My dad has just had a colonoscopy and it looks like he has bowel cancer

[pinkchampagne1]

He has had symptoms for a while (mucus and rectal bleeding) but has put off getting checked out until recently. His FIT test was very high so he was fact tracked for a colonoscopy which he had today. Just phoned my mum and it looks like they have found a large growth which looks to be cancer. My dad is 83 and I adore him so I am so upset. 😢

They won't just remove the tumour - they'll remove the part of the bowel either side of it too to give a clear margin and hopefully will be able to reconnect the two ends (a resection). They'll probably remove some lymph nodes close to where the tumour is as well and examine those afterwards. The bowel wall is quite thick and they'll need to examine the removed bit of bowel to see how far through the bowel wall the tumour has got (as described in the staging link in my previous post). They'll also do some fuller analysis on the tumour itself once it's been removed (and keep samples for posterity somewhere).

@Meredusoleil I’m so sorry you still feel so in the dark. My DF was told within days of his scans (maybe even the next day) that he was Stage 4 - they could see spread to his liver and other areas from the scans. I really feel for you that you haven’t even had the confirmation that it’s cancerous or not yet. Sending love.

My dad’s lung scan came back clear which is a massive relief! Not sure what they saw on his X Ray but no clot or anything nasty on the lung. My sister and I have been so anxious all day, thinking it could be another tumour.
He has also finally been discharged and is back home. Hopefully he will sleep well after 2 days on a hospital chair!
Tomorrow we have his oncology appointment.

Thank you. I just feel like no-one wants to actually mention the C word when we would rather be told clearly instead of just wondering and blindly hoping it's at least pre- cancerous.

When my late df had a stroke, none of the medical professionals would call it that. They all kept saying it was a bleed on the brain. It's very infuriating tbh!

That is good news pink. Glad to hear he is home.

This is so difficult for you. My Dad had S4 BC at age 50. Had ignored it for a couple of years 🤦‍♀️He’s cancer free now at age 64 after a full stoma. It’s a horrible thing to go through not just for your a dad but for you and your family too. It’s still traumatising now, when I look back I can’t quite believe what happened. Just wanted to say my thoughts are with you while you all tackle this.

Thank you for your message. Great to hear that your dad is now cancer free. 😊

My dad had to have a stoma fitted straight away as his bowel would have perforated if left. He has just finished chemotherapy and today is his oncology appointment where we find out if the chemo has shrunk the tumour enough for him to have surgery to remove it. I am feeling anxious about this as we will get his scan results.

@pinkchampagne1 Hope all goes well today and that it's good news and surgery can go ahead. Will be thinking of you

No good news unfortunately. The bowel tumour hasn’t shrunk at all and the liver lesion has grown by a third. 😔
They are planning to give him stronger chemotherapy with a pic line as the next step.

😥

Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that....

I’m so sorry to hear that @pinkchampagne1 sending you so much love.

So sorry to hear that @pinkchampagne1 - that must be hard to take in. Sending you love and strength.

It wasn’t the news we wanted. We were hoping the tumours would have shrunk and we would have a date for surgery but now he faces another 12 week more intense round of chemotherapy. They have offered him a drug to go alongside it that has just become available on the NHS and he has agreed to give that a try.

Sorry it was not better news.

Fingers crossed with the help of the new drug, the tumour will shrink this time around 🤞

I really hope so 🤞

We met the surgeon this morning. It was the same doctor that performed dh's colonscopy. Good news is the tumour doesn't seem to have spread to the lymph nodes or outside the bowel at all. He said it's likely a Stage 2 cancer which needs surgery (bowel resection) first. So he was booked in for a pre-assessment meeting and we have asked for a date for the surgery in about a month's time.

Good news that the cancer appears to be contained and that they are planning surgery quickly. Hope you’re okay.

Hi @pinkchampagne1I’m sorry that you had bad news.

I hope it will help to hear that my dad got the same news after chemo, the tumour hadn’t shrunk at all. It was devastating. They went with radiation as the next step which only shrunk it slightly, but enough to perform surgery.

You imagine in your head that he’ll have the treatment as planned then surgery but I suspect this sort of curveball is common. They know what they are doing and the plan they have for him next will give him the best chance.

Don’t give up hope yet. It’s another bump in the road not the end of his journey.

Thank you, it is really reassuring for me to read about your dad. I am so pleased he managed to get his surgery in the end.
I am really hoping the next chemotherapy works for my dad. He is going to give this new drug a go too. They said they could just manage it if he didn’t want to put himself through it all (guess looking at his age) but he wants to try to completely get rid of it.

Hope things are going ok @pinkchampagne1 and @Meredusoleil

My dh had his pre-assessment yesterday and it was quite encouraging tbh. The surgery is booked for 10th Feb. Fingers crossed they will manage to do it via keyhole 🤞

🤞🤞🙏 x

That all sounds pretty positive 😊