Grecian

Thanks both for your replies. I know I need to inform the tax office as soon as possible, and it looks as though my wife will have to go to the office, not something she needs at the moment. Norman I know I have the online facility, although I have never filed this way before, but not sure if I will be home even in time for that deadline. I know you warned me of a long stay, I was just hoping things would have gone a little smoother. Good luck with your May 12th appointment, hope it is nothing too serious.

I can confirm that CSF in our area offers no practical help, only help with translation and telephone calls. The woman aiding us is fully aware of my wife's plight, but has not offered or arranged any practical help. I have mentioned earlier in this thread that I have not been too impressed by CSF in our area. She did assist us with trying to sort out our taxi problem, but we have since been turned down, so a hefty bill awaits to be paid. The areas in which my wife really needs help are nighttime monitoring, and help with her shopping. Other things such as cleaning etc would be helpful, but she is managing to get by. It is really a case of the fact we have not seen each other for 5 weeks that is upsetting her, and with the latest possible setback it doesn't look like things are going to improve anytime soon.

It looks as though I may not be able to deliver my tax form on time this year. I have been in hospital since 16th March, and unfortunately may need upto another 3 months here. My wife has no idea as to how to fill in the forms, so unless I am discharged in time we will not be able to deliver. I am hoping there is some provision in the system for people in a similar situation to myself. I guess contact the tax office to explain the situation, just wondered if anybody else may have been in a similar situation.

Thanks for the concern Theiere, much appreciated. Unfortunately things have taken another turn for the worse, ten days ago I needed a third operation, this time to separate my pancreas from my colon, they also reversed the stoma at the same time. The operation had to be performed via open surgery, so still very sore at the moment. Really have had enough now, especially after being told yesterday that my pancreas is inflammed and I may need to stay in hospital upto 3 months! I don't know what you want to call it Norman, but with so much going wrong I am sticking to botched. I haven't seen my wife for 5 weeks, she is really struggling and desperately needs me home. I wish I had gone for the option of an operation for a permanent stoma at Bressuire now, this whole episode has now turned into a complete nightmare. I guess I will be told to be grateful, buck up and stop whinging, but I defy anybody to have 3 operations in 3 weeks and still try to remain upbeat. I have decided that this thing is not going to beat me after yesterdays news, and I will try and get out of hospital at quickly as possibe.

Not sure about prunes and custard Theiere, I am going to slip out for a vindaloo tonight, that should sort matters out! Still in hospital I am afraid, really despondent now. They started feeding me totally tasteless soup on Wednesday, along with pots of apple puree, unfortunately the apple was too acid for a tummy that had not eaten for over two weeks. Yesterday I asked the child doctor who is looking after me if I could have an alternative to the apple, to which he replied no, he got quite stroppy and has now put me back on liquids only. Really angry now and feeling I have been let down badly with a botched operation, and now seemingly heartless aftercare. I must add that the nurses have been brilliant, no complaints on that front, really first class care. My wife is getting distressed at being left alone for so long, and has had a few problems, I am going to ask if I can be transferred back to Bressuire hospital, as I think this is going to be a very long haul. Thanks very much for all your kind wishes.

Still in hospital unfortunately. They have found a blockage in the bowel preventing things to pass normally. Monday they injected a bottle of glupe in via the tube up my nose to try and clear the blockage. An x-ray showed things were moving a little better, but unfortunately not enough to allow me to eat, another operation has been muted, but they seem confident that it will cleat itself, I bloody hope so. The tube up my nose has been removed thank goodness, and I have not been sick again since the week-end. That really has cheered me up. The best piece of news I have received is that the biopsy result came back negative, showing no spread into the lymph nodes, so no further chemo needed.[:D][:D][:D] Overall a lot happier, but bloody starving, no food for a fortnight! I rather they wait and get things right than try to rush things, so will just have to stay for as long as it takes.

thanks for the replies. It wasn't until today that i went for a walk, have asked several times, but today they allowed, will try and keep them going now.

Unfortunately still in hospital, it has turned into a complete nightmare. Had my op on Tuesday 17th, it was carried out via keyhole surgery, was told there were no problems, great I thought. By midday Wednesday was having severe abdominal pains, by 3am Thursday morning I had to insist to see a doctor, one showed up about 15 mins later and declared I had internal bleeding. Was rushed down for an emergency op at 4am. Have spent 5 days in intensive care, now back on ordinary ward. Had no food since coming in, they tried feeding me Thursday, only for it to make me puke it all up again yesterday. Now had a tube down my throat, with no immediate prospect of it being removed. Lowest I have ever been in my life. Sorry keying is a bit disjointed, very weak.

