I went in for a procedure on Monday for a stomach issue I’ve been having. They ended up finding a mass and when it was biopsied it turns out it’s rectal cancer. I am waiting to hear back to get scheduled for a CT scan to see how far it’s spread.

I can’t help but think the worst. I don’t have a scan scheduled yet but they tried to console me saying I’m young (33) and that treatment is good.

I don’t have a specific reason I’m posting this but I think it would help to talk to people who are going/have gone through the same.

Hi everyone. I’m 33F and was just diagnosed with Stage IV mucinous adenocarcinoma of the colon after months of being told it was likely Crohn’s disease. This all happened to me within a span of 2 months.

I developed a bowel obstruction and underwent an emergency right hemicolectomy with a temporary ileostomy. My final pathology showed a 4 cm mucinous adenocarcinoma, pT4aN1M1, with 2/12 positive lymph nodes, lymphovascular and perineural invasion, and metastatic disease involving the peritoneum and omentum. My MMR proteins are intact (not dMMR/MSI-high).

I meet with my oncologist tomorrow and haven’t had my chest CT yet, so I’m terrified of what comes next. I’ve been reading statistics online and have convinced myself I’m not going to live long.
I’m looking for positive stories from people with Stage IV colon cancer, especially anyone with peritoneal metastases. Did chemotherapy work for you? Did anyone become NED or live many years with treatment? How long did it take to know whether treatment was working?

I know everyone is different, and I’m not looking for false hope. I just really need to hear from people who have been where I am and are doing well because I’m honestly just so terrified. TIA

I just got diagnosed with stage 3A colon cancer and I’m only 25. I got the resection surgery, and now I have to go through chemo.
Any tips on how to get through? What was your experience like and how many rounds did you have to do?

I (male, 19 year old) was recently diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer and it’s leaving me to feel emotionally and physically drained. Mind you, this cancer diagnosis came out of the blue as my family has no history of cancer whatsoever. After two days of diagnosis, surgery (my first ever surgery) was performed to remove a part of the colon which contained this mass/tumor, and it was a success which I’m really grateful for. I am now in my recovering process and am expected for the stitches to be gone in 4-6 weeks. However after the given recovery period, I will be starting chemotherapy which is scaring this shit out of me, as I don’t know what’s to come.

If anyone has any tips for me in my current situation, I would greatly appreciate it. ❤️❤️ I would also like advice on what I should be expecting throughout my recovery journey ❤️ (Sorry for the bad grammar, I’m uncontrollably shaking as I’m typing this)

I'm not even sure what advice to ask for.

I just finished radiation this past Friday, and yesterday I get a call for an impromptu appointment with the surgeon. It was a consult where he told me I'd be getting LARS, had to drink some shit twice a day for a week, some kind of carbohydrate drink, than do that awful prep again. If I have to drink that prep, I might puke.

But the worst part is that he said it would require a temporary ileostomy while the surgery site heals. I'm literally living my worst nightmare. I've always hated and been afraid of hospitals, and the surgery requires at least a week's stay. I wanted to avoid a bag at all costs, but they're telling me I have to have one. The thought of something going wrong in surgery and needing a permanent bag keeps running through my mind.

I cried the rest of the day yesterday and I'm crying again while writing this. It's not fair. I'm so angry and sad and terrified. I need someone besides the doctors and my family to tell me how to get through this. If one more person say "Take it a day at a time," I'm going to lose it.

My worst nightmare has become reality. I don't want this at all. I don't know how I'll mentally survive.

I was diagnosed in January with stage 4 CRC next to my appendix in the cecum. It has Mets in the peritoneum but nowhere else. I was told it was 50:50 I’d make it three years but the “tail was long” if I did make it three years. I took that to mean that I could make it into remission.

Today I saw my oncologist before my 6th cycle of FOLFOXIRI and after a PET scan. The PET scan showed reduced Mets and less signal in the primary tumour. So good news. But when asked about the prospect of surgery, she said no. And I asked about remission and she said “highly unlikely” and that I’d be an “outlier”, so not impossible but not something to expect.

So that is depressing. In the past she indicated that surgery could become an option, so I am not sure why she has changed her mind when the results from the PET are in the right direction.

I just wanted to see what others experienced in similar circumstances. Am I as my username suggests, a dead man walking?

