Hi, I’m 73, male, and moved from Brighton to Valencia in Spain 9 years ago, luckily before Btexit, so have access to the Spanish public health system.
A year ago I came back from a large funeral in Brighton with what was probably Noravirus, 6 weeks of severe gastro-enteritis, lost 10 kgs, but seemed to recover, and happy with the reduced weight which stayed steady from then on. Simultaneously, I had enormous stress due to issues with a charity I ran in U.K.. Come September I had severe abdominal pain after a pasta meal, and went to the GP to be investigated for possible gluten intolerance, coeliac, IBS etc. in early January I had a big loss of blood in the stool, went to A&E, had a a quick CT scan with the docs expecting to find diverticulitis, but instead noticed a tumour in the splenic juncture. A colonoscopy was quickly arranged, which found no other lesions or polyps in the colon, and a further CT scan, with contrast medium found no evidence of metastasis in the thorax, abdomen or pelvis. The resection was carried out 6 weeks ago, laparoscopically, and all went well, Biopsy of 45 adjacent lymph nodes showed 5 with evidence of neoplasia, so tipped over into technical Stage 3. Chemo starts in two weeks, 8 x 3 week cycles with oxauplatin infusions, and capecitanina orally. Im not looking forward to chemo side effects, but have been vegetarian for 40 years, and intermittent fasting ( 16;8) for 15 years, and will boost both during this period, along with returning to some resistance training, and walking around the surrounding beautiful countryside, plus some supplements, all in the hope of minimising the side effects. Would love to hear advice and experiences about what you can all share with me.