Just to say I will be leaving home Monday morning at 5.30am for a 8.30am appointment at Bordeaux for a day of scans, tests, appointments with various people and I think a shave of the nether regions[:-))]. I do not think that there is any wi-fi at the hospital so I will be offline for at least a week, hopefully I will still be around to update you on my operation sometime after that. Not sure what time the operation is booked for on Tuesday, I have not asked as I am not sure if I really want to know, just wait for them to come and wheel me away. I have come a long way since I started this thread on the 20th October last year, a very large part of that has been down to you very kind people out there with all the support, advice and best wishes you have given me, it has really helped me get through this nightmare scenario I find myself in. When I started this thread I did not really intend to turn it into a blog type situation, I was only seeking help as to how the whole system worked in France when it came to treating cancer, and I am really glad that I started the thread as I really do not think I could have coped with all the stress, hassle and bureaucracy I have faced to get this far. If this thread only helps one other person out there who may be facing a similar situation at the moment or some time in the future, but does not wish to post their personal life for the whole world to read, then it will have all been worth it. So folks I hope to be reporting back at a latter date, for now I just want to say a big thank you.

Thanks Bertiebe, I know now that if you don't ask you don't get in France, as you say I am sure the help is out there but I have found it never forthcoming, very frustrating. My own situation took another twist today, we received a letter from Bordeaux this morning expecting to find our transport papers inside, unfortunately it was only the extra appointment that they have tagged onto my visit tomorrow to see the stoma nurse. Maybe the magic pieces of paper we are expecting will come in another letter. However my CSF lady has been in action this morning, she telephoned CPAM at Niort for me asking if they had received my Demande d'entente préalable form, to which they replied 'non', and asked if my doctor had marked the form urgent, which unfortunately he did not. My CSF lady then telephoned my own doctor for me and explained the situation, my doctor told her that he would fax the form to them today, and told her to advise me not to pay for my taxi tomorrow, as he said he would sort it. He also told the CSF lady that there is no way that I should be driving there tomorrow. She then telephoned the VSL office and explained the situation, and they seemed to have accepted the situation as it stands for now. Obviously if nothing transpires from CPAM then I will face the bill myself. This situation has now been dragging on for about 2 weeks, and since last Thursday has totally consumed our time in trying to sort the problem out, something quite honestly at the moment I do not need. So I hope your aide social is able to sort your own situation, as like mine yours has been dragging on for a long time as well.

Well, the plot thickens... I asked the lady from CSF if she would telephone Niort this afternoon to see if they had received my Demande d'accord préalable, but she was informed that the post is not processed until 4pm, so no joy there. However my wife plucked up the courage to telephone the secretary at Bordeaux, as we should have received a letter containing paperwork from the hospital that she told my wife last Thursday we would receive, in between shouting at my wife and telling her to drive down for my appointment. Well the letter has not shown up, but we noticed that the barcode sheet that was generated has the wrong name of our route on it, everything is fine, we were concerned that there may have been some prescriptions in the letter that I needed to get made up. The secretary told my wife that the letter had been sent, and there would be no prescriptions in it, but there are two bon de transport for my forthcoming appointments. I give up, one minute she is saying no you can't have them, now supposedly they are winging their way to us. Just got to hope now that the letter shows up, or I guess we will have to ask for duplicates on Thursday, that should go down well! Norman and Idun, will ask to see the aide social when I am in hospital, many thanks for that.

We went to see our own doctor this morning, well we saw him eventually, Monday morning is open house and we had to wait 2 and quarter hours in the tiny six seater waiting room, with a dozen people waiting when we got there. He gave us a Demande d'accord préalable, I asked him if I should take it into the Bressuire office, but he told me to send it off to Niort. I am not very confident of the taxi for Thursday will be paid for as I am sure they will say it is too close to the date when they receive the form tomorrow. I should have driven down to Niort and handed it in personally, but with having now spent 3 days trying to get this poxy form, I just could not face it. I will be really annoyed if they do not pay for the taxis for my operation journeys, as I have to be at the hospital in Bordeaux on Monday at 8.30am, so I guess higher rates will prevail when the driver picks me up at 5.30am. I know I will certainly be asking the hospital at Bordeaux for a préalable for any further appointments that they give me. We went back into Bressuire this afternoon to see the owner in the VSL office, he was very annoyed that Bressuire hospital did not issue me with a préalable, and equally annoyed when Bordeaux also refused after being contacted by my wife. I know everybody is tightening the rules when it comes to the state paying for anything now, but when CPAM lay out the criteria on their own website saying that journeys over 150kms are refundable at 65%, but require notice in advance, I would hope that they will take it into account that sometimes it is not possible to obtain the Demande d'accord préalable form in advance for the notice they require. Guess I better dream on as this is French bureaucracy in action!

