Waiting for staging

Hi Mike 

This is a brilliant place to chat and there’s so many others that’ll be along soon. 
You sound as if you’re managing really well , eating healthily and exercise all benefit mental and physical health 

I found the early part the very hardest my head was all over the place like you I tried to eat as healthy as I could considering I was close to blocking I also had meal supplements. Pelvic floor exercises twice a day and staying off Dr Google 

When my head went into to overdrive I listened to hypnotherapy or mindfulness on my phone. Just half an hour a day gave my head space as I found it difficult to concentrate on reading or anything needing me to focus 

Sending you my very best wishes 

Hi Mike and a warm welcome to the board from me. The waiting for scan results and meetings is very stressful but once you have a treatment plan in place then things will honestly feel a bit better.

I was diagnosed in 2016 and, like you, felt fit and healthy. With hindsight I’d been having bowel changes for a good long while (like 18 months?) and convinced myself it was due to a lifestyle change so I was relieved to be told that there was no spread to other organs.

Bowel cancer is notoriously slow growing but very treatable. Size does not matter in this game and chemoradiotherapy is commonly used in rectal cancer to shrink the tumour as much as possible before surgery. 

You sound be doing really well keeping busy and avoiding google (good boy!) so just try to focus on the success stories on here and don’t dwell on things like ‘terminal prognosis’ unless you’re given one - thoughts are not facts.

Theres a link to a booklet below that I was given at my first meeting which you might want to look at and we’re all happy to help and support you through your treatment 

https://bowelcancerorguk.s3.amazonaws.com/Publications/YourPathway_BowelCancerUK.pdf

Take care

Karen x

Thank you. It’s so hard to deal with but those are great suggestions. Trying to put the negatives into a metaphorical box that I can open only if I have to. Two weeks seems such a long time…

Thank you! That’s very kind and v good of you to share your experience. Trying to focus on the now…

Hi Mike5

I love the way you express yourself and it sounds like you are wonderfully self aware, which I'm sure will help you massively what ever your journey unfolds to be.

Having some fear and shock is natural, but once treatment plan starts the unknown elements are often minimised.

One option that may help you: have you ever considered noting down your 2am concerns? The notes can help form questions to ask your colorectal or oncology consultants, as well as enable you to feel like the concerns are in safe place (and parked for now).

And in the meantime, wishing hours of blissful delight on your small holding

Thank you. That’s a great idea. I’ll give it a go. 

Update…

Managed to get through the last few weeks using mindfulness techniques (the Velindre app is v useful) and trying to park my anxieties as per the kind responses to my original post but, boy, it’s been hard. I’ve also tried to avoid self diagnosing every twinge as a sure sign of secondaries and I’ve switched my phone off quite a bit to avoid Googley temptations. I’ve found peppermint tablets have helped me with “anxiety stomach churn”.
Have had the CT and MRI scans, the MDT took place on Monday and I’m meeting the consultant late this afternoon. I’ve got a list of questions and familiarised myself with the terminology -  HOWEVER - I’ve seen that the meeting has been scheduled to last just 20mins and (inevitably and despite everything) my mind is running to the “20 minutes isn’t enough to discuss a treatment plan - it must be bad news…” Any thoughts from anyone about this? Is this usual? Chimp brain running around trashing things here…

Many thanks

Hi Mike5 

My cancer was different but I’ve had many appointments in the past 4.5 years to discuss treatment plans, give results, discuss surgeries and I don’t think a single one of them has been as long as 20 minutes! And I’ve had a lot of treatment and major surgery. 

My point is that you can’t read anything into the length of time an appointment is scheduled for-when you are in there, it takes as long as it takes and it may take longer than the 20 minutes estimated. Don’t give yourself extra unnecessary things to worry about for now would be my main advice to you. 

Sarah xx

Thank you Sarah. Really helpful. Will put the chimp back in the cage…

I agree with sarah.neither meetings with surgeon or oncologist have been as long as 20 mins.so please dont let that worry you.All the best for this afternoon

Kath