by Marie J Kelley

Created on: April 24, 2008   Last Updated: April 29, 2008

If you are one of the thousands, who every year receive a diagnosis of colon cancer, you and your family are probably wondering what colon cancer is and what can be done to make everyday living easier while you are undergoing treatments and therapy.

Colon cancer can occur due to genetics or simply for unknown reasons when the cells in your intestines and colon mutate and invade healthy tissue. Unfortunately, there is not one most common occurring symptom for colon cancer, and in fact many who suffer from this disease had no symptoms initially. If you, a friend or family member begin to experience narrow stools, unexplained weight loss, unexplained anemia, long lasting diarrhea or vomiting it's important that you see your doctor immediately for further tests like a colonoscopy and stool samples to determine if you may be suffering from colon cancer.

Once a positive diagnosis has been made, there is hope and there are many treatment options ranging from surgery to have the cancerous portion of the intestines removed to chemotherapy and radiation therapy to kill the tumor cells. Many times doctors will use both techniques to ensure that their patients have a better chance of surviving the cancer. You can help improve the chances of these techniques working on you by simply making sure you are your own patient advocate. Ask your doctor what tests they are performing and keep track of your medicines. Ask about side effects and what you can do to minimize them.

Living with colon cancer or any cancer is far from easy, but there are things you and your family can do to keep your quality of life good throughout treatment and after treatment. If you've had surgery on your intestines or have had a portion of them removed, the key thing to know is what you can and cannot eat. Slowly introduce solid foods back into your diet one at a time. Keep a notebook filled out with what you ate, when you ate it and if you were able to digest it. If any food goes through your body system within a period of thirty minutes, exclude that food from your diet for another month and then slowly try to reintroduce it again. It's also important during and right after treatment to know where the bathrooms are as you may have a hard time holding it long enough to find one. When you enter a store or even a friend's home, be sure to stop and ask where one is located in case you are faced with an emergency of sorts and need to get to one quickly.

For your family, make sure they know day to day how you are feeling. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy can most certainly make a person feel drained and weak so it's important to always tell your family if you need extra help, and make sure they understand why you are requesting help. It's important that they research colon cancer on their own and understand what you are going through and that they'll need to help you with chores, shopping and maybe even picking out clothes until you are feeling better.

Colon cancer can be and mostly is stressful, but with the correct tips you can make it through each day and ultimately make it through your treatments successfully.

Learn more about this author, Marie J Kelley.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.