Hey there.
My name is Craig; I'm 26 and roughly a year a go I was diagnosed with Stage 3c bowel cancer after an emergency operation that ended up as a right hemicolectomy along with my appendix and ileocecal valve. 13/14 lymph nodes were affected (I know this is quite a lot), and I went through 8/12 preventative cycles of folfox. I'm luckily enough to be considered curative at this point as I'm currently NED.
I've had a PET scan and about 5 CT scans since then I have some similar symptoms as I did before the surgery. My last CT scan was just over a month a go and that was clear. Despite this, I continue to get a large amount of discomfort on my right side where the surgery was. When I bend over it feels like there's a ball in my lower abdomen and if I stretch it there's some pain. I also get burning sensations and what I feel like are small bands of muscle going along my right abdomen to the back just between my ribs and pelvis. I've had this numerous times since the surgery/chemo and the CT scans never bring anything up, and I understand that they can't see adhesions or such. I've also had a few other similar symptoms like loud bowel sounds especially in the surgical area, random bouts of sweating (no night-time sweating yet which I had a lot of before my diagnosis), rotating from loose stools to constipation that usually require laxatives or even enemas in extreme situations, a chronic cough and just a general feeling of constant sensation and discomfort like my nerves are constantly active. I'm wondering if any-else in my position has suffered similar problems post-surgery/chemo, because it's incredibly hard to keep my mind off reoccurance when I keep having these symptoms, even when my Oncologist and Surgeon reassure me.
My current medication is Docusate stool softern and Amitriptyline 10mg to 30mg a night. I have booked an appointment with my GP next week to talk to them about the possibilities of investigating further with my surgeon.
Any information would be much appreciated.
Thanks for your time.