Is "heaviness" feeling around the back pelvic and thigh area a symptom??...

marc24

Hello, as some of you already know, I am a son of a recently diagnosed 62 yr old mom with colorectal cancer. She was diagnosed with corolectal cancer just last Tuesday and the last 6 days have been tough. I already somewhat have an idea about the severity of her disease since her CT scan states "numerous soft tissue masses on the left and right lobes of her liver" which means it has spread already. I just want to know, it has been 6 days since her colonoscopy in which they found the cancer and about 3 days after her CT scan, I was wondering she describes me ones in a while this morning that her thighs are a little numb and her back pelvic area feels a little heavy. She also tells me that she somewhat has irregular bowel movements and although no blood, there were instances that there were a while back, not recently....i am thinking she is feeling what is wrong with her but also maybe the side effects of what she has been done to her so far this last week. Please let me know if these are symptoms that needs urgent care, meaning me taking her to a doctor now instead of wait to talk to an oncologist on monday or tuesday. Unfortunately, its a weekend and we do not have a family physican nor if anything is wrong with her urgently, we were told that surgery of the cancer is not possible at this time since it has spread already. Any advice is appreciated again as always, just trying to keep myself and my family informed. I figure one of the best information database is from those who currently deal with it or has experienced it first hand..thank you So to summarize, i just want to know if the "heaviness" feeling around the back pelvic area is a key symptom...

kmygil

Your Mom
Hi Marc,

I am so sorry your mother has been diagnosed with "the beast", as we call it. Unfortunately, colon cancer is an insidious little $&*@#%^*). Sometimes the symptoms are only clear in hindsight. What I thought was simply lack of water, exercise and fiber turned out to be colon cancer. I just thought the constipation/elimination cycle was normal for someone with my poor eating/water/exercise habits.

Your mother's current symptoms (numb backs of thighs & heaviness around the pelvic area) could or could not be related to the procedures she underwent this week. If they become acute you should definitely take her to see a medical professional, but if they are just "there" I believe you can wait for the oncologist. That being said, I am no physician. I do know that once diagnosed, everything becomes suspicious. Paranoia is common and will eventually dissipate somewhat.

You are correct in thinking that your mother's condition is serious, but if you hang around this forum, you will see that we have many Stage IV survivors. After initial treatment, many people deal with this as another chronic disease--like diabetes. It will require vigilance and consistent monitoring, but that's down the road. Your immediate concerns should be the current state of the cancer and what is to be done now.

Best advice is to deal with one thing at a time. If the whole thing is looked at it can seem overwhelming. First, see the oncologist and take it from there. If her oncologist is negative or not forthcoming with answers (write down all your questions before seeing him/her) then get second opinions and change her medical team.

You are both in my prayers. Hang in there and stay positive.

Hugs,
Kirsten

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snommintj

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constipation + tumor?
I think I know exactly what you're talking about. My tumor was in the general area of my kidneys, prostate, and other low organs. As my tumor progressed in size the slightest constipation put pressure on all my lower organs especially the kidneys. Most of the time it felt like two bricks, one on each side of my spine. I took colace (basically mineral oil in a gel capsule). The recommendations are no more than 3 per day. When my tumor was at its largest I took 3, 3 time daily. I also took liquid fiber to keep things running smooth. I hope this works.

snommintj

unknown said:

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constipation + tumor?
I think I know exactly what you're talking about. My tumor was in the general area of my kidneys, prostate, and other low organs. As my tumor progressed in size the slightest constipation put pressure on all my lower organs especially the kidneys. Most of the time it felt like two bricks, one on each side of my spine. I took colace (basically mineral oil in a gel capsule). The recommendations are no more than 3 per day. When my tumor was at its largest I took 3, 3 time daily. I also took liquid fiber to keep things running smooth. I hope this works.

marc24

thanks...
finally got a chance to meet/speak with the oncologist..obviously the news is still grimm but we already knew that because everyone did a good job of being blunt and honest, no sugarcoat...basically the oncologist mentions that same thing, just take some medicine, i forgot the name, to make being to the bathroom easier/pass things smoother...but the diagnosis is still that liver has been affected with 20+ soft tissues that could be helped by chemotherapy...he did offer some assurance, little but still something, that nowadays, medicine is getting more advanced where average life expentancy ten yrs ago was 6 months and now it is around 20 months...obviously nothing written in stone.. He did say the bleeding and bowel movement is just part of the "normal" problem with her case..so im hopnig for the best...and THANK YOU for the advice...

The great thing that has happened im realizing is I am beginning to see life ALOT different now. Things i tend to procrastinate (im currently trying to become a CPA and get my license), i believe my focus will be better now since I know I want to show my mom these "Good things in life" that i can achieve as long as she is here active and healthy, at least from the outside...Thanks again and i look forward talking to u guys soon!!! good luck!

Just_Jo

marc24 said:

thanks...
finally got a chance to meet/speak with the oncologist..obviously the news is still grimm but we already knew that because everyone did a good job of being blunt and honest, no sugarcoat...basically the oncologist mentions that same thing, just take some medicine, i forgot the name, to make being to the bathroom easier/pass things smoother...but the diagnosis is still that liver has been affected with 20+ soft tissues that could be helped by chemotherapy...he did offer some assurance, little but still something, that nowadays, medicine is getting more advanced where average life expentancy ten yrs ago was 6 months and now it is around 20 months...obviously nothing written in stone.. He did say the bleeding and bowel movement is just part of the "normal" problem with her case..so im hopnig for the best...and THANK YOU for the advice...

The great thing that has happened im realizing is I am beginning to see life ALOT different now. Things i tend to procrastinate (im currently trying to become a CPA and get my license), i believe my focus will be better now since I know I want to show my mom these "Good things in life" that i can achieve as long as she is here active and healthy, at least from the outside...Thanks again and i look forward talking to u guys soon!!! good luck!

Your Mom...
Hi Marc,
So sorry to hear of your Mom getting sick.....
So glad you got to meet with oncology. Altho it's difficult, they are there for you, to answer all your questions and concerns at least put your mind at ease, somewhat.It is always better knowing than not knowing. Otherwise you are always looking for answers.... Three years ago, we got the news about my husbands colorectal cancer. He went thru all his surgeries, his radiation then did a regiman of Xeloda and Avastin for months, which seemed to slow things down quite a bit, with very little side effects. He did all this thru clinical trials, since his cancer was incurable.Today they can not do more for him, but he's still here!
Do as you planned, go day by day and enjoy. Make Mom proud! :O)
Good Luck to you and Mom!!!!
Johanna

CherylHutch

marc24 said:

thanks...
finally got a chance to meet/speak with the oncologist..obviously the news is still grimm but we already knew that because everyone did a good job of being blunt and honest, no sugarcoat...basically the oncologist mentions that same thing, just take some medicine, i forgot the name, to make being to the bathroom easier/pass things smoother...but the diagnosis is still that liver has been affected with 20+ soft tissues that could be helped by chemotherapy...he did offer some assurance, little but still something, that nowadays, medicine is getting more advanced where average life expentancy ten yrs ago was 6 months and now it is around 20 months...obviously nothing written in stone.. He did say the bleeding and bowel movement is just part of the "normal" problem with her case..so im hopnig for the best...and THANK YOU for the advice...

The great thing that has happened im realizing is I am beginning to see life ALOT different now. Things i tend to procrastinate (im currently trying to become a CPA and get my license), i believe my focus will be better now since I know I want to show my mom these "Good things in life" that i can achieve as long as she is here active and healthy, at least from the outside...Thanks again and i look forward talking to u guys soon!!! good luck!

Your Mom
Hey Marc... I'm also glad you got to meet/speak with the oncologist. As for the news being grim... the reality of cancer that has spread is it is given the label Stage IV. There are only 4 stages to colorectal cancer so obviously, if one is classified as Stage IV then this is no walk in the park or a "don't worry, it will get better" kind of answer. Yes, it is serious and as such, should be taken seriously. BUT, like our oncologist said, medicine and treatments have come along in leaps and bounds in the last 10-15 years. 15 years ago, that was pretty much it.. once you were diagnosed as Stage IV you were basically given a death sentence. So all those horror stories you hear of being told you have cancer and only a couple of months to live were pretty much true 15 years ago. 5 years after that, they had improved the results from imminent death to a longer period of time... 6 months. Well that was 10 years ago and we actually have had people pop in here who were diagnosed 10 and 12 years ago, so they beat the odds 10 years ago.

Now, they are saying 20-24 months... that is actually huge when you think of being told you are going to die any day (15 years ago) to you have 2 years (today). For me, that still was wayyyyy too scary! WHAT? I only have 2 years left?? But that's not what the odds mean at all. You take a large group of people, say 1000, who all have Stage IV colorectal cancer... and lo and behold lets say 500 of them die within 2 - 24 months. What they are not taking into consideration is that a lot of those folk will be elderly, a lot will have other health issues besides the cancer, a lot of them will be smokers, a lot of them will not be mobile and the list goes on of all these things that are working against them. Then there's my pet peeve , a lot of them will be poor and don't have medical insurance so can't afford the treatments that a lot of us are getting... or worst case scenerio, a lot of them don't even bother going to the doctor because they know they can't afford to. When you put all of these things together, although the cancer may have contributed to their deaths, it doesn't mean that they all died because of it.

I'm not sure if the above makes sense or not but suffice it to say, there are plenty of us who are Stage IV, going through treatments or are in between treatments... and we aren't going anywhere to the other side yet

So YES!! If becoming a CPA was always a goal for yourself but you've just been procrastinating, then get out the books, boy! Get that degree and show your mom that you are every bit the son she is already proud of Not only will you be helping yourself get started on your career, but you'd be surprised how much positive energy mom will get out of being proud of you and what you accomplish The more you accomplish, the more she's going to thrive on your accomplishments and it's a win-win situation no matter how you look at it

Keep us posted on how Mom's doing... and how you are doing with your studies!!

Huggggggs,

Cheryl

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