Hello everyone, 

I was diagnosed with rectal cancer with secondary in liver and also peritoneum disease a few months ago. It came totally out of the blue. In 2010 I was taken very ill and had my colon removed giving me an ileostomy. I was left with rectal stump and anus intact. It wasn't due to cancer. 

Towards end of 2016 I started to have discharge from anus including blood. I saw my GP who wasn't worried as she said discharge is normal. It is small amounts of mucus sometimes but not what I had. I kept going back and eventually saw a Colerectal Consultant. He arranged a CT scan which didn't show anything BUT the radiologist reported that there were some small cyst type lumps on my liver so as standard procedure I had a MRI. I received a letter from the surgeon to say CT showed rectum okay! After MRI everything went mad. I had urgent appointment with surgeon who informed me that the CT had been re looked at and it was noticed there was a tumour on the rectum. The MRI confirmed this and the secondaries in the liver. If it hadn't been for the liver would the rectal cancer have been found at that point? Think not. 

Before I had MRI result I had a sigmoidoscopy that was reported as okay but the nurse didn't go far enough. Had it redone by Consultant Gastroenterologist who found the tumour and said it's been there a long time. I'd never been scooped as it's not normal practise as I didn't have ileostomy because of cancer and don't have crohns or UC. 

The suregon had talked about surgery to remove the remove the rectum and anus, recover then have liver operation at a different hospital but everything changed with the peritoneum disease which the doctor just dropped into the conversation. My primary treatment is chemo. I've had two but had a gap in between as my bloods weren't right. Hopefully number three tomorrow after bloods later today. 

My family have been devastated but I've kept my emotions in check as that's the way I am. I've felt angry and very frustrated as the chemo really takes it out of me. My body won't do as I want and I hate it. I feel like there are two parts of me, chemo one and me. 

Sorry if it's a bit long. Thank you for reading. 

Daisy