Hi Willie

Welcome to Cancer Chat. I'm sending you a link to our patient information website on testicular cancer. If you would like to chat to our nurses about how you are feeling and ask any questions, you can contact them on: 0808 800 4040, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. You could also post a question to them in the Ask The Nurses section.

Best wishes

Jane

Hi Willie,

Welcome, you've come to the right place. Im sure that there will be someone along that can help you. I know nothing about your condition but I wish you good luck. Come back and see us and let us know how youre getting on,

Cyber hug to you,

Marian x

hiya, im wendy i have just been told from my dad he has cancer prosrate. its started of with a routine blood test psa test which kept going higher so his gp sent him to pickles (hospital) they wanted to do more tests biopsiy on which they took 12 samples 11 had cancer then he had the results cancer which is a fast growing one. none of us was ever thinking of cancer, im now finding it really hard to work out in my tiny mind how to deal with it. me and my dad are like to peas in a pod if the pod pops i do not know really what i would do. i really need help and guildance on how to help him with the daily struggle and to help me to be strong. i have 2 sisters which he wouldnt ask for help its down to me to see he is ok and get better. i love my poppa so much but really need help how to cope with this tragic news. im the baby of the family how alaways comes over strong and can cope. if there is a problem see wendy she will know what do!!! but i answer my own question being on here i dont know how to cope or what to say do be where to go only here. im so hoping to find an answer. or a mirical. thank you for reading.

My husband has a tumor and is waiting for more tests. We both worry more about how our young adult children will cope with the news so we are waiting until after his tests and the results are in and a plan has been decided by his team. Ileostomy has been mentioned because of the tumor's position near his rectum. The doctor who carried out the colonoscopy just held up crossed fingers when Phil asked of a likely prognosis. I'm proactive so Google all the time to get info for him, I Googled 'My husband has just been diagnosed with bowel cancer' and came upon this site. I hope to get support of any kind so that I may do the best for him. It's sadness I feel mostly.

Sue

Wendy, hi this is really hard like you I am the youngest and only daughter 2 elder brothers who have been great but my parents depend on me so much, I am a Daddys girl so much so my brothers call me the Golden Child!!! my dad was diagnosed with lung cancer stage 4 and  we were told it was not curable, I am devastated not only that my mum was diagnosed with Breast Cancer two weeks before we got dads results..  We are coping although we are all just taking one day at a time, dad has been getting 12 treatments of radiotherapy and then who knows what will happen, we were kind of told at the beginning there was nothing they could do for him. We have decided not to ask how long he has and just take each day at a time and as long as he is with us it makes me happy.. We have not really spoke about what is going to happen but we all know what is going to happen eventually..

I am just spending as much time as I can with dad and making him laugh and taking him for his treatments..  When they say fast growing with treatment of some sort they can slow it down and this must prolong life which can only be good, for us it is helping manage dads pain we have been told it is only pallative but they way I see it they are still treating him so that must be positive.  Please contact me at any time, although I am new to all this I feel I am trying to cope with both parents being ill and I am happy to help you get through the coming weeks/months. I think this web site is really good and I don;t know what I would have done without the help and support and I have only used this for one month...  The waiting is the worst part not knowing what they are going to do but please just take each day at a time and any bad news put in a box and only bring it out when you really need to... Love Ger xxx

Hi Sue,

Welcome to Cancer Chat. I'm sorry that you and your husband are going through such a worrying time.

There are lots of people on this site who have been through, or are going through, a similarly difficult time and I hope someone will be along soon to chat.

Very best wishes to you and your family,

Renata

Cancer Chat Moderator

Hi Sue

Welcome to the awful club we are all in.  It's sad that your husband has bowel cancer.  Well done you for being proactive and searching out information.  My 60yr husband has been fighting Stage 4 bowel cancer for 6 1/2yrs (with bowel cancer tumors that spread into his lungs) since it was, eventually, diagnosed in November 2005.  A succession of GP's had been treating his stomach discomfort for more than two years with anti-acids!  It wasn't till we'd watched a documentary on cholesterol that I suggested he have a test for his count - and instead he was found to have a dangerously low red blood cell count, needing an immediate blood transfusion, and then the tests and the roller coaster journey that is cancer began.  I'm still not absolutely sure how this site works but if you check my profile I think you can read there of Ian's fight for a long remission and the wonderful years we have had since the first six chemos ended.  Sadly in July last year Ian's cancer has returned big time in his lungs and there is a "mass" in the lymph nodes near his liver so it seems to be targeting that as well now.  But Ian's a fighter and loves his life.  He has been on one 18wk chemo regime until Xmas that unfortunately failed and is now on another with mixed results. 

Phil may be one of the lucky ones, with no spread, and much higher chance of beating this horrid disease. 

But if he's not, and the cancer has spread, and the battle is harder, don't despair.  Ask lots of questions and get as much information as you can from good sources and BELIEVE that long remissions do happen with wonderful years, all the more special because you won't be taking each other for granted the way we tend to do when we think we'll live forever.  I know the pain and the worry and the overwhelming sadness you are going through.  We haven't got any children so we don't have that anxiety, or that support for that matter.  I hope once you tell them they react well.  Our neices and nephews didn't react well to their uncle's illness - apart from one, they have shut us out of their lives because they can't cope with Ian's situation.  I hope for your sake that your kids will have the maturity and love to "be there" for you both.

All the very best for the coming months Sue.  If I can help in any way, just holler - I've tagged your profile to keep an eye out if you want to "talk."

Lorraine

Hi Sue,

I too have a husband with colon cancer, Stage 4 diagnosed January 2010 and on and off chemo ever since. We also have young adult children and it can be hard for them to deal with it.  We waited until the diagnosis was clear and then told them straight. They had lots of questions , and the hardest  thing was convincing them that we were telling them everything we knew. And since then there have been times when one or other of them has suggested we're keeping things from them - but in fact it's usually a case of the Drs don't know or aren't clear so there's nothing to pass on.  Each of our children has dealt with the diagnosis in a different way; one went seriously off the rails for a while, but we couldn't have predicted that and anyway had to share the same information with all of them.  Another wanted to cancel plans to study abroad but we said to go ahead - my husband and I don't live in the UK anyway, so it doesn't really matter which country they're in if we aren't all together. Once your children know what is going on they'll be able to support you both, and support each other, so I hope you don't have to leave it too long before sharing the news with them.

Best, Expat

Thanks for your very supportive note. I am sorry to hear of Ians struggle for life. Phil's main concern is the thought of a colostomy! He is not thinking further than that at present. Since the tumor was discovered last Tuesday he has seemed more like his old self. Suffering his symptoms since last November was making him all flaky and miserable and he thought we all doubted him. Having a problem confirmed has put a spring back in his step weird as it may seem.

What a great shame that some of your close relatives cannot overcome their own awkward feelings about cancer so that they may be a comfort to you. It's their loss I believe. I must go and get ready for work. Thanks again for your support. x