Thank you all for your suggestions. After showing my wife the possibility of a hospital room, she thinks it would be better for her to stay at home, although see desperately wants to be with me for the operation, the eating cycle, and different bed which if too hard would cause her considerable pain if she had to use it for a week or more, and the general disruption to her whole routine is really a non-starter. I will load up my mobile phone, and stay in touch with her that way, if I am up to using it. Thanks for reminding me about the 'aide sociale' idun and Norman will bear this in mind as we may need some domestic assistance after I return home, as it is me that does all the cleaning, hoovering etc. I guess it will just depend as to how quickly I recover to enable me to start doing small light jobs around the house. Maybe I will be a fast healer as I am so young! Bertiebe I sincerely hope your road to recovery is going OK, I see you are also having transport issues of your own, something we do not need with our ongoing situations. Very best wishes for a speedy recovery. Théière, your username is damn hard to to key with all your accents, I know cancer is no laughing matter but sometimes it helps to lighten the mood a little, so thanks for your contributions. We are out tonight for a meal and stay at the hotel we regularly used in Bressuire before all this started back in October, it will be the first night out since then, so will just try and forget everything that is fast approaching for tonight and try and enjoy ourselves for a change.

Fully appreciate what you are saying Norman, I certainly know that most of this year will be written off, I will just be happy to put the operation behind me, and start the long road to recovery, I will have to take onboard any chemo that may be required on top of the whole recovery process. I have tried to remain realistic, and whilst I have never had an operation of any sort, I know this is a biggie, so hopefully I will be prepared for the long haul back to some sort of normality. After going through all this since last October, anything that helps me to recovery I will not complain about and try and take it in my stride.

Well Norman you are right that the Bressuire CPAM is the place to go. We went back to Bressuire hospital this afternoon and saw the nice little girl who gave us the bon de transport originally. She told us that she was sorry but it must be Bordeaux that needs to issue the bon de transport, not Bressuire as you rightly posted. We told her that we appreciated that but could she not issue us with a Demande d'entente préalable, to which she again said no, at least so we could approach CPAM to see if they will sanction the journeys. She advised to go to the CPAM office in Bressuire and explain the situation, and that time is short to get the journeys sanctioned. We will be going in first thing Monday morning to try and sort something out. I know it was our fault for not asking for the relevant paperwork at Bordeaux, but having taken in the whole operation scenario that had just been explained to us, and then being given my date for the operation, not to mention that my wife was having a hypo at the end of the consultation so I needed to give a sugary drink into her as quickly as possible, as the jelly sweets she carries with her were not bringing round, somewhat threw me off the subject of transportation. Going back to the original consultation I had with the surgeon at Bressuire a couple of weeks ago where he told me that he had arranged a consultation with the surgeon at Bordeaux, we did ask for a bon de transport then, it was a different girl on the desk who told us that it was not possible as the journey is over 150km, so we assumed that we would have to pay for any transport ourselves. It was not until I posted this thread asking about the situation that BJSILV and Norman flagged up that it is possible to claim some of the journey cost back, and hopefully have the rest reimbursed by my mutuelle. So not knowing anything about the Demande d'entente préalable at the time and with the female not forthcoming with any information on the subject we were somewhat thrown at the time. It seems like with everything else in France if you don't ask you don't get. Trying to keep calm now until Monday and hopefully we can sort something out at the CPAM office in Bressuire. I must  to be psychic in the future and book any transport needed over 150kms before the illness strikes! Pat sorry to hear of your transport disaster, as Norman said best not to be honest!

