the adjacent Lymph nodes where swollen and there appeared to be spots on my liver, he wouldn't say what stage the cancer was at and I was booked to have another MRI and CT scan later that week.

When the results were in I was relieved to find that the cancer hadn't spread to my liver, I was told that I would have to have a course of chemotherapy and possibly radiotherapy to reduce the size of the tumour before surgery to remove a section of the bowel, then further chemotherapy afterwards. I was referred to the oncologist at Guys and have my first course of Chemotherapy on 1st September. She also confirmed that my cancer was stage 3.

Two weeks into the chemo and i'm feeling remarkably good, though maybe a little more tired than usual. I'm trying to carry on with my normal day to day activities and keep active whilst I still can. I am aware that the effects of treatment are cumulative, but obviously hoping that I avoid any awful side effects as much as possible. My Picc line doesn't stop me doing too much but i'm very aware that I have this alien gizmo stuck in my arm!

I've a holiday booked next month to Greece and i'm hoping that the hospital will allow me to go between treatments, travel insurance is costly though.

I'm very lucky that i've got great support from family and friends, although I still can't believe that i've been diagnosed with cancer, always feels like i'm talking about somebody else whenever I discuss it?

All the staff at Guys hospital are amazing and I feel that i'm in good hands there which is very reassuring.

Best of luck to everyone on the site, I will be following your stories

court over 2 years ago

Hi Redtriumph

What a positive encouraging post . Welcome to the forum . So good to see people joining in a willing to share with each other . There is a lot of silent readers that participate on the forums and you just never know which post they are drawing strength from .

So please you are making good progress and long may it continue .

I look forward to reading more from you and join in any thread you find helpful .

We all need each other on here !

Take special care ,

Court

Helpline Number 0808 808 0000

crankshaft over 2 years ago

Hi Redtriumph

Welcome to the group. I was 73 when diagnosed and also went to Guys for radiotherapy with Capecitabine tablets for 5 weeks. I just wanted to say how well the treatment worked as it shrunk the tumour to the point where the surgeon at the PRUH almost didn't operate. He did, though and I had the follow up chemo, just in case.

That was three years ago and just waiting for a follow up scan. The PRUH/Guys staff were really great and so far so good. Hope all goes well for you as you continue the treatment.

Cheers, John

PattyK over 2 years ago in reply to crankshaft

Hi Redtriumph!

Welcome! They're all a great bunch on here and you'll always find someone here who can answer any questions or relate to what you are going through. Your situation mirrors that to my husband. He retired 3 years ago and had never seen a GP or been inside a hospital in his life- well maybe occasionally but always for something minor. Jay has always been a `grafter` you may have heard the saying people `work to live` well Jay `lived to work` and anytime he got ill or anything like that he would never go to the doctors preferring to `soldier on` with heavy cold or flu and refusing to take days off work. So, as I said he retired 3 years ago and after contemplating suicide (which he didn't tell me about but didn't go through with) I got him to the doctor and he was referred for bereavement counselling he lost his mother just the year before he retired but wasn't really that close to her. The doctor ran some tests and it came back he was type 2 diabetic so fine we could work on that. We started a healthy eating plan and exercising (he was quite overweight) going to the gym a couple of times a week and playing badminton a couple of times a week. All was going well until Covid hit and that was the start of his downward spiral. Gyms and sports centres closed and for a while we kept up exercising at home and then at the end of 2020 our sports centre opened partially but it was round about this time he felt that he was going to the toilet a lot more and thought it may have something to do with his weight loss (we did manage to lose some weight) or thought it was just a bad bout of diarrhoea he had. So it was all phone consultations round about that time and he sent in a stool sample. He was then referred for a colonoscopy in May 2021 where they found an `abnormality` but didn't really know if it was cancer or not. Further CT and MRI scans were taken and on July 1st 2021 he got the diagnosis that yes it was cancer, but it was localised- hadn't spread and that the tunour had been sitting there for about 3 or 4 years and showing no symptoms but just around the end of 2020 they began to surface. So this has resulted in him now having to having to wear a stoma bag permanently. He went in for his cancer operation at the beginning of this year in January. The op went well and as far as the surgeons were concerned, they got it all- or so they thought. At a follow up appointment in May this year his surgeon did blood tests and we got a letter to say that his CEA markers had risen `slightly` these indicate that cancer may be present. So he had to for another CT scan and we met up with his surgeon a few weeks later to say that unfortunately the cancer had returned. What a bombshell!! So now he is going through chemotherapy because they can't operate this time apparently. So he is getting Oxaliplatin by infusion every 3 weeks and takes 10 Capecitabine (5 in the morning 5 at night) for 14 days then has a rest for 7 days without any treatment. He went for the chemo and radiotherapy before his operation too. I asked after his operation if he would need anymore chemo and radiotherapy and they said no that it wasn't necessary at the time so it made me a little bit angry that he is going through it now. He seems to be tolerating it ok though and his bloods and everything have been ok (touch wood) he has some scarring on his kidneys and thought he would need a stent fitted for that incase of blockage but he doesn't need that now so that's one less thing. I wish you well in your treatment and look forward to following your posts too.

Vicky.