Hi Everyone

Hi, RichN , welcome to the club you didn't want to join. This is the worse time, your head is in the air, and the worry is terrific. But once the scans are back and the MDT has sorted your treatment plan, it will ease up. Ask anything on here. 

One thing I will add, is ensure your kids schools are informed, then help and support can be offered to them if it is needed. Macmillan can give ideas on age related information to pass on as well, as I think Bowl Cancer UK can.

It is a tricky time, but everyone is here for you all. ((Hugs))

Hi RichN and a warm welcome to the board. As Gemmary says, once you have a treatment plan in place then things will honestly feel a bit better. Bowel cancer is notoriously slow growing but also very treatable and if you click on peoples names then their profile page may show their treatment so far.

Please stay away from google- it can be scary and out of date. You can ask anything you like on here and we’ll be happy to help and support you through your treatment

Take care

Karen x

Welcome RichN 

Best piece of advice a patient gave to me was to keep your head where your body is , don’t let it escape off to the worst case scenarios . 

Loads of people report feeling much more reassured when the treatment plan and pathway comes together and you can start to see the way through this . This part is very hard on people as they pull the information together.

Bowel cancer is a bit more fortunate that some other primaries as even a spread often has many treatment options . My mum had advanced cancer and is still here and winging round to year 15 from diagnosis 

Lots of new approaches have emerged since her diagnosis which is amazing in itself .

Take special care ,

Court 

Hi Rich, 

Firstly Thanks for your reply on my post. I will get round to replying to you properly later 

I'm in a similar position to you right now and I have found this 2.5 weeks to be the worst time of my life I'm not going to lie. 

But honestly this forum has been amazing with lots of help & support & also lots of positive stories & outcomes if you have a read through

The only advice I can give whilst I'm still in the waiting game till I see the consultant tomorrow is to try & occupy your time. Some days I have wanted to just lay & do nothing with alot of negative thoughts patterns going on but I pushed myself to go & see family, go for walks ( that really helps) . I also put nice relaxing healing type music on and I also spoke to the GP.and got prescribed some low dose diazepam to help take the edge off. I haven't take it everyday just when I really need it, it has helped me to sleep too so maybe something to consider to help over the next couple of weeks. 

Like you I also have 2 young children 10 and 7 and class myself as relatively young at 42 so this all feels very scary. 

I think you mentioned about suffering with Health anxiety too so for people like us that worry about worst case scenarios all the time this literally is our worst nightmare!!!   

However I have tried to calm myself down as I know the stress is no good for my body and tried to follow the advice on here till I know more  

I hope all goes well for the CT scan Sunday 

I worked myself up about that but it was really nothing to worry about at all.  

Thinking of you & will be here to support you as best I can along the way as this is all new to me too 

Lisa-Marie  

Also just to add 

My mum was diagnosed with Bowel cancer 6 years ago. Fortunately there was no spread and she had surgery within 3 weeks

She also didn't need any chemo and has been clear for the last 6 years!!! 

That's another thing that's helped me to cope the last 2 weeks. 

Everyone has told me and speaking from my mums experience that this is very treatable. 

I hope that gives some hope to you 

Lisa-Marie 

Hi Rich,

I'm 56 just recovering from bowel cancer I went through all those emotions about telling the kids but to be honest the 4 of them looked at me and didn't really say anything apart from one of them that said "Well Dad if you have to have chemo at least you won't lose your hair because you haven't got any" but it is tough so stay strong.

How long did you have the symptoms before you went to the doctors hopefully you've caught it early.

And obviously the uncertainty is what we all go through but you really need to stay strong not only for yourself but for your family and like you my wife has been amazing  with all the help and support I know it's hard but stay positive and all going well they'll get you in for the operation ASAP I had mine 3 weeks from the stage your at at this moment.

      Andy 

Hi Rich, I share your experience my colonoscopy was Tuesday 16th of Jan with same result. We differ in that I am 64 and the kids are grand kids. No scans planned yet. You have my best wishes as we embark on the same journey at the same time. If it helps to share any knowledge or questions please ask. 

Hi everyone. I just wanted to say a massive thank you to all of you who reached out. It means so much. I've started a routine of daily walking, Yoga, jog on the treadmill, and some mindfulness/meditation which seems to be helping.

I actually felt almost normal yesterday afternoon. I'd completed the routine above and a really close friend of mine (since we were about 7 years old) came to visit. Spent the evening enjoying a (low fibre) Indian, playing games and chatting. With all (most) of the stress gone I could suddenly feel how tired I was. Managed to get close to 8 hours sleep in the night for the first time since the diagnosis as well.

I'll admit I've gone a bit downhill today, but thought I should let you guys know about the positives as well as the darker times.

All the best to everyone here.

Rich

Brilliant news RichN  . Well done on achieving that . That’s incredible and more power to your elbow .

There is a lot of research ongoing about the benefits of even moderate exercise during treatment. 
Take care. 

Court 

Hi Rich,

I’m relatively new to this club too. I’m 43 and was diagnosed with bowel cancer in November 2023. I had to have emergency surgery so my sister told my 4 children who were of course devastated. At this point we had no idea about staging because they needed to remove my appendix before they burst! My surgery was very successful and the tumour was removed with good margins. It was graded as a stage 3 tumour so I have just started my first round of adjuvant chemotherapy which is going well. 

All the best

Rachael