Last summer, Elaine spent a week at the Bristol Cancer Centre. This entitles her to free 15 minute telephone consultations with one of their GPs. Yesterday afternnon, Elaine spoke with Dr S. She said that it sounded like Elaine would have to have another operation, and it would almost certainly result in a colostomy. She was able to reassure Elaine that she would find this far easier to handle than she had the temporary ileostomy.

Elaine had feared that she would have to change her diet considerably, away from the healthy one that she normally eats. She was told that the Bristol Centre had a specialist nutritionist for people with colostomies, etc and that Elaine would be able to have telephone consultations whenever she needed to. Dr S said that she tended to think that Elaine’s cancer probably had genetic causes, and that her diet may well have been staving it off for years.

Dr S remembered Elaine and said that she was “in absolutely remarkable condition for someone who was just six weeks from having had major surgery”, that she seemed to have remarkable recuperative powers.

She encouraged Elaine to try and have any surgery in Leeds where she would be treated by a colo-rectal specialist and not have to recover in a general ward.