Welcome to Cancer Chat Jo!

I am so sorry to hear you have recently been diagnosed with rectal cancer and I can imagine it must have been rather shocking news to you when you found out. It is a very positive thing though that it doesn't seem to have spread. I hope your CAT scan went well. 

We are thinking of you as you are about to start your treatment. Given all this is pretty new to you, perhaps it would be good for you to chat with others on our forum who have been through rectal cancer treatment before, who have already had the surgery? If you do a search on our forum for 'rectal cancer' you will be able to see all past threads on the subject. I have found this thread for example which might be of interest to you and feel free to respond if you wish. Another useful thread is this one and in particular [@supatrooper]‍ seems to have been through all this before and may be a great person for you to chat to. 

I hope you will meet others who are or have been in a similar situation and who can now offer you support and advice. Our free nurse helpline is also open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm and you can ring them on 0808 800 4040 if you have any question at any time.

Best wishes,

Lucie, Cancer Chat Moderator

hi jo sorry for the reason you have joined. I am actually and hopefully coming to the end of my rectal cancer journey, I was diagnosed on 23rd december 2014 had a stoma fitted 23rd january then had 9weeks of chemo, I couldnt have radiotherapy as tumour was too close to small bowel, I had a bowel resection at the end of july 2015 which took a few months to recover from. I have been on chemo since last august and at my scan in december they could not see any cancer, I have to have 4 more sessions and hopefully I will be done. I just want you to know that no matter what you have to do you will get through this, it is not an easy path but I am here if you have any questions, Once you have your treatment plan in place you will feel a lot better knowing you are moving forward. Sending you big hugs and if I cn help in anyway dont hesitate to ask. XOX