Well this is a bit ******

dod

dod

Soldato
Joined
31 Oct 2002
Posts
4,117
Location
Inverness
I hope this isn’t considered a medical thread, but an experience. Maybe this can help me cope as well as anyone else. Maybe even encourage someone to take advantage of the system

I’m male, 61, pretty good health, keen cyclist. According to my garmin stats my VO2 max is in the top 1% for my age and gender with a fitness age of “an excellent 20 year old” , if you can believe that sort of programmes. In September I got through my bowel screening kit , happened to need a poo so went and did it there and then . Sent it off and didn’t think any more about it.

Few days later I get the letter back through and instead of no problem it says they want to see me for some tests.

Those tests basically consisted of a colonoscopy plus various bloods. Still wasn’t too concerned, loads of reasons for a positive result and I’m fit and healthy.

Night before the colonoscopy wasn’t great. A preparation called plenvu empties your bowel, vigorously. If you’ve ever heard billy Connolly’s sketch where he’s drinking foreign tap water that gives you an idea.

Colonoscopy done and you get an instant result. They found a polyp that was described as looking angry. No wonder really, just been exposed, poked and biopsied.

10 days later results are in, I’ve got an appointment with a consultant and as soon as I walk into the room I know it’s not good. You don’t need three people to give good news. He confirms it’s cancerous.

The rest of that day was a blur, met many different people and had a CT scan to see if there was anything else hiding. Abnormalities were found in liver and spleen so a MRI scan was arranged to check them out. Fortunately they were classified as small benign cysts. I don’t know how they do it but they do.

They now know what they’re doing so surgery it is, they don’t need chemo to control things prior to an op . I’m fairly lean so they decide I’m a good candidate for keyhole. And that’s what happened on Tuesday. Again prepped the night before and first on the table on the Tuesday morning. Anaesthetic via a cannula in the back of the hand but also some form of opiate injection into the spine between L3/4. The surgeon looks like a child although she says she’s on roughly her 100th procedure. Make that 101 now.

Everything goes well apart from hitting a vein which shouldn’t have been where she was putting in one of the tools and meant the op took about 7 hours instead of 5.

She took away about 40cm of bowel from the left as well as all the lymph glands and blood supply to that area. She then rejoined the two ends of the bowel so I don’t have a stoma. She’s confident she’s got everything but is going to recommend chemo, she thinks one of the lymph glands looks suspicious and expects pathology to confirm that.

Right now I feel like I’ve been kicked repeatedly by a horse. I’m getting a pretty decent mix of painkillers but I’m able to get out of bed and doing circuits of the ward. They said try to do one, every few hours. I’m way past that.

The physical side of this is manageable, I’m struggling with the mental. 8 weeks ago I was in rude health, now I’m a patient, and not a particularly good one.

Yesterday, the first day after the op was great. I guess my system was still full of meds. Today hasn’t been so good. I’ve been awake since 3am with abdominal cramps and currently relaxing due to a shot of liquid morphine. That stuff should be in boots :D

I am however grateful that I did that test early and this got caught fairly early. Bowel cancer is treatable and although I’m not out of the woods yet I’ve got about the best possible outcome I could have had at this stage. And all because of taking part in the screening. I suppose that’s the point of this. I’m not doing a poor me thread. If this encourages one person to take that test because they normally ignore it it will be worth it. If I hadn’t the surgeon says I’d have had three years.

The NHS has been awesome. I can’t fault the treatment I’ve had. I’ve also got BUPA but when I ran this past them they couldn’t get me through the system any quicker.
 
Sorry to hear you're going through this. My wife is as well and it isn't a fun experience. Everyone's journey is different so I'll not voice her journey here. I hope that whilst a lymph gland may look suspicious that the results come back as negative for you. It'll be down to a Multi Disciplinary Team to decide on your treatment going forward. So whilst chemo may be on your mind it's all unknown until the results are all in.

Is that the first FIT test you've ever done for bowel screening?
Not my first test, I’ve actually done them from 50. You’re right, there is a MDT that will make the decision but the surgeon is saying prepare for that eventuality. I’ll know formally on the 6th December
 
People bury their heads. They don't want bad news. It's silly, though, ignoring cancer is like sitting on rail tracks and ignoring the oncoming train.

It doesn't matter how much turmoil and pain OP suffered, it was insignificant to what would happen six months later had he not had the op.
Correct. This way I’ve got a realistic chance of a fairly normal life, albeit dominated by tests for the next couple of years.

Without the scan I’d be dead in three years.
 
Quick update for anyone who might be interested.

Today was my first day of chemo, I was bricking it before I went in. The reality wasn’t nearly as bad as I imagined. The process took about four hours in total.

There are eight cycles in total. Each cycle lasts three weeks, two with treatment and a rest week. The first four cycles are an infusion on day 1 followed by tablets for fourteen. The last four are tablet only.

Got steroids and anti sickness tablets to take for the next few days along with the treatment and just need to wait and see if there are any other side effects.

I’ve got fairly strong pins and needles in the arm they used to do the infusion, apparently this is common. It’s a bit uncomfortable but if that’s the worst I’ll cope fine with it :)

NHS again has been exceptional. Staff are amazing but you can see they’re working despite the environment. Some bits of the building are crumbling, one of the treatment rooms was leaking. It changes your perspective on what we should be spending our tax money on. It’s a service (NHS, not cancer specifically) we’ll all need at some time
 
Glad to hear your doing well, Have you got much hair to loose or won't it come to that?
I’m learning loads of stuff, the process is absolutely fascinating and I think the nurses are starting to think I need to shut up :cry:

All chemo is not the same apparently. What I’m getting is not likely to cause full hair loss, there might be some thinning but even that’s unusual. Probably just as well as I broke my head a few years ago and there’s lumps and dents from the bone grafts they did :rolleyes:
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom