Freda Botha survived colon cancer | colonoscopy | stoma bag | chemotherapy | colon polyps

DESCRIPTION

Freda Botha seemed to be in good health, until she wasn’t.  She began to feel tired all the time, then got constipated, then she couldn’t eat.  Air bubbles were discovered in her gut.  That led to the discovery of polyps on her colon and a diagnosis of colon cancer.  After a six-hour surgical procedure, Freda was hooked up to a stoma bag and told she would have to undergo a chemotherapy regimen. 

Freda Botha of Port Elizabeth, South Africa went from feeling fine to feeling tired.  She knew something was really wrong when while sitting at work, she fell asleep.  In addition to feeling fatigued all the time, she couldn’t eat.  When an egg yolk got stuck in her throat, that caused her to seek medical attention. 

Freda saw a doctor, who recommended x-rays, which revealed air bubbles had formed in her gut, but doctors could not immediately tell what caused them.  She was going to undergo surgery and the procedure was supposed to take one hour.  However, when doctors opened her up, they saw polyps on her colon.  That resulted in the need for a biopsy, and from that came her diagnosis.

A one-hour procedure went six hours during which a stoma bag was installed.  After that Freda had to spend a week in ICU.  Next was a chemotherapy regimen from May to December 2010, an injection in her hand every other week.  Freda said she was fortunate in that her side effects were not nearly as bad as they have been for others.  She did experience a bit of hair loss, slightly decreased appetite, but the worst part was continued fatigue. 

Meantime, all the while, Freda Botha had a stoma bag attached to her.  First she had to learn how to maintain it.  Her first caregiver provided very little help, but a second caregiver was extremely helpful.  However, even when knowing how to manage the bag, there is always the possibility of it leaking, which Freda leery about going out in public.

For anyone who has to have a stoma bag, Freda advises that one not be afraid to ask questions, and make sure before leaving that they have been taught everything they need to know.

After four months, Freda was relieved to have the bag removed.  She still goes in for yearly checkups, but is upbeat when she shows up for them.

These days, Freda Botha says she can do just about everything she did before her diagnosis, but she does have to watch her diet as there some things she cannot eat because of they affect her colon.

By way of advice, she says to take your cancer journey one day at a time and that one doesn’t help themselves by overthinking or overstressing.

Additional Resources:

Support Group:

Cancer Action Network of South Africa (CANSA): https://www.cansa.org.za

TRANSCRIPT

Bruce Morton: Greetings and welcome to the @CancerInterviews podcast.  I’m your host, Bruce Morton.  A colon cancer journey can be especially difficult because of the degree in which the patient has to be his or her own caregiver.  That was just part of the journey for Freda Botha of Port Elizabeth, South Africa.  She has not only survived but is doing all she can to help others on a cancer journey.  So, here she is, and Freda, welcome to Cancer Interviews.

Freda Botha: Good morning, Bruce, and thank you for having me.

BM: You have a life exclusive of your cancer journey, so if you would, tell us about where you are from, what you do for work, and when time allows, what you like to do for fun.

FB: I am 47 years old, I live in Port Elizabeth, I am a secretary, I am the youngest of five children.  I like to go to movies and go with my friends to places.

BM: Now, if you would, describe your life prior to your diagnosis.  I hope it was pretty close to normal, but what were things like for you from a health standpoint before you were diagnosed?

FB: I was actually very well.  I didn’t really visit the doctor.  That is one thing that is part of me, it wasn’t something I did unless I was ill.  Tried to keep myself healthy and keep myself active and everything like that, so, my health was normal. 

BM: But at some point, something abnormal had to materialize.  Just what was that and how did it manifest itself?

FB: It was something that took place over a period of a few weeks, from feeling fine and healthy to feeling tired.  While sitting at work, I could actually fall asleep.  I was so tired the whole time, got constipated, couldn’t eat.  It came to a point that an egg yolk would get caught in my throat and only got worse.  That’s when I had to go and see a doctor.

BM: When that happened, did you go to your primary care physician or to a specialist?

