Stomach cancer

[Lisa2]

Hi, I'm 40 years old and was diagnosed with stomach cancer in August. I don't have any risk factors,  just unlucky I guess. I am due to have my 4th round of chemotherapy, and surgery is planned for November. I'm also a mother of two young kids. I'm terrified about the unknown - treatment and the impact on family etc. I would love to hear from people with similar experience.

[sch]

Hi Lisa2,

I'm sorry to hear about your diagnosis. It's never easy, but very hard if you have kids.

I was diagnosed with bowel cancer at 40 and had two young children.

Chemo was annoying! There were side effects, but you will work around them.

Have the surgeons set any expectations around what stage they might think it is?

Do you have a partner who will be able to assist you and the children?

The children will be OK. They are resilient and will bounce back.

What surgery do they have planned? Is this for removal of a tumour?

And most importantly, how are you? How are you feeling?

-sch

[Lisa2]

Hi sch,

Yes, my husband can help with the kids. Chemo treatment week is always awful. My fingers are feeling the cold everytime I retrieve anything from the fridge. 

My surgeon hasn't done the staging yet. I'll have another CT scan prior to the surgery, and he'll decide what type of surgery to remove the tumor. 

I'm at peace now with the diagnosis. However, I am daunted by the surgery. 

How did you manage post surgery? Love to hear how you got through your bowel cancer. 

Lisa2

[sch]

Hi Lisa2,

I had my tumour removed first, followed by 12 cycles of chemo.

Personally, I thought that the surgery was easier to deal with as you had surgery once, followed by a recovery period afterwards. Chemo just keeps coming back and I had a number of side effect symptoms.

I was really sore for the week after surgery, but I also had a colectomy + ileostomy, so I don't know if that had an impact on how sore I was.

Your recovery time will depend on what will be performed during surgery.

While my surgery was reasonably significant, I recovered quickly.

Factors that I think helped in recovery;

• Fitness level before surgery
• Staying on top of pain medication
• Movement/exercise in the weeks after surgery
• Motivation/attitude

I found that the week post surgery was the most painful (obviously).

On one occasion I'd been sitting in an reclining seat. My wife was there and the nurse arrived as it was time for me to shower. I knew it was going to be painful getting up, but nothing prepared me for how bad it really was going to be. After that, my pain medication was increased and the pain was a lot easier to manage.

Tip - stay on top of the pain medication and tell someone if it's too bad so it can be increased.

Within the first week I also did as much walking (really it was shuffling) around as I could. Even if it took me a while to get anywhere.

Three weeks post surgery I started back at work. This involved walking to and from the train station and work. About 2 km all up.

So staying on top of the pain allowed me to exercise/move which in turn allowed enabled my recovery.

My diet was fairly restricted post surgery, but that's because I no longer had a large bowel. How the surgery for your stomach will be impacted, I can't say.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

-sch

[Lisa2]

Thank you sch. That's good to know. 

[Gary1]

Hi my name is Gary and I was diagnosed with cancer a few months ago I have just completed my 4th round of chemo and the surgeon wants to remove my whole stomach. I am terrified about surviving the surgery and if there is a life after surgery, what quality of life will it be?  I am 66 years old with under lying heart and lung problems.  Please any advice would be appreciated, thank you. 

[Lisa2]

Hi Gary,

Well done on getting through to your 4th round of chemo! 

My surgeon was going to remove my whole stomach, but thankfully he left 1/3 in situ. My advice is to speak to a dietitian post-op. I didn't know how to consume food after having most of my stomach removed, and had lots of indigestion or would vomit after a meal. Some food, eg mushrooms, were hard to digest after the surgery. Also, I didn't know one couldn't consume liquid and solid simultaneously.  

I am 2.5 years post surgery and chemo, and am still on small and frequent diet. But my consumption has increased from one egg to 2 pieces of toast & half a cup of hot drink for breakfast!  Mushrooms don't bother me anymore. There is definitely light at the end of the tunnel. The sensation in my stomach has also slowly returns. The stomach does expand, and you will need to prioritise what goes into your stomach as it does fill up very quickly 🙂

Also, don't forget to look after your teeth. Whilst frequent diet is great to accommodate one's small stomach, it isn't that great for your teeth.

I hope it helps.

[Gary1]

Thank you Lisa2 

[Gary1]

Hi Lisa2, I completed my 4th cycle of chemo 3 weeks ago. Before the 1st cycle I didn’t know what to expect, you hear all kinds of horror stories about it and so I was some where between shitting myself and terrified ( please excuse the S word ) but that’s how I felt. Over all  I liken the 4 cycles to a boxing match, after the first 2 rounds I thought that this fight is fairly even so far , then bang! The 3rd round got me with a couple of surprise punches that I didn’t recover as well, before the 4th round the neuropathy and tiredness were getting to me. Now 3 weeks later I am feeling a whole lot better but the chemo brain fog and tiredness are still with me, but I’m feeling more like a human rather than a walking sack of side effects. Knowing that they were side effects and not real sickness helped me tremendously, side effects go away, sickness sometimes doesn’t. Also staying positive I found so important for me. Dealing with what I know for sure and trying not to project my thoughts into future unknowns because that can end up being the playground for fear ( which loves to think it has a job to do). I talk to fear and say listen, I’m not being chased by sharp toothed monsters or angry hoards coming to kill me so I know you need to feel you have a job to do but just relax for a change and leave it to me, I’ve got this covered, just chill for a while fear, I’ll call on you if I need you. I hate the common terminologies surrounding cancer( even the word itself conjours up nightmares, I pulled a nurse up who told me they were putting poisons into me and said how can it be poison if it saves my life? I see it more as life giving elixir with a few temporary down sides. I know positive visualisation helped me a lot and using my own terminologies rather than the professional medical people’s terms, I think they become a bit blaze’ with the whole thing and the word ‘cancer’ to them is just a term they use but to the newly diagnosed patient it can be a horrific word to use. Anyway that’s just my take on how I am dealing with things. Hang in there take control of your thoughts give yourself a Pat on the back and a loving hug. You have all the power you need inside of yourself. I hope this has helped you in some way, take care. From Gary1

[Lisa2]

Thanks Gary1 for sharing your experience. Yes, I had very similar experience as yours with chemo treatment. It's like a boxing match, I felt like I just got onto my feet, then the next round of treatment came and I was knocked off my feet again. Chemo for me was harder to deal with after surgery. Hang in there Gary1. I found myself needing to accept and adapt to my new normal.