Hi all I had bowel cancer last year had that successfully removed and 5 rounds of chemo had clear year scan in November last year, all was going well untill April cea bloods were 8.1 so I had a ct scan which was also clear, had another cea test June 27th it had gone up again 10.4 so this time I had a pet scan,last Thursday I was told it was a spot on my liver and a lymph node in my peritoneum, I have to have chemo again waiting for appointment with oncologist and they are going to refer my for HIPEC at Basingstoke I'm quite worried at this what to expect recovery time etc plus my family will be a distance away from me.
Any have any experience of this treatment.
Bowel warrior 
Hi, You have really been through it. The waiting and uncertainty seems endless. Will outline my experience of HIPEC etc but can’t say for sure what relates to what. My route was via appendix & PMP, other bits removed plus HIPEC, liver ablated and peritoneum removed - last August (Manchester). Quite immobile straight after but lots of tubes and drains meant it was easy to get tangled up. If you have a tube in your nose to your stomach it is not for long and can help if you feel sick. Think I had an epidural in for 5 days and only had what could have been a bit of referred pain in my shoulder. Pain continued to be monitored and managed to find the right fit. Life got better every time a tube was removed. I was hot and sweaty after but it was August, my ovaries went and hospital mattress covers ! Day 5 and first shower was bliss. My family were local but not allowed in (covid restrictions) but being on a small ward with others in similar situations did help. Can’t remember needing much in the way of pain med once discharged (day 8). More tired and uncomfortable but it improved a little every day, walking helped. Think I could drive after 6 weeks but didn’t have energy for much. Appetite took a while to return. Sure without peritoneum muffler I can hear more gurgling as I drink or if hungry. Maybe had an occasional ache in the liver area for a while but that wore off. I have residual mucin (appendix related) and am on watch and wait.
I hope you can find some answers to all the questions that may well be going through your head. You are a warrior and my thoughts are with you.
️
Thank you for replying I appreciate it
I'm just hoping the chemo will do its job and knocked back this lymph node and liver mets so I can get referred and get accepted 
No idea what their criteria is for the surgery?
How are you feeling now are you cancer free ?
Xxx
Hi, everything here is crossed for you. I don’t know the criteria used. Think Basingstoke and Manchester may be only places to do HIPEC - for PMP anyway - and felt the Christie (Mcr) really knew their stuff. Seemed a far greater level of care than I’ve experienced before. If you weren’t in Basingstoke previously then I hope it’s not too far. Other patients when I was in had travelled from all over for treatment and were in a similar position, missing family and away from home.
I’m doing ok just not as much energy as I had. Everything necessary was removed at the time. The mucin is a bit unknown - not sure what’s normal in my circumstances and whether I should worry about it or not but keeping positive.
You probably may have had side effects from your chemo. Should have said but didn’t find this chemo too bad. Apart from sweaty, bIt sickly, hair and skin went very dry but could have been everything else going on.
Xxx️
