Tuesday, March 14, 2006

To Chemo or Not to Chemo

First of all, thanks so much to everybody who’s been in touch with information, comments and views today – they really are appreciated.

There was a point today where I thought I was approaching information overload, but in the end, I think I got through that and feel – well, just more informed today.

As a result, I’m definitely more pro chemo than I was yesterday . There are a number of reasons for that:

  • Several people have reassured me from personal or close experience that the chemo really isn’t that bad. ( The Beating Bowel Cancer people have put me in touch with someone fairly local who’s had 5FU treatment – I’m going to call him tomorrow.)

  • There’s a logic about going for chemotherapy that simply can’t be denied. ( 10% is 10% after all – even if I don’t quite understand what it’s 10% of…) Of course, the final decision will hopefully be one where logic and instinct coincide.

  • The Bag. I’ve been thinking a lot about whether it’s my dislike of the bag that’s really behind all this. In a way it is, I suppose, but I don’t feel like that’s the whole reason. Anyway, I was discussing bags and stuff with Peter, who’s had an 8 month start on his ileostomy from me and he told me about a thing called a Cohesive Ring, which is basically a washer that helps to further seal the bag to you, meaning less leaks. I spoke to Denise my Stoma Nurse about it today and she’s going to put a few in the post to me so that I can try them out. I reckon that if I can find something that could up my level of confidence in the bag, that might help?



However, in spite of all that, I fully expect to have changed my mind all over again tomorrow.

Other news – I’ve got my CT scan appointment through now. Friday. And the Contrast Study appointment for Friday week. Of course, you know another name for a Contrast Study is a Barium Enema

And finally. After 49 days I had my first glass of red wine last night. Well – half of it. I’d had enough by then!

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