Bowel cancer. Weight loss during chemo and radiotherapy

[juliejanuary]

My dad (early 70s) finished a 12 week course of chemo for bowel cancer and has recently started an intensive 25 days course of radiotherapy. I understand the chemo helped shrink the tumour, but didn't manage to fully reach all angles of it, hence the radiotherapy.
I don't see my dad very often and although he said the radiotherapy seems to be going well (weekly updates from the Drs), I can't help noticing he's lost weight. Is weight loss normal? Even when cancers are being successfully treated? Hope the weight loss isn't negative or an indication that perhaps things aren't working in his favour. Anyone lost weight during cancer treatment and come out the other end?

I'm a similar age to your dad, and halfway through my 25 days of radiotherapy for bowel cancer. The daily trips to hospital are quite tiring in themselves!

Is your dad eating his normal meals? Has he lost his appetite, or is is he having difficulty with shopping and cooking?

Each week, I see a specialist nurse to check how I'm coping with the treatment, and she always measures my weight, and asks about my appetite. Does your dad have similar support?

I've recently had pelvic radiotherapy, although for womb cancer, not bowel cancer (I've had that as well, but that was successfully treated by surgery).

Although I didn't weigh myself during the treatment, I suspect I did lose a bit of weight as one of the side effects is diarhoea.

As @Jilllybean says, just the daily travel can leave you tired, and he should be having a weekly review to see how the treatment is going and for him to express any concerns (although I wasn;t weighed as part of mine).

I meant to add . . . 15 years ago, I supported my mum through bowel cancer, and weirdly found that far more stressful than coping with my own diagnosis and treatment. So I have some idea of what you might be going through right now.

So, juliejanuary, please use this thread for any support you need for yourself.

My DH also lost a lot of weight with bowel cancer - he was advised to eat a high calorie diet (lots of cream etc) and also took Complan - the complan is really very good. He is now a normal weight despite being so ill. My Nan also took Complan to bulk herself back up during breast cancer treatment. It's essentially a milkshake that is packed with nutrients, it works very well.