Daughter (20) diagnosed with Bowel cancer

I thought having breast cancer 13 years ago (age 33) and getting through that would have 'been our lot', having lost my mother-in-law to that cancer too. No.

My daughter is 20 and on 18.10.16 had 95% of Bowel removed due to Bowel cancer. I can't find the words to describe how I feel, angry that she has it? Exstatic it was found at stage 2/3 ??  T2/3 N1 M0 - so I know that means follow treatment to be discussed at her appointment next Thursday 3.10.1

Make no mistake the staff at our local hospital were faultless, facilities have improved in 13 years, we even found the new McMillan centre at the back of the hospital. Lots of information for adults, not so much for Young adults here. 

I was tested for BRAC years ago, I didn't know about FAP, but I do know, she had '50+ polyps on the hepatic flexure + posterior' --- query FAP, and I'm not sure of that terminology definition yet.

Ive started keeping a diary as days are quite a blur, my boss has been great, I had last week off work and this week is half term, not to sure about next week, mix and match shifts again with her dad so she's not left alone to much with her thoughts. Originally she said she would refuse chemo - as she said she'd found out it was "only 4% effective" - that did cause a definite emotion of panic in me!. This in my opinion because her cancer has 'got in the way of her busy life', she's at uni and loves finding wonderful places in London with her boyfriend that are interesting, but not to expensive. 

I feel grief and don't know how to control it, as soon as someone says "how are you?" I well up, I wish the wouldn't ask

  • Sending hugs people mean well but don't know what to say sometimes a hug us better than words 

  • I re-read what i typed at 5am, when I was diagnosed 13 years ago i lost a great friend, purely because she did not know how to handle it. I didnt understand at the time, but I do now. Yes Bams at this stage a hug is better, I just feel so out of control, I'm supposed to me Mum, who fixes things when they go wrong - but i can't fix this 

  • im so sorry to hear about your precious daughter i  know how your feeling, my emotions are everywhere. you should always try the treatment they offer, sometimes you are the one it works for..always try.

  • hi, sending you a hug.  I know how devastating this news can be and how difficult it is to assimilate all the information at the beginning.  My 34 year old son was taken to bospital in extreme pain and to cut a long story short, had a tumour in his bowel which was removed on 6 may 2016 but he had secondary liver metastes which had spread throughout the whole liver and was told that he had incurable terminal cancer. As you can imagine we were shattered at this news but he managed to get married on 15 may as planned and commenced chemo 6 weeks later, the first trial drug chemo gave him 3 dvts and was switched to another, he has just finished his 9th session, he goes every other week into hospital for 3 days of chemo and takes a chemo tablets everyday.   There are no doubt some horrific side effects but after a full body scan last week there is no evident of cancer anywhere else in his body and some of the very small tumours in his liver have disappeared.  So this is joyous news to us at the targeted drug for his BRaf 600 mutation cancer is at the moment holding it back.  There are many people on this site who have been given dire predictions and are still telling there stories several years on, so although at the beginning i feared my son might not be here at christmas we now have a glimmer of hope, new things are being discovered all the time.  It is the most terrible thing to happen to a parent because i cant make it better, and you feel so helpless but i think as a family he has two sisters, my husband was not able to make any sense of it in the beginning, but we are learning to live the new life that we have, making the most of every day as best we can.  I hope that your daughter comes through this and that you all keep that spirit of optimism and love going.  Sorry to have rambled on so long, difficult to put into words but my heart goes out to you. lesliexxxx

  • Dear KSE,

    That is just not right, but having been involved with this horrible disease for the last two years I know that it doesn't care who you are or how old you are.  I have seen almost seventy years of life and resigned myself to the diagnosis, but a twenty year old?  That is just not right

    I was diagnosed amost two years ago with exactly the same staging as your daughter and what I do know is this.  Put your faith in your team - your surgeon, your oncologist, your nurses.  They are fantastic people and it brings a tear to my eye when I think of my team - especially the nurses.  Help them to help you, I had a hard struggle, completing only 9 of 12 cycles of chemo - but your daughter may find it easier, some do.  But she must do it.  Don't read to much into what you read about survival statistics, her outlook is pretty good.

    I wish you all the very best.

  • Hi Cassandra 

    I have to say the team around my daughter are fantastic, i keep trying to brooch the subject of chemo with her....but she just sees it as an 'inconvenience' - treatment is getting in the way of her studies, she's not your typical student that likes the bars, he Philosophy is "I pay £9k a year - I want my money's worth, D day is this Thursday - post surgery appointment. 

    Great to hear your doing well, :)

  • I so feel your pain, they fall over you fix it, as they get older they muck up and still fix it.....can't fix this one. We've also got a genetics appointment in November, all indicates 'FAP'. Faulty chromosome 5, first mutation. I don't know this but highly suspect and I don't yet know the full impact of this.

    thank you for sharing your story, I think the key thing is that 4 letter word 'Hope'. I wish your son comfort though his difficult journey and comfort for you too, it was great to read about his wedding, there is someone else standing with him and you too.

  • Hi KSE, Tell your daughter this … If she is recommended for adjuvant chemo – do it! For my first six cycles I did not know I was having it, other than the inconvenience of the hospital time. It was on the latter cycles that it started to serve me out, and although I have some lingering side effects -– they are better than the alternative. Four months after the chemo I was back to fairly normal. Also tell her this – My younger brother had the same problem three years before me and he didn’t feel the chemo at all. As we speak, my next door neighbour is now on his eleventh cycle and he is perfectly fine – hasn’t worried about it. Both would agree that it didn’t really interfere with their lives too much. Obviously, not even her team will know how she will fare, we are all different. But what she should know is that her doctor will figure out a regimen that is tailored for her. It may not interfere with her life at all. There is no denying that the immediate side effects will probably be there – they have to be accepted as inevitable (but sometimes they can be fairly minor too), but they will abate and the body will recover. Please tell her she has a whole life in front of her. Please tell her that she can, and she has to, kick its a$$!

  • thank you for your kind words.  I am sure your daughter will do what is best for her, she is probably still in a state of shock.  As you say we hae no magic cream to make anything better and that is a hard truth for a mum.  My sons wife is a lovely girl and puts up with a lot as he has days when he is very angry about this situation, but then the sun comes out and all is well.  We just have to learn to adjust to the change, try not to scream when you hear people moaning about a broken nail or something trivial and try to make each day a special one.  Take heart there are a lot of people on this site those who love those with cancer and those who have to endure it and the stories shared give us hope and comfort. lesliexx