Hi everyone. I was diagnosed with stage 3 rectal cancer in July and had an operation to remove this and have an ileostomy bag put on me in August. During the operation the surgeon seen the cancer had spread to my lymph nodes and took what he could see.
I've really struggled to come to terms with the ileostomy bag. I've had a lot of issues with soreness and leaks, which seems to have got a lot better with the help of my stoma nurse. I still get upset when I think about having the bag though.
I'm due to start chemotherapy next week, and have what I expect are usual worries about how much I'll cope. I lost my partner to cancer 5 years ago, so I'm alone with the children who also watched their dad be so unwell at that time, which is why I'm worried about coping.
My biggest fear though is diarrhea, vomiting or dehydration while I have the bag. I was wondering if anyone else had experienced chemotherapy with an ileostomy bag and whether they had any advice/ reassurance about this. My chemotherapy will be in the hospital on a drip once every 3 weeks, then I'll be sent home with chemotherapy tablets to take myself each day. The chemotherapy should last 3 months. There was an option to have just tablets over 6 or 9 months (I'm sorry I can't remember whether it was 6 or 9) but I would like to try to get this over and done with sooner rather than later if I can as I really need to get back to work before my sick pay followed by the rest of my annual leave runs out
I really appreciate you reading this as I hadn't meant to type so much.
