My Cancer Journey 2

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07/19/23

Just a quick update on the 29th July 2020 to let you all know what my next treatment is going to be.

Plan A: Surgery to have a "Liver Resection" and a second "Bowel Resection" done concurrently within the next four weeks.

Plan B: Surgery to have a "Liver Resection" then three to four weeks later another surgical procedure to have the second "Bowel Resection".

Plan A requires a lot of logistical organisation and the acquisition of a specialist piece of equipment if I am to have it done at Midland. Once all the surgery is done then I will have more chemo for mop up.

The bowel surgery may mean taking quite a bit of bowel so I may end up with my current ileostomy permanently or they may change it to a colostomy and I may have that permanently too.

Ileostomy (Stoma): Small intestine pulled through the wall of my abdomen and the output goes into a bag stuck to my abdomen externally.

Colostomy (Stoma): Large intestine (Bowel) pulled through the wall of my abdomen and the output goes into a bag stuck to my abdomen.

If I am to have a permanent stoma I would prefer to have the colostomy as this means I have some normal function of my digestive system as the large bowel reabsorbs moisture from my digested food and puts it back into my body keeping me hydrated. Currently I get dehydrated very quickly. Plus it means I don't have to be careful eating certain foods as they won't block up the small intestine.

The tumour in my liver appears to be quite aggressive and has grown. I was surprised to see how much it had grown when I saw the scan. It may also be obstructing a bial duct too so that may start to cause me some health problems which is quite funny because people see me and say "Wow, you look great, you don't look sick" lol. Well up till now there were no signs or symptoms but they are not far away if this liver is not sorted. Cancer is a funny thing and you can go down hill very quickly.

Having said all that there is now a very, very small chance I could be cured if the operations and chemo mop up work but even if they do get the cancer out of me, it does not mean I am in the clear. There would be more monitoring and scans for a set period, usually five years before the all clear is given.

Have an awesome day dudes.