Most people with bowel cancer have surgery. Some also have radiotherapy or chemotherapy. If you have bowel cancer, you might need one of these, or a combination of them.
Your doctors will talk to you about what treatments they recommend and what your options are throughout your treatment plan, so there won’t be any surprises.
Yarn with your doctor, nurse or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health worker about which treatment/s you might have and how you would like to incorporate traditional medicine and/or cultural practices as part of your treatment plan.
Surgery
Surgery is done to take out the cancer and help to stop it from spreading to other parts of your body. Surgery involves staying in hospital and having anaesthetic and an operation.
Some people just have the cancer removed, with a small bit of tissue around it taken too.
Some people have a section of the bowel removed. The doctor will talk to you beforehand about what is going to happen.
After surgery, some people end up with their poo going into a bag attached to their belly. This is called a stoma or a colostomy. If you are told you might have a colostomy, read more here.
Yarn with your doctor, nurse, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health worker or social worker about your surgery and what support you and your family need before, during and after surgery. Being away from Country and family can be distressing so making sure you have the right support is important.
Read more about surgery.
Radiotherapy
Radiotherapy, also called radiation therapy, uses X-rays to destroy cancer cells in one part of your body.
Most people who have radiotherapy have it 5 days a week for 4 to 6 weeks, and each session can take 15 minutes. But it might be different for you.
You can only have radiotherapy in cities and some big towns – see this list. If your doctor thinks radiotherapy would help, and you don’t live near a radiotherapy site, there is help to find somewhere to stay, support to keep you connected to family and assistance to cover expenses.
Having family with you during radiotherapy treatment is an important support that helps keeps you strong.
Yarn with your doctor, nurse, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Health Worker or social worker about your surgery and what support you and your family need before, during and after surgery. Being away from Country and family can be distressing so making sure you have the right support is important.
Read more about radiotherapy.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy or ‘chemo’ involves you taking strong drugs to kill the cancer cells.
Most chemo comes as injections into your arm or hand that drip in over a few hours and some need you to take home a small bottle home for two days then come back to take it off again. If you’re having chemo, your doctor will tell you exactly how it will work for you.
Many people have chemo in cycles – such as every day for two weeks, then a week off. You may also need to have chemo at the same time as the radiotherapy. Or two days every two weeks, or one day every three weeks. Some people have chemotherapy tablets at home, but most need to go to a hospital or clinic to get the drip. But you usually don’t need to stay in hospital for chemo.
Chemo can make people feel sick for a while, but there are things they can do and take to help.
Yarn with your doctor, nurse or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health worker.
Read more about chemotherapy and side effects.