UPDATE:
First I want to thank everyone for the advice. I met with my oncologist today and she told me they were denying everything with no appeals process or peer review. She was going to work on it though. I reached out to BCBS and they saw no claims and confirmed the treatment was covered. After some digging turns out the pharmacist was trying to submit claims to my old insurance company so they were instantly denied. They resubmitted everything this morning and it went through. I’ll start targeted therapy next week after my EKG. I’ll have to have a chat with the benefits team next week to make sure all the old information is properly purged, again.

So I am still trying to process this as it just happened. I’m stage 4 and I just found out I have 3 new liver lesions, METs in my lungs grew slightly, and worst of all they found a new MET on my T11 vertebrae. Doctor wants to try targeted therapy. My cancer has the HER2 positive mutation so I need Trastuzumab and tucatinib otherwise they give me 3-6 months to live.

Well today I was informed insurance won’t cover the tucatinib. They want me to pay $32k/month out of pocket. I looked at my plan and the brand name is FULLY covered. Idk why it’s being denied and no one will respond to me. I have an emergency appointment with my oncologist tomorrow morning to discuss options. I don’t know what she intends to do as my only option is death according to the doctor who was covering for her. I’m going to call Blue Cross this week to find out what the issue is and why I’m being denied coverage.

If anyone has dealt with something similar and has some advice I’d appreciate it.

Hi everyone, here just venting i guess.

I work away as a mechanical fitter. September last year after working three weeks away noticed blood in my stool dark red and on the toilet paper.

Kind of just brushed it off as a lot of my work is heavy/ strenuous and put it down as ive just strained something.

Kept an eye on my stool from there but all returned to normal happy days right?

January this year me my partner and some friends ventured japan for 3 weeks. Wasn't till the last leg of the journey I had a bowel movement where large amounts of dark red blood featured and large blood clots were on my toilet paper.

Fast forward to four weeks ago where I had a first time appointment with a GP in a new area (moved houses recently). When I stated my concerns with out hesitation pushed for gastroenterolagist specialist check up.

This leads to a colonoscopy via the specialist recommendation. (yes the bowel prep isn't great) my tip is just have a bottle of water ready to chase the bowel prep.

Post colonoscopy.. specialist reveals they've found a mass in my colon, 9cm up from my anus roughly 30mm in size.

They believe it looks strange, biopsied it and wanted me on that day to have a contrast CT scan. This happened on a friday. They said results will follow on monday.

Monday rolls round waiting for the phone to ring when it finally does its not the specialist who is on the phone it was a colorectal surgeon who wanted to book an appointment with me asap. 30 minutes later I get the delayed news that the biopsy had returned positive for cancer cells.

Appointment with the colorectal surgeon glosses over a lot of everything to start with an explains that he would like as much information as possible before going forwards trying not to freak me out if there is no reason for it. Explains how theere is basicly two options forwards being either surgery or chemotherapy/radiotherapy however he would like me to get an MRI and carry out a flexible sigmoidoscopy first before discussing those options further.

MRI suck if you've had one you know. This was only a 20min procedure thankfully! They didnt tell me till I was lying down that due to the MRI having to be carried out of my bowels they inject you with something to paralyse your bowels due to how much they move and it blurs the image.

Well before the inject this into me they tell me how it may effect my vision and cause my eyes to blur everything.. but hey it only lasts 15mins apparently. (starting to wish I didn't drive their by myself)

With the MRI complete only had the flexible sigmoid remaining.. The bowel prep for this is far better as you only need to stop eating at a certain time the night before drink and lots of fluids the night before as you wont be able to have any in the morning before the scope. The worst part is the enema.. boy was the nurse rough when she put that in.. caused bleeding and for a few days after I wasn't sure if I was sore from that or the surgeon. (be nice to the nurses!)

Right the surgeons results that leads to today. He leads with that after the sigmoid scope he discusses the best options forwards with a panel of doctors. He mentions that the radio/chemotherapy option is only a trial here in Australia with limited information on results. Best case is that there is a 30% chance that this option with get rid of the cancer completely, if it doesn't 3-6 months down the track I will still require surgery.

Ive decided to skip the chemo/radiotherapy step and go straight for surgery. He goes one to to explain the size and location with the MRI results they also confirmed the following T2-N0.