FB: No, I just went to see the house doctor.  Then he recommended I go for x-rays at a provincial hospital.  So, I went there and after looking at the x-rays, they transferred me to a state hospital, where they said I would need to see a doctor and a specialist, because air bubbles had formed in my gut, and they couldn’t tell what caused it.

BM: And, what happened next?

FB: They started treating for the air bubbles to see if the air bubbles would come out on their own, then they decided to operate.  What was supposed to be a one-hour operation ended up being a six-hour operation, because when they opened up, they realized there were polyps on my colon.  They had to take a biopsy.  It was so bad they had to install a stoma bag.  It was about a six-hour operation, then about a week in ICU, and I am honest with you, from that time there is very little I can remember.  I was nearly a month in hospital after the first operation.

BM: And, emotionally, how difficult was that?

FB: It was a shock because I wasn’t prepared for it.  I was prepared for something small.  Waking up finding out you had a stoma bag after a six-hour operation and being in ICU for a week and I didn’t realize all this was happening, it was vague.  You know, you have these recalls from a dream, and wonder if this really happened to you, is what it felt like.  It was a shock to the system.  It was eye-opening to see how quickly a person’s life could change, actually.

BM: You had mentioned the procedure that was far more detailed and invasive than you had anticipated, but at what point were you told you have cancer?  Before or after the procedure?

FB: After the operation they found the growths because of the biopsy.  I think the time after I came out of ICU, I was more aware of what was going on around me, and they tried to explain what was going on, to me, but my brain as if this wasn’t happening to me.  You feel like it is someone else’s story that they are trying to tell you.  They came back with the results, and it was positive, but I still felt like this wasn’t happening to me.  Then the realization starts to come to you, and you realize this is what’s happening, you do have cancer, and what do I do now?  So many things are going through your head at that time.

BM: Each type of cancer has its own idiosyncrasies, its own challenges.  Some types of cancer present you with treatment options.  Did you have treatment options?

FB: They recommended me going for chemo, so I went from May to December 2010.  It was like every second week, I used to go in.  It was just an injection in my hand.  I don’t mean any offense to anyone, but for me, it wasn’t as bad for me as for others.  I wasn’t on a drip.  I wasn’t ill from the treatment.  I was very tired from the treatment.  That was one thing they would say from the beginning that you’re not supposed to drive, don’t go back to work, it will make you really tired.  I was very lucky in the sense that the only effects I had was the tiredness.  There was a little bit of hair loss.  If I brushed my hair, some hair would come out.  There was a bit of a loss of appetite, but I wasn’t sick, or throwing up or anything like that.  So, in that sense, I was lucky.

BM: You had to a deal with a difficult one-two punch, the chemo and then the stoma bag, and I want to address both, but first with chemo, you had briefly mentioned the hair loss and how it wasn’t as bad for you as was for other women, but I think more so for women than for men, the hair loss component is tougher.  How difficult was it for you when you experienced the hair loss?

FB: You know, in the beginning, it was bad because I was just thinking if I have to lose my hair, am I going to be brave enough, gutsy enough to actually shave off all my hair, but luckily I like wearing my hair short, so that was a plus point.  There was one thing that did bother me, but as time went on and I realized I was not having as bad hair loss, just a little bit at a time, you seem to accept it more.

BM: If I am hearing you correctly, it sounds like the most difficult part of the chemo component of your journey was the fatigue.  Is that fair to say or were there other components that were also really difficult?

FB: Oh, no.  It was the fatigue, which I still feel today.  I feel tired, I sometimes go and rest.  The doctor says your body knows what it needs, so if you are tired you need to go and rest because that is what your body needs, but the fatigue was definitely the main thing, yeah.

BM: Now, let’s talk about the stoma bag, which you awoke with after your procedure.  This is what I referenced in the intro of a colon cancer sufferer being their own caregiver because maintaining a stoma bag is no easy task.  It was somebody else who installed the stoma bag, but once you were out of hospital, you’re the one who had to maintain it.  How difficult was that?

