Hi all 

I was diagnosed with rectum cancer after colonoscopy tumour of 6cm by 10 cm diameter.

after CAT and MRI scans I was hoping to just have it cut out but I have a small spot on my liver which they think is secondary cancer.

I was expecting them to cut out both tumours and then poss do chemo 

but my consultant is recommending chemo first to make sure cancer is under control and target tumours to shrink.

i got to be honest I have been lying awake at night thinking this is the end and I may have a year or so .

but after reading some of the information on here I’m feeling a bit more optimistic.

time is a worry but I was told bowel cancer is the slowest in all I went in for colonoscopy 24 th Nov and since then had full CAT scan and MRI on liver and pelvis and received plan from my consultant on 31st Dec hopefully to start chemo middle to end of Jan 25? 
all in all I think it has been quiet quick but the waiting is the hardest bit 

Than you very much for your reply Anne Marie i certainly take your advise.

I hope all goes well with your treatment and I keep in touch with everyone on the forum 

Looks like we have a very similar situation x

Hi James. My mum is currently dealing with colon cancer with liver mets and she has struggled to eat for ages. It was probably her first symptom and unfortunately came on just after she had covid so she put it down to the changes in taste that covid can cause putting her off food and didn't investigate further.

It's definitely not in her stomach as they examined that in detail -they found the liver tumours first and examined everywhere to find the primary. I font know for sure but strongly suspect the eating problems in her case predate any mets. 

I've been following this thread, seeing the experiences. 

Hi yes eating was a problem for me as well but I did also need to lose some weight so I considered it good for surgery prep. I was told to eat little and often if I could not face big meals I still struggle with eating and feel nauseous I was thinking this may be normal!!! I too as Margaret’s mother did have my stomach checked but I think it’s because I was also being sick very often in the beginning so it was one of the checks they did. 
if your not eating much make sure you eat protein. 
hopefully other people’s experience is helping to let you know we do/can get through this x 

Thank you both.

Reassuring to know it's not unusual.

Yes I was told to try little and often. Right now I don't want to eat at all. Ita awful. I'm having to almost force myself to eat bits. 

I'll go shopping today if I can manage it and stock up on low fibre foods and try to find something I can eat.

Agree on protein. But I'm a vegetarian and that's severely limiting me now as most of my protein sources like nuts are on thr fibre list. I fear I may have to start eating meat again.. which I find so daunting at the best times and even more so when have zero appetite.

Really struggling with this one. I guess I'll just have to go one step at a time.

Hi Ste62,

your experience so far seems similar to mine. The waiting at the start is awful but when I thought about all the work going on behind the scenes to gather all the info to make sure they’ve got the best possible plan in place for me it didn’t seem long in the whole scheme of things. 

It was the bowel surgeon that first told me about the possible liver mets and she wasn’t confident they could operate on them but I would get an aggressive oncology treatment plan. It is devastating to be told you probably have stage 4 cancer. She told me not to go home and google because it would throw up lots of old stats. I told her that I would though ( it’s human nature isn’t it?) so she told me to look on this site and use the chats.

I had my colonoscopy early September and started chemo early November.  

I’ve tried to keep as positive as I can throughout  and as healthy as I can ( walking, gentle exercise, watching what I eat).

It’s hard at times but I try my best not to think too far ahead into the treatment plan and also quickly try to shut down any thoughts that I will only be here for a year or two because no one has ever come out and told me that - that kind of info has only come from Dr Google. 

Take care. I am heading up today for chemo no 5. 

Clare

Hi James,

I can’t help you with the lack of appetite because I didn’t really have any symptoms like that on the run up to, or after diagnosis. I do now with the chemo and try to eat healthily, little and often. 

As I said previously, I know what it is like to catastrophise.

I’ve been having reiki fortnightly (before my chemo) to relax me and I also do a lot of deep breathing which really calms me (just simple stuff like four deep breathes in and out). I also try to get out a big walk in the fresh air each day. I am still working (from home) so I try to block out an hour for lunch so I can do the walk. Work helps me too (my husband thinks I am crazy) because it is a distraction.

Where I lI’ve, I was lucky enough to be referred to a health and wellbeing clinic as part of the treatment plan. I see the health coach weekly and have being doing that right from having the colonoscopy, so before the biopsy had even confirmed it was cancer (clearly all the professionals knew it was cancer but I was in denial and not going down that rabbit hole until the biopsy results were through). I find those meetings really good.  He talks about your diet, mindset, gives you exercise aims, tracks your weight, heart rate, peak flow etc. You could see if there is anything similar you could get access to?

Clare

Hi Clare 

I did not get any kind of stage told to me but I would presume if they think it has gone to the liver they would class it as stage 3 or 4.

Also seen on the forum that some have had a PET scan but I only had CAT scan and MRI 

I only have a small spot on the liver but from others on here I think they can do a lot of cutting out of tumours on the liver and it will regenerate over time so it’s positive to see that others have had this done.

I suppose the key for the chemo first it to ensure that they can get the  cancer under control.

my consultant said that the liver was now his priority more than the original tumour.

i Asked why he would not just remove both tumours and then do Chemo  afterwards but he said the recovery time from the operation would prevent early chemo treatment.

Not sure if any others on here have had the same information as I presume everyone is slightly different.

To be honest up to yesterday my mind was overload with looking at finances life insurance’s,funeral ect and I was not sleeping at all .

found this forum last night and had a reply from Anna Marie also in a similar position to us ,and it has helped immensely to know and see others are getting through this and the help that is on offer,actually got some sleep last night lol

Next unknown will probably be the chemo and how  iit will effect me but from the info I have had to date tthey have much more advanced chemo treatments that are specifically targeted to the tumour type , but only what I was told .

Anyway we are all in similar positions so I will be updating the forum as I go and hopefully we  can all  get the through this.

best wishes x

Sorry did not know you were a vegetarian that must throw up some problems with protein did they give you any suggestions? Do you eat eggs? And cheese is also a good source sorry you probably already know that. Yes one step at a time is best they should keep an eye on bloods as well so will compensate anything you are lacking at some point with pills not ideal but will help. X