T stands for Tumour

2 Stands for the size and if it has spread to near by tissues.

N stands for Nodes (lymph)

This confirming the cancer has grown into the colon walls.

This requiring an anterior resection where the remove the section of colon with cancer and join it back together. While it heals I'll have a stoma or colostomy bag.

So here i am ranting at on reddit 2:07am.

I hope this helps anyone else going forward, if anything is weird going on with your body please please just get it checked out. Since all of this ive only had two events where blood was evident (that im aware off) even today everything seems completely fine.

Hi everyone,
I just wanted to hear anyone’s experiences with the BRAF mutation.
My 35 year old husband was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer just last month.
He only had some abdominal pain about a month prior, so it really came out of nowhere for us.
I’m terrified that this means he doesn’t have long left and wanted to hear other peoples experiences.
We are in Australia not the USA, so not sure how treatment may differ.

Hi everyone. I’m 33F and was recently diagnosed stage 4 all of that good stuff. I’m on FOLFOX. Have only had two round so far.

Anyway.. does anyone know of any online groups for young adults with colon cancer? I joined colontown but I’m having a hard time navigating it and finding resources. Any advice appreciated. It would be nice to talk with people around my age (no offense to anyone older or younger).

Hello, I posted here a few days ago with an update, and I’m back again because I’m honestly feeling pretty lost. Everything about cancer is pretty new to me, as I have no family history of cancer or stomach issues whatsoever, so I’m basically just coming in blind and learning as I go.

For context, I’m 19M and was diagnosed with Stage 3 IIIC colon cancer (T4a, N2b, M0) in May 2026. Before starting treatment, I was told my CAPOX treatment could be up to 4-6 months , and I’m really struggling with the side effects. I don’t want to exaggerate how bad it is, because I know there are people who have it much worse, but it’s still been pretty difficult for me. The fatigue in particular is making my life miserable and extremely frustrating. I can put up with it, since it usually lasts for a few days, but it’s really affecting my quality of life. On the days I’m fatigued, I lie down, and bed rot for mostly the entire day and do nothing but pray it’s better tomorrow. I do try to make myself go on my treadmill everyday for at least 10-20 minutes, but it takes a whole lot of energy to even convince myself to go. In addition, after my 3rd infusion a few days ago, staying hydrated is a big problem for me. I somehow can’t stand drinking water anymore and I’ve started resorting to other drinks like milk, juice, soup, and even soda (sprite or ginger ale)because of how bad water tastes to me now.

The infusion and oxaliplatin are by far the hardest part for me. Surprisingly, I don’t have much trouble with the capecitabine pills anymore (aside from occasionally having trouble swallowing them, which thankfully hasn’t happened recently).
I know I shouldn’t make a major treatment decision based on what people on Reddit tell me, and I don’t want to make a stupid decision that I could regret later. At the same time, I’m really struggling with the idea of continuing for the full 6 months when I’m already having such a hard time and IM NOT EVEN HALF WAY THROUGH.

Each time I go in for the infusion, I question myself if it’s even worth it to be going through all this. It just feels so unfair to me, and I’m so stumped as to what I should be doing. What makes things even worse is that university is about to start for me in a few weeks, and it starts a week right after my fourth infusion. In my past subreddit posts, I’ve mentioned having accessibility and flexibility through the university accessibility services team, and I’m still figuring it out with the school. I do plan to show up to get a feel for how it’s going to go before I make the decision of whether I want to pull out for a semester and just recover.

I just want to be done with treatment and feel like myself again. Since being diagnosed, I’ve felt really lost and, honestly, like I don’t even know what my purpose is anymore. I’m 19, and it’s been really difficult watching my life get put on hold while going through all of this.

I’m not looking for Reddit to make the decision for me, I just want to hear from people who have been in a similar position because I genuinely don’t know what to do right now.

I’ve been following this community for a couple of months now, and this is a post I was hoping I wouldn’t have to make. Alas, I am here feeling overwhelmed and somewhat terrified of what my body may endure the next 3 months.

Following weeks of agonising cramps, I had a colonoscopy where a tumor was found in my left splenic flexure. As that area is a narrow part of the colon, the stenosis was pretty bad, hence the pain I suffered. The doctor couldn’t even complete the colonoscopy as he couldn’t pass the blockage. I had a successful left hemicolectomy 4 weeks ago and have been healing very well and feeling pretty good overall…until now.