FB: Of my whole journey, that was the most difficult part.  It tends to go with the person who is teaching you how to maintain it.  In the beginning there was a caregiver that said I needed to know how to maintain it and didn’t provide much help.  That was a bit difficult in the beginning.  Then there was a different caregiver that was more sympathetic to my problems.  For the first time you have to do it by yourself, you just want to feel sick.  It’s feces and not something you are used to, so the second caregiver came with tips of what to do, to rinse the bag, things like that.  That helped a lot.  When I got home, I had to help myself.  I was lucky to have my sister and my family to help me.  It was really trial and error.  What happens in the hospital is different from what happens at home.  In a hospital, you basically lie in a hospital bed.  You don’t move around, so the stoma bag stays in one position.  It gets emptied a different way, so when you get home, it gets emptied a different way because you move around.  You lie down, so in the beginning, the bag wouldn’t stick to your body. The bag would leak, so I started to have this phobia of going anywhere because I worried about what would happen if the bag leaked, and stuff like that.

BM: Freda, I want to ask your advice.  For the stoma bag piece of all this, what advice would you give to someone when they are still in hospital in terms of those in a position to teach a patient how to maintain the bag?

FB: Don’t be afraid to ask questions.  Don’t just ask the staff that is working with the stoma bags.  Ask the nurses as well.  The nursing staff, those are the people who work with you every day.  Ask them questions and ask your doctor questions.  That’s the best thing you can do.  If you can think of something, write it down and remember it when you see the nursing staff. 

BM: With the stoma bag, I am guessing it could have compromised where you did and what you did, socially or anything else like that.  While you had the stoma bag, was there anything you were hesitant to do?

FB: Yeah, swimming, going into water.  Even when you go in the shower, you have to take the stoma bag off because the bag’s stickiness doesn’t stay sticky too long.  We used to get a certain amount of stoma bags to use in a month, so you were very careful about what you would do to keep the stickiness from going away.  After a while I started buying my own stoma bags to add on to what I was getting every month as well.  I also had to watch out what I would eat when going out to eat.

BM: And you had the stoma bag for how long?

FB: The stoma bag was, I think, four months; then I had a reversal.  They found a growth on my colon again.  I went in for another operation, one on my left side, one on my right side.  The doctor said if he couldn’t remove the growth via a colonoscopy, I would have had to have the bag permanently.  Thankfully they were able to remove everything.

BM: So, it sounds like the treatment part of your journey was moving in the right direction.  It sounds like you were getting the best of colon cancer.  How did that feel to know things were going in the right direction?

FB: It was quite a relief because it is something that is worrying you the whole time.  It’s a relief knowing that I am still going for my yearly checkups, but I feel positive when I go.

BM: To some degree, you have answered this question, but I am going to ask it again.  You had mentioned that family and/or friends helped you with the stoma bag, but there are other support-related necessities during cancer journey.  Who provided that support, and how did they provide it?

FB: The Cancer Action Network of South Africa, CANSA, provided support and giving important information.  One thing I can say to people is, try not to Google.  That is everyone’s first instinct to Google what is wrong with them, but you are better off going to a support group and ask questions of them.  CANSA has a dedicated support group.  They can help you if you don’t have any stoma bags, stuff like that.

BM: Okay, and when you say CANSA, you mean the Cancer Action Network of South Africa, of which you are a part, and we want to address that.  But for somebody who has never heard of CANSA, whether they are in South Africa or anywhere else in the world, what can CANSA do for that person who has been freshly diagnosed?

FB: They have different ways that they help people.  They do breast examinations, they do pap smears, they do exams for prostate cancer.  They do volunteer recruitments, people like me, that help.  The provide help in seven languages, not just English and Afrikaan.

BM: And I think I have the correct web address for CANSA.  It is www.cansa.org.za.  So, if you have any needs that are cancer-related for the cancer journey or if you know somebody who is a on a cancer journey, that is a one-stop destination to get that help.  Now, let’s talk about your involvement with CANSA. 

FB: I am a volunteer with CANSA, and a big part of that is the Cancer Relay for Life.  If you go to the CANSA website and just type in Relay For Life, information will come up there as well.

BM: Because the internet is involved, do you find yourself in touch with people on cancer journeys, not just in South Africa, but all over Africa, all over the world?

FB: Yes, definitely.  We are involved in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Kenya, among other places.

BM: And how fulfilling is that?