Well this is turning into a nightmare, I phoned the CSF lady this morning who very kindly telephoned Bordeaux for us, the CSF lady agreed that the secretary was a bit sharp, she told the CSF lady to tell us to ask the anesthetist on Thursday for a bonne de transport, but she does not think he/she will give us one. The CSF lady then said that she was concerned for me on the return journey from Bordeaux after my operation. We went into the VSL office in Bressuire this morning who did not know that the taxi had not been granted, he suggested that we see our own doctor, which we tried to do this morning, but he is on holiday. The guy in the VSL office said that our own doctor can issue a Demande d'entente préable, we must then take the form if granted to Niort some 35 miles away on Monday, as time is very short and see if they will grant the transport, then return and ask our own doctor for the bonne de transport. What a ****** situation, trying to get geared up for a major operation, and now I am being shunted from pillar to post trying to arrange transport. If nothing else it is essential for an ambulance taxi after my operation, as if it is major surgery then I will probably have to be laid out in an ambulance to come home. I am now of the opinion to pay for all transport whatever it costs, and just get the French bureaucracy off my back, totally fed up with the whole scenario.

Well Thunderbirds are go... After seeing the specialist at Bordeaux on Tuesday, he informed me that the operation to save the sphincter is possible and I have been booked in for an operation on 17th March, gulp. Must say the specialist is a very nice man, we were in his office for an hour whilst he explained everything to us, he told me at the beginning of the consultation that he would read all the notes, study the MRI scan and then, yes you guessed it the old finger up the bum routine. After his rectal examination he proceeded to show me on a diagram of the digestive system and rectum what the size of the tumour was originally, and what it is now, he only used a black felt tip pen and I guess it was not fully to scale, but it seems that it has shrunk to about a quarter of what it was, still unfortunately too low for a conventional resection operation. He informed me that the whole bowel will be removed, and my colon will be pulled down to form a new bowel, not sure I like the sound of that, but at least hopefully things will still work to some sort of new normal. He explained all the potential problems that could arise, and said if all goes to plan the operation will be performed by keyhole surgery, and should last about 4 hours. If it cannot be performed by keyhole surgery then the operation will be a lot longer. He said barring any complications the hospital stay will be about a week. Must say he seemed really upbeat on my prospects, which I guess he would not have said if things looked a bit dodgy, he even said well you are young, not sure I would class 58 as young but there you go. So things are in place, the date is set, now just a case of getting through it all. I have decided that I cannot have my wife stay for a week of more in a hotel, eating at irregular hours, and not knowing where to eat, as it would totally mess up her control, and could induce too many hypos, which I would not be there to sort out. Not happy at leaving her alone for a week or more at home, but after weighting up to two options I think it is the lesser of the two evils. Also a strange bed for a week or more could totally screw her up, and have her in all sorts of problems. Hopefully we can both get through the whole situation OK.

Well haven't got very far in arranging transport, visited the secretary at Bressuire hospital this morning who gave us two bonne de transport for my upcoming visits and hospital stay in Bordeaux, we handed these into the VSL office, he informed us as to what time the taxi would pick me up for next week, everything seemed fine. We then received a phone call at lunchtime from Bressuire hospital informing us that we could not use the taxi for my trips to Bordeaux, and then the secretary started having a go at my wife, who could not fully understand as to what she was saying. I telephoned the CSF lady who telephoned Bressuire, she said they were prepared to pay for a taxi to Poitiers but not Bordeaux, brilliant thanks a lot. The CSF lady then suggested that my wife telephone Bordeaux and ask for the paperwork from them, not sure why but this secretary then launched into my wife, and reduced her to tears. Whilst all this was going on I was in a taxi going to Poitiers to see my oncologist. I find it totally unacceptable that they are not prepared to supply a taxi for me to my operation and return me home afterwards, especially as movement will be very painful I guess. I certainly could not drive myself and my wife surrendered her licence over 20 years ago. So I have decided to pay for the taxis myself, a bloody awful lot of money but I am fed up with all the stress this situation has brought, especially for my wife whose health is not very good at the moment.

Thanks for all your good wishes, very droll Théière. Off to Bordeaux this lunchtime, as we will be staying two nights to take in the hospital visit tomorrow. Will update the situation when we return.