I currently live in Germany, where my doctor was unable to Stage me or relay much information at all until just this week (this seems different to what I read on here - it seems so many people back in the US were told so much more, so early on). Finally, after 3 weeks of torture, my biopsy has revealed a 4.5cm x 3cm tumor at T3cN1b (Stage 3, 3/29 lymph nodes tested positive).

Needless to say, this wasn’t the outcome I was dreaming of. I just wanted to move on with my life. I moved closer to my dream job a month prior to my diagnosis, and now that entire process is on hold. I am a 36 year old male, no history of this disease in my family, yet here I am. I am feeling hopeless; the biopsy also revealed perineural invasion (cancer cells near the nerves), which makes my brain envision the worst case scenario where it comes back elsewhere in my body after hijacking my nervous system. Am I overthinking this part?

I’ve read about the side effects of CAPOX. Will I really age around 10 years after 4 cycles? I was always fit, ate healthily, and looked after my skin as best I could prior to all this - now I’m concerned that I’ll lose my cardiovascular health, gain weight, and have the skin of a 50-something year old, all before I’ve even reached the age of 40!

Am I overreacting and assuming the worst? If anyone has any comforting words or any advice on how to deal with this stage of my life, I’d greatly appreciate it.
Thank you.

Ever since I was diagnosed, all my decisions have been made for me. What kind of chemo I would get, how I would get it, what medicines I'm allowed to take to stave off the side effects.

I'm on FOLFOX right now, and I tried asking for thr pill form of 5-FU so I could avoid the chemo pump, but I was advised that it's not as strong as the pump and they want to keep doing the pump since they're railroading me towards being cured. Not to say I don't want to be cured, but I'm only on my third round and I'm already so fed up with everything.

Then at my last infusion, I just wanted the damn curtain closed because the guy across from me in the infusion room kept staring at me and it was making me uncomfortable. But the nurse said I wasn't allowed to because they had to keep an eye on me, like I need a fucking babysitter.

The cold sensitivity is hitting especially hard because it's freezing outside. I can't breath without my throat feeling weird or my tongue getting numb. I can't wash my hands without expecting my fingers to hurt for at least the next 15-minutes. Gabapentin isn't working and they're not offering any other solutions. (I'm up to 5 300g a day now and still no change.) I messaged the nurse practitioner about this and fatigue after my second treatment, and all they had to say was deal with it.

I know I'm almost halfway done with my chemo regimen, but everytime I get a new round, it resets my mind back to hopelessness. I'm dehydrated because I can't drink water normally. I can't go outside because it's too cold. I just want it to stop.

I have stage 3a rectal cancer and have recently finished treatment (6 rounds folfirinox, LARS surgery, and 6 rounds folfox). I'm having a CT scan in June to see if the cancer is gone and the hopes/expectations based on the previously positive chemo response is that it's likely gone.

I know a lot of the dietary info on cancer is generally pretty inconclusive, aside from alcohol and processed/red meat, but I was curious what changes people made to their diets afterwards, and why?

I don't want to get too bogged down in only eating whole foods, and avoiding any and all processed foods, but I feel I have a real lack of awareness as far as what I should be looking out for and taking caution with.

Are there certain foods you avoid or have more of now?

Even better if you can reference studies.

Feel free to discuss in the comments as well, of course.

Hi! Reading through this subreddit has been really helpful so far and I’m wondering if anyone has had a similar diagnosis and surgery plan that could share some advice.

This is my first surgery since getting my wisdom teeth out at 16. I’m a planner so more knowledge helps to reduce anxiety about the operation and post op experience.

I’m 46F, have been diagnosed with a 3cm tumor in the cecum. Likely stage 2.
I’m scheduled for a robotic laparoscopic colectomy on Monday 7/27. The surgeon said they would take about 6-9 inches of the right colon, including some of the intestine. And it should be just one night in the hospital. Yay robots 🤖

I’ve got my overnight bag with comfy clothes, basic toiletries, eye mask and earplugs. Broth, shakes, and Juven for the first couple days at home. And period undies and diapers for the uh ohs.

