Hi Silky (love the name!) I am so sorry to read your email, life must be so hard for you at the moment. I know what you mean when you say you were brushed off because that happened to me when I told my consultant (who I was seein privately by the way) I had a change in bowel habits.

Anyway, I am now currently in hospital having been admitted via A&E last Saturday, vomiting and in great pain. I finally underwent a CT scan only yesterday and found to have a bowel obstruction and my stomach had swollen to about five times its normal size.I've had a nasogastric tube inserted and felt almost immediately better after they had drained pints of muck off.

I have seen the consultant today who has said it's too dangerous to operate due to the cancer cells in my small bowel. The plan is to start me on steroids to reduce the inflammation in the hope that the obstruction (which could be caused by scar tissue from previous surgery or from my first round of chemotherapy or even the cancer itself) will reduce.

So this is where I am with this wretched appendix cancer and, like you, I feel that we are very much short changed with regard to information, research and chat forum or even charity, that I know of anyway.

I've not been given a terminal diagnosis but I'm not kidding myself.  I do hang on to a tiny bit of hope that the chemo may do its magic to make it operable. I don't know how old you are Silky but I'm a young 73 and have only been married to my 2nd husband for 15 years and we're still very much in love so I would like a few more years yet with him and my wonderful family.

please let me know how you get on and thank you for your very wise and kind words.

x