Bowel Cancer needing some advise please !!!

[robbiemcc88]

hi , my mum has bowel cancer and has just finished her radio and chemo and met surgeons today and he said that it doesn't seem to have shrunk the tumor? , she is in severe pain constantly and doesn't find any pain relief helping her , what is the outcome or life expectancy of metastatic bowel cancer ? if it get to that stage if inoperable!. she is constantly worrying and so am i ! and i feel the doctors nor surgeons are being 100% honest with her! she cant eat atoll due to constant bowel stomach pain and constipation , also cant go to the toilet . if anyone can help me with their comments please

[Cazza]

Hi Robbie I also have metastatic bowel cancer and just starting my chemo. From what I understand no-one can really know how anyone will respond to treatment but if this is the first round of treatment your Mum has had her oncologist would be looking at different treatments for her. Unless all treatment options have been tried and your mother has been told that there is nothing more that can be done for her it is difficult to put a timeframe on things. I am not sure whether you go to appointments with your Mum but it might be good if you did and if you take a list of questions you would like to know with you. My doctor told me to do that and also suggested questions for me to ask on my first meeting and it was really helpful. I was able to tick them off and write down responses to things so I could go home and research later. The first question I would be asking is so this first line treatment has not worked what next - what are the next treatment options, and don't forget you can always get a second opinion. I find people do not automatically tell you anything you do need to ask. If your mother has a good relationship with her GP she could ask her GP to find out the answers and explain the options to her. I hope this is useful and I hope things work out for your mother.