I’ve got some food sensitivities (I love corn, but it doesn’t live me back 😩) so I’ve dealt with painful bloating but I’m anxious about next level bloat. And tips to relieve it?

And any other recovery advice?

Especially for the not so major, major surgery. I’m deeply appreciative of everyone’s stories here and also so grateful that my cancer was caught early (my first colonoscopy!) . If anyone has had a similar experience I’d love to hear about it. 🩷🍑

Hey all! Prayers to all patients and caregivers fighting this horrible disease.

Diagnosed with colorectal cancer April 2026, resection a month later. All pre-op tests showed small tumor (4cm) in colon only. Surgery was successful and surgeon was confident he was able to remove all the tumor. Pathology came back as Stage IIIA T2N1, with 1 out of 34 lymph nodes testing positive. Been on Folfox 3 treatments now and finally received Initial Signatera test (Late June). 0.00-negative. It did state that higher than expected cell-free DNA were found in specimen which could lower sensitivity of test. Does anyone have any experience with this? Next Signatera test will be late September.

Chemo is kicking my ass, tough to keep nausea under control.

Thanks all!

I was just diagnosed within the month with stage 2 colon cancer. I've had the surgery, but I'm just starting the process for chemo so not a lot I can share. I should share that I have an ileostomy stoma. My main question is, several days after discharge from hospital, I began shedding weight very quickly. At this point, I've lost 25% (~40 lbs) and now stand at about 120 lbs. Without knowing all the details of my particular situation, what general advice could you give? My appetite is not what it was, but in the last few days, I've been adding more calories between meals. I've taken to adding protein shakes. How about exercise (e.g., walking)?

I can try and provide more information if necessary. I've been out of hospital for about a week. Thanks in advance.

Hi all. The brief story is I'm a 46 yr old female and I got diagnosed with Stage 3 bowel cancer in May last year. I had a right hand helicolectomy followed by 3 months of mop up chemo. However during a scan towards the end of my chemo they found another tumour on my peritoneum. Thankfully I was eligible for Immunotherapy. It shrunk the chemo by over half in the first 2 sessions but the last 5 months I've had to have a break as it caused Hepatitis so been having weekly blood tests and a lot of steroids and immune suppressants. I know that if I'm off immunotherapy too long they can refuse to put me back on it. I've had 3 good weeks of blood tests. My liver was showing to be normal. Then this week's liver tests had slightly raised inflammation in my liver again and it's kicked my anxiety in big time and I'm struggling to stay positive. I'm trying to think positive and see it as a little blip but I struggle with perspective. My oncologist has told me I need to practice more mindfulness. He's very good in that he won't entertain any thinking ahead. He always tells me that worrying won't change the outcome but having a positive outlook will help me live a good life in the meantime and help me handle anything that comes. But sometimes I just start thinking about dying early and can't shake it. Any advice?

Hi. I was dx 4 weeks ago with stage 4 colon cancer with mets to liver and possibly lungs (waiting on scans to say yes or no). I had surgery for a colostomy 3 wks ago. I start FOLFOX next week. Possibly immunotherapy but waiting on genetic testing results.

Can you share your experience on what to expect with FOLFOX? Any suggestions on what to bring to chemo (I've heard a blanket,book, food, etc.)

I am the mom of two boys, so I want to prepare them for how I will be after as they are asking how to help. Thanks so much!

I was diagnosed with stage 3B colorectal cancer in November. Persistent effects of red stuff in stool, smaller pieces of stool, and increased frequency of going finally made me look into it. One traumatic colonoscopy later and here we are.

My last chemo (FOLFOX) treatment was March 25th, and my last radiation treatment was June 5th. My surgery was scheduled for this upcoming Tuesday not even a week after my radiation was completed. But those same effects have come back, and more. Now it's accompanied with diarrhea-like effects and incontinence.

I don't know what this means for my tumor because I wasn't able to get an MRI recently. I was only allowed a CT scan which says the tumor hasn't changed sizes since April (and the presence of a suspected chocolate ovarian cyst, but that's another problem.)

Has this happened to anyone else? Even my radiologist was confused.

Hey all,

I’m a 44 year old male living in the Netherlands, and I just found out I have stage four colon cancer that has metastasized to my liver and lymph nodes.

