I'm one of two partners in a small firm of consulting engineers with 5 other employees. There was no option but to be completely upfront and be completely open with the staff. Everyone was totally supportive. Long term clients I also kept informed. They are almost like good fiends anyway. No one was...

It is now 3 months since I finished my chemo. Post surgery I returned to work as quickly as possible and continued to work during chemo. In many respects this was the easiest time. There was always something to do. Now, feeling a whole lot better, I believe that I am now entering the hard part. It m...

The patients at my clinic seemed a fairly representative sample of the general population. However, given the time frame of polyp growth and the formation of tumours, I'd say that stopping smoking and losing weight could be interpreted as triggers in my case. Which is of course nonsensical. What I'v...

I'm glad I'm reading all this after the event and not prior to surgery. I would have been a nervous wreck otherwise. Even during chemo I only ever wanted the bare minimum of information, like whereabouts and when. Everything else I figured I'd learn as I went along.

For me, the day after surgery." We're getting up for a walk." ( I didn't have some tiny little cut. My surgeon liked to use the steel. I had a 15 inch incision.

Nine weeks after my last Folfox treatment I started to itch. Initially moisturizing lotion and lately antihistamines relieve the symptoms. I'm not even sure if its chemo related ( I've never seen anyone post anything like this). I had no rashes during treatment and in fact had a fairly easy ride thr...

One down, I guess it's 11 to go. The 1st is probably one of the worst. I found it to be. Don't let the treatment completely dictate your life. Try to retain some normalcy and keep your eye on the end of the treatment.

I worked through my chemo as many others have also done. My treatments were scheduled very early ( 7 am) and I would go onto the office afterwards. Day 4 I was tired in the afternoon, but otherwise mostly just another workday. I'm an office worker so not a lot of physical activity called for. Over a...

Personally I would take the chemo. I'd be looking at the full course of 5FU but an abreviated course of oxaliplatin ( no more than 9 treatments). This would avoid the longer term effects of periph. neuropathy.

First treatments aren't necessarily typical. I had every side effect known ( except nausea), which passed and it was plain sailing until the 11th. I took kytril days 1-5 and had dex on days 1 & 2. I was wired from dex on days 1 & 2, flat on day 3, pretty shabby on 4 and ok on 5. The Kytril w...

My onc likes them to stay in for 2 years. mine has never been a bother and is a reminder of the journey we're all on. I regard it as a badge of honour.

I still had taste but little appetite up to the 11th treatment. After that, no taste no appetite. 4 weeks after the 12th treatment, taste and appetite started to return. Now I'm fine, even toothpaste is OK. Fried food I can't bear the taste of, or the smell of the cooking process. During chemo, food...

don't commence chemo believing that every extreme of side effects that you have read will happen to you. I really didn't know very much about the effects beforehand ( where and when was all I wanted to know). Everything else I picked up as I went along. Up until the 11th treatment I was cruising. I ...