Newbie

Hi Joyce! 

Welcome to the forum!  My husband is currently going through chemotherapy treatment because his cancer came back in May this year unfortunately. He went in for the operation to have his tumour removed in January this year and 4 months down the line after a follow up appointment with his surgeon she took bloods, and we got a letter saying CEA markers had risen a lot then a CT showed it had come back. Anyway, after getting his initial cancer diagnosis in July 2021, he went in for a bowel resection and now has a permanent stoma part of his bowel was taken away but honestly its just over a year and he has more or less learned to live with it. It depends on what you get sometimes these stomas can be reversible but in my husband's case, its permanent and you're just pooing out your tummy into a bag other than your backside. The output can vary sometimes he needs to change his bag several times a day and some days he gets nothing at all (thats when he starts to worry). The output can be `runny` but you get can get ordinary deposits of poo there as well think it depends on what you eat. You may get regular consultations with a stoma nurse as my husband does, she will keep you up to date on the do's and don'ts of having a stoma. Yeah, my hubby's tumour lay dormant and localised for about 3 or 4 years he was told before by his surgeon so at the beginning he only needed chemo and radiotherapy to shrink the tumour in prep for surgery. Bit of a blow for us considering they thought they got it all and his surgeon was devastated when she told him it was back but hopefully this chemo will kill off any `wee nasties` still lingering there or at least slow it right down and stop it growing at least. Take Care. 

Vicky x

Hi Joyce

I had surgery for stage 3 colon cancer towards the end of August, the surgeon rejoined the ends of healthy bowel together. I would say I'm still not back to normal bowel wise, seemed to alternate between constipation and diarrhoea for a while - and anxiety about it probably didn't help. It's nearly 8 weeks after surgery and my bowels have settled down a lot more now. I did start introducing more fibre into my diet again and that has definitely helped. I'm due to start chemotherapy next week, so have no idea how it will affect me.

I hope you get your operation soon - all the best!

Hi Joyce21

They will take really good care of you and bowel cancer can be so slow growing .

After the initial few months I have to say my mum has not experienced too many issues . Hers was right side ascending so location might come into play . 
Take care ,

Court