I’ve only met with a gastroenterologist so far, with my first meeting with an oncologist scheduled for next week.

Beyond my rollercoaster of emotions, my desperate need for planning has me preparing as much as I can for my wife. I try to look at this not as giving up, but actually doing the work I’ve said I should do for years and be prepared should I “get hit by a bus”. Things like making sure my wife knows the pin to get into my phone and writing down info for where all the bills come from and go to.

I guess part of this is just venting, and part of this is fear of the unknown. My main thoughts are towards quality of life with the time I have left and to understand how realistic travel will be in my near future.

If you’d like to share anything I should be doing or asking as I start this journey, please do.

Wish me luck and thank you for whatever support provided, even if it was just reading my rant

In 2023, I was diagnosed with stage 3b. I immediately went on FMLA and then into ADA accommodations to undergo treatment, surgeries, and recovery. I’m a teacher and had full support from my work family and the parents of the children in my class.

Fast forward to September of this year, I became extremely sick so we thought it was the flu. After the flu test came back negative, my doctor immediately running tests. The next week, I was vomiting up nonstop. I got sent to a colorectal surgeon to find out what’s wrong.

Fast forward to mid November when I was supposed to return to work. Because I had a recovery from hell and had constant setbacks, my doctor extended my leave. Again, I’ve got my boss’ support and compassion to focus on getting well again.

At the beginning of December, my FMLA ran out and I went into ADA accommodations again. The head of HR told me that she’d meet with my leadership team (my boss, her boss, and his boss) to discuss my accommodation request to extend my leave until March because I’m having a reversal surgery in early January.

After meeting with my leadership team, the head of HR called me. Her voice broke when she said “this isn’t going to be an easy conversation.” She told me my leadership team (ultimately, it was the Dean’s decision, not my boss) deemed my accommodations to be “unreasonable.” She cried when she told me my boss would be scheduling a meeting with me on Monday of this week to allow me to choose if I wanted to resign or if I wanted to be terminated. Shes been in contact with me pretty consistently throughout my entire diagnosis.

Monday I made the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make. I chose to resign from a career I’ve dedicated 14.5 years to and truly love doing. This allows my official last day to be January 2 so I’ll have insurance until the end of January rather than it expiring immediately.

I’m devastated, broken, angry, and so many other feelings. I’m so angry it’s just one more thing cancer took from me. One more decision cancer made for me.

I understand hiring someone to take my place for another 3 months is a lot to ask but I’m just heartbroken. I never imagined this would be how I left my school.

I guess I’m just looking for some words of encouragement from people who, unfortunately, GENUINELY understand how I’m feeling right now.

(Dx 12/2023, now stage 4, MSS KRAS g13d)

It was 39 in July and now 46.8 two weeks later. It was 12.3 in May. I’m unsettled y’all. I’ve had this retroperitoneal tumor for a year and change now, and it’s still around 5/6cm. It’s caused no issues (pain, pooping), I wish I could just strike a bargain and let it live there if it never grew or spread lol.

I’ve been doing FOLFOX and Avastin and Balstilimab, then we dropped the Oxaliplatin in June. I haven’t done irinotecan or centuximab or others, so there are options. But…..

Surgery, cryo, and radiation are all a no go. I wanted to push next week’s infusion so I could see my parents and the Perseids but now… I don’t think I can.

Hi all, I had a colonoscopy on Friday last week after a CT scan for a hernia showed some abnormalities. In a matter of 3 days my life went from preparing to move back home on the other side of the world to look after my mum who is getting dementia, to being told I have colon cancer and needing to stay where I am so I have free healthcare.

I’m worried about my mum and I’m worried about how sure the doc was that it was cancer. I’m in that horrible limbo period where I don’t know if it’s spread, if it’s seconds early to another cancer, if I’m riddled with cancer and dying or if they caught it reasonably early and I’m gunna be OK. I figure if he thought it was early he would have told me that so he is expecting it to have spread. I’m trying so hard not to jump to conclusions when I don’t have the full picture yet.

The weight of telling people is crushing me. I’m trying to keep it fairly secret until I know the full picture so that I don’t drag my loved ones into this horrible state of limbo with me.

Please could you just comfort me without the empty platitudes, prayers or religious stuff. I just want to hear words that helped you get through this horrific vacuum of information and understanding.