Thank you both for your replies, that makes the whole thing a lot clearer. It certainly seems that I should be entitled to 65% back from CPAM and the rest from my mutuelle, but obviously I must obtain some sort of letter from either my GP or the surgeon's secretary in Bressuire. It was the surgeon's secretary in Bressuire that flagged up the 150 kms limit, but never offered any documentation for claiming back the 65%. As per Norman's advice we e-mailed CPAM yesterday afternoon telling them of my upcoming visit on Tuesday and asked them what I need to obtain for any future visits. Not sure if it will be too late to claim anything back for Tuesday's visit, but if there are to be any further visits, it would be nice to be able to use the VSLs and save a lot of hassle. Not sure how I would be expected to get home after any operation that may transpire in Bordeaux without the VSLs. I will try and go into the VSL office in Bressuire next week and have a word with them, I am afraid telephoning is a non starter even for my wife, with a fairly complicated scenario to present to them. Not quite sure when we will manage to get in, off to Bordeaux lunchtime Monday, and return Wednesday evening, then off to Poitiers Thursday lunchtime to see the oncologist. I looked at my own mutuelle website yesterday, but could not find anything on the website relating to payments for transport costs, I then tried to log into my personal account, and I do not think I have ever tried this before, so went to set up an account, was unable to proceed online as the e-mail address showing was my old orange one, and I could not find anywhere to change it, so I had to request a password to be sent to me via la poste. Thanks for the advice, things are now a lot clearer, but still throw up problems in obtaining the relevant paperwork, at least I know what I have to do now.

I wonder if anybody can help me, I am seeking information as to how the transportation element of a mutuelle works please. As some of you may well be aware I may be having an operation in Bordeaux which is about 245 kms from where I live, the distance limit for the ambulance taxis is 150 kms from where you live. My mutuelle policy says that I have 100% cover for Transport du malade, can anybody explain to me as to what this may mean please. Does it mean that I will be reimbursed for all my travel expenses incurred with my treatment, even if I make the journey by taxi, and if so what sort of proof will I need to make a claim. Sorry to sound a bit dense here, but it is something that I have never experienced before possibly making a claim with my mutuelle, usually all refunds are paid into our bank account automatically. Also does anybody know if I approached the ambulance taxis could I have the first 150 kms paid for by CPAM, and then I pay the extra mileage myself.

Well I am off to Bordeaux next Tuesday to see a top surgeon in France who specializes in saving the sphincter in people who have very low rectal tumours. I saw the surgeon in Bressuire this afternoon who has arranged the appointment for me, I must say that I certainly judged him wrongly on my first appointment with him, he has turned out to be a very nice and considerate man, who to be fair has really put himself out to try and assist me. He told me that if an operation is possible, it will depend on what they find when they have carried out a biopsy on what they remove, which I was aware of, to see if any further chemo will be necessary. If any further chemo is required then that will be administered at Bressuire, which is really good news. A fellow member of the forum kindly sent me a private e-mail saying that he has had the same operation with the surgeon at Bordeaux, and although it was a long slog back to a full recovery, has no regrets in going for the operation. This has reassured me that it has to be worthwhile exploring the option, as I really do want a permanent stoma if at all possible. If the guy at Bordeaux tells me that it is not possible, then so be it, at least I will have tried, and will have explored all options, I will then accept my lot, and get on with life. I found a video made by the surgeon and it seems he does things totally different, instead of joining the two pieces back together after the tumour has been cut out, with the tumour being very low he  cuts the whole diseased piece out, then pulls down a fresh bit of tube[:-))] and then proceeds to stitch this bit back into the bowel. I will then have a temporary stoma for 3 months, which hopefully will then be reversed. The operation that I watched stated that the tumour was only 1 cm up in the rectum, so I would not think you could get them much lower. I am not sure if I would have been accepted by the surgeon in Bordeaux considering the distance I live from Bordeaux, but the surgeon at Bressuire came from Bordeaux hospital and is friendly with the surgeon, so maybe he has pulled a few strings to get me in, if this is the case then I am extremely greatful. Unfortunately the hospital is too far away to be able to use the ambulance taxis, the limit is 150 kms. We will be going to Bordeaux by train, we booked the tickets this afternoon and will stay two nights in Bordeaux, somewhere we have never been before, so a nice break come what may. So all in all a bit happier today, at least I will have had a second opinion and if it is still not possible I can have confidence that as medical science stands at the moment there is nothing else that can be done.

