"My husband's cancer treatment"

After a delayed diagnosis of bowel cancer (told symptoms were constipation) he underwent oral chemo and radiotherapy which made the tumour disappear.

He was then told he needed to undergo surgical removal of shrunken tumour. We saw there was a trial called 'Wait & Watch' and he fitted the criteria, the surgeon said he would refer him. The senior colorectal nurse told him if he waited to be accepted onto trial or changed his mind he would face a wait for surgery (scary).

My husband told them he would rather die than end up with a permanent colostomy to which the surgeon reassured him that he could operate using keyhole surgery and gave him a 98% chance of not being left with a colostomy. My husband asked the surgeon if he'd read his case notes, the surgeon said no then reduced the chance to 92%. My husband on the morning of his surgery told the surgeon that rather than ending up with a colostomy he would prefer the surgeon to cut him open to do the op because he'd said it might be tricky to reattach his bowel due to the keyhole and the size of the staple gun he'd be using. If the surgeon had had any doubt my husband would not have undergone the planned technique, the surgeon again reassured him. He woke up with a permanent colostomy.

The trial for those with the courage to go on it is doing very well. The surgeon gave him a permanent stoma which began to spiral out of his body so that his bowel protruded from his stomach by 12 inches, it was eventually repaired by a different surgeon but he has recurring sepsis and has been on many courses of antibiotics. He has to have a prescription for antibiotics ready for when it happens. It has hospitalised him 3 times.