FB: It’s wonderful.  You meet so many wonderful people and hear so many inspirational stories.  There was a time when it was something not many people talked about.  I won’t say people were embarrassed about it.  It was more like society wasn’t ready for it, and think with being involved as a volunteer, you realize that your story is not the only story out there.  There are a lot of stories similar to yours.

BM: And when you reach out to someone as a volunteer, it is inspirational as well as educational.  Is that fair to say?

FB: Yes.  We always try to help people.  Like I said, directing them to the correct people or sites or tollfree numbers, groups to help them for their specific needs.  I also get a lot of contact on Facebook from people saying what happened to them, and what should they do.  So, it is fulfilling to know that people see my story and they know there is someone who can help them. 

BM: Freda, let’s get back to your cancer journey.  I had asked what couldn’t you do while wearing a stoma bag.  Thankfully, the stoma bag is in your rear-view mirror, but in a sense, you are still on a cancer journey.  So, in terms of physically, socially, anything else, post-treatment, what can you do now and what you can you not do, now?

FB: Basically, I can do everything that I did before.  The one thing I monitor is what I eat because I know what makes me feel well and what doesn’t make me feel well.  Things that never used to bother me, like hot food, if I eat out, I will stay away from it because it is not good for me.  Small things, like strawberries, stick to your colon and that’s how polyps can form.  In the back of my mind, I think of how I love strawberries, but I know I shouldn’t eat them, things like that. Otherwise, I still do what I have always done.

BM: That’s fabulous to hear, and I hope for people watching and listening that provides a measure of inspiration as well, knowing that they can get to the same point as you.  Freda, we are going to wrap things up now, and when we do so, we like to close with pretty much the same question, and it goes like this.  If you found yourself speaking one-on-one with someone freshly diagnosed with colon cancer, and you had a message for them, if there is one point that stands out above all others, what would it be?

FB: Take it one day at a time.  One day at a time.  It is overwhelming in the beginning., but just take it one day at a time.  It doesn’t help to overstress yourself and overthink everything.  Just take it one day at a time.  If you can get past today and you can survive today, tomorrow will be better and the next day will be better, etc.  And if it gets bad, just start again from Day One, just start again.

BM:  Wise words.  Our guest has been Freda Botha of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and Freda, thanks so much for numerous kernels of information that can educate and inspire, so Freda, thanks so much for your time.

FB: Thanks for having me, Bruce, I quite enjoyed it.  Thanks.

BM: And that’s going to conclude this segment of Cancer Interviews, and we want to drive home the message that if you are on a cancer journey or if a loved one is on a cancer journey, you are not alone.  There are plenty of people out there just like Freda, who can help you on your way and make that journey just a little bit easier.  So, until next time, we’ll see you on the down the road.

Support Group:

Cancer Action Group of South Africa (CANSA):

https://www.cansa.org.za

SHOW NOTES

TITLE:  Freda Botha, Colon Cancer Survivor – Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha), South Africa

When air bubbles were discovered in Freda Botha’s stomach, she was told a corrective procedure would take one hour.  However, doctors discovered polyps on her colon, six hours later she awoke with a stoma bag installed, and told she needed to go on chemotherapy.  Freda was diagnosed with colon cancer, but she survived, and now works as a volunteer with the Cancer Action Network of South Africa to help others.

Additional Resources:

Cancer Interviews:  https://www.cancerinterviews.com

Cancer Action Network of South Africa: https://www.cansa.org.za

Colon Cancer Prevention Project: https://coloncancerpreventionproject.org

Time Stamps:

02:10 Freda noticed she started feeling tired.

03:34 Said she had air bubbles in her stomach.

04:06 Doctors discovered polyps on her colon.

04:24 Woke up to learn she was hooked up to a stoma bag.

09:03 Discusses hair loss during chemo.

10:05 Freda says fatigue was the toughest part of chemo.

11:01 Says maintaining the stoma bag was tough.

13:53 Advise for those who have to wear a stoma bag.

16:10 Another growth was found on her colon.

KEYWORDS (tags):

colon cancer

cancer

cancer interviews

colon polyps

cancer interviews

bruce morton

stoma bag

freda botha

chemotherapy

colonoscopy

chemo