Yippee Mot de Passe back on TF2 this evening, you egg chasers will have to wait another week for your next fix.[:D]

Thank you all for your advice and best wishes, really apreciated. Norman thanks for trying to put the prospect of a stoma into perspective for me, I know you needed two operations for bowel cancer, as the first one did not take out all the cancer, so yes maybe the 'belt and braces' removal is the route to go down, to be as sure as one can be regarding trying to eliminate all the cancer cells. Having thought about the situation over the last 24 hours or so, I know mentally I must not lose it, or everything will unravel so I think I am as prepared as I can be for the possibility of a permanent stoma. Saying that I am not happy with the situation that the surgeon at Bressuire is proposing a life changing operation based on a rectal examination with his finger. I can appreciate that he presumably knows what he is feeling but to my mind I really want another MRI scan or echo rectoscopy, which out of all the scans and probes I had seemed to show the most information and size of the tumour. I will wait and see what the surgeon at Bressuire says to me on Tuesday after he has spoken to the specialist at Bordeaux, who I would have thought would  certainly want to see a scan of the present situation of the tumour. I will try and get an appointment with my own doctor before Tuesday afternoon and share my concerns with him and see what he has to say on the situation. I have been in contact with a guy who lives about 30 kms from me for the last 3 months or so, who has been through the same situation as myself, although I think his tumour was a lot worse than mine, as it had grown into the muscle and wrapped itself around one of the organs down there. He had all his treatment at Poitiers including his operation, and he has ended up with a permanent stoma, a while back when I became aware that he had a stoma fitted, which I did not know initially he said to me 3 years on after it was fitted, he takes little notice of it. Last night I had a long telephone conversation with him, discussing all the unsavioury aspects of the situation, and I must say I feel a little down today after the conversation. I have tried to be realistic throughout the whole 'experience' so knowing exactly what to expect I guess I needed to know. My mother-in-law had a stoma fitted some 15 years ago now, and at the grand old age of 88 now has taken the whole things in her stride, I will have a chat with her if the permanent stoma is confirmed, perhaps she will be able to talk me up a little. Contrasting that when I told my 86 year old mum Tuesday night, she started freaking out, I had to bring her back inline quite quickly which she did, I have tried to warm her of the possibility throughout the whole situation. I think she thought as the tumour had been caught quite early, I think it is stage 2, although nobody has told me, I only saw that the surgeon wrote on his notes T3N0M0, and after researching I discovered this to be stage 2, she thought everything would all be sorted and I would soon be back to normal. Must admit on one hand I do feel slightly cheated that for such a relative small and early stage cancer it seems a big price to pay, but then on the other hand hopefully it is curable and life will continue in some shape or form. So must take whatever life throws at me and just get on with it. My wife certainly has had to adopt this way of thinking after everything that has been dumped on her.

Another update. I saw the surgeon at Bressuire this afternoon, the news wasn't quite what I had hoped for, but was prepared for. I have not had another MRI to see the extent as to how much the tumour has been shrunk, but the surgeon put his finger up my bum again this afternoon and said the tumour has been shrunk to about 2 cm, that's the good news, unfortunately the bad news is there is still a ganglion that has grown off the tumour just inside the rectum. The ganglion is too close to the base of the rectum to be certain of removing all the tumourous cells and he informed me for extra security he was proposing to remove everything, and give me a permanent stoma, something I had been aware of all along as to what might be required. He gave me the option of a second opinion, something that I was going to ask for, but he willingly offered with a specialist surgeon in Bordeaux to see if he can operate and save the spincter. I have taken up the offer, unfortunately the doctor is on holiday this week but the surgeon at Bressuire is going to telephone him next Monday and discuss my case with him. I have another appointment with the surgeon at Bressuire next Tuesday to find out the outcome of the discussions. If I see the specialist in Bordeaux and he tells me a permanent stoma is required, then so be it I will accept the situation and get on with life, at least I will still be here and able to care for my wife, which is paramount to me. I must say the surgeon at Bressuire was very nice this afternoon and showed plenty of compassion, something he did not do the first time around. After he had examined me I wasn't fully understanding what he was saying to me, and as it is so important I told him that I did not understand in French. He then explained the situation to me in English, unfortunately I replied in French and then it was back to full French mode, but my wife was with me, and we managed to grasp what he was telling me. So bottom line for the sake of about 2 cms it looks as if I could end up with a permanent stoma, pretty unlucky I would say if only the tumour had been just that little further up the rectum I may have got away with it. As I said in my last update at least the option of an operation has been there all along, which I must be grateful for, but when the bloody thing has been reduced to only 2 cms it seems a big price to pay. Regarding the side effects, things have got a little better, I still have a slight pain sometimes when I pee, but it is better, the toilet use is a lot better and almost back to normal thankfully, must just keep grinding on and hope things return to normal. Thank you all for your previous replies to my last update.