Hi all,

I'm new here so hello and thanks to all for reading. I will keep this as short as possible. Background is my Mum had bowel cancer diagnosed 5 years ago and since then it has spread to liver, adrenal gland, lung, rib etc. 3 years ago we were told that it was incurable so to be honest, for her to last 3 years is impressive. She still has an active lifestyle (playing badminton, going to circuit etc).

She has had back pain for a while due to the rib cancer but has had physio to help with this. Last week she woke up and couldn't feel, move or control her legs and ended up breaking her ankle trying to walk. She was taken in to hospital and it appears that the rib tumour had grown in the wrong direction and compressed the spine hence lack of feeling. She had an operation on Sunday night to remove the tumour and release the pressure. However, she still can't feel or control her legs so we're all obviously concerned that this will be permanent. Yesterday (so 1 day after the op) she could feel me touching her legs when her eyes were shut and could squeeze her knees a bit herself. However, today that feeling has also gone.

Therefore my questions are as follows and any help/shared experiences are massively appreciated:

- Is it normal for feeling to come and go whilst recovering?

- If you have experienced this yourself or through a relative, what type of recovery was made and what was the journey like on the way?

- She is havering spasms in legs- is this a good or bad thing or is it neither?

- How have you or your partners dealt with the change?

- Any other information you guys have is appreciated.

Thanks for reading and good luck to all of you in your individual fights also.

CE x