Emmerdale’s Cain stages return – but so much has changed

Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley) returned home in tonight’s episode of Emmerdale following his cancer operation – but so much has changed for him in a short space of time.

Yesterday, Cain had a confidence crisis as he began to process how his surgery will impact his body. He was taken aback to discover that he’d have to wear a catheter for two weeks, but potentially more, and hated the idea of carrying it around.

With his pride hurting, Cain told Caleb Miligan (William Ash) that he wishes he never had the operation, because he doesn’t know how to deal with the side effects. Once his brother left, Cain attempted to sit up from his bed and go for a walk, but he grew annoyed as doing this simple task felt so difficult for him.

He was told by a doctor that he could return home once he had completed a walk up and down the corridor, but Cain pretended to be in more pain than he actually was to prevent this from happening. As a result, Cain spent another night in the hospital away from his loved ones.

It didn’t take Caleb long to tell Moira Dingle (Natalie J Robb) what was going on with Cain in this evening’s episode. Moira decided to call on Sarah Sugden (Katie Hill) for help, believing that she’d be able to get through to him.

Sarah delivered some home truths to Cain and told him about how much her confidence was impacted when she went through her cancer journey and lost her hair. She stated to her granddad that feeling sorry for himself in bed wasn’t actually going to achieve anything.

Her words did end up helping Cain as a while later, Moira arrived at the hospital and found him after completing that all-important walk through the corridor. Moira then drove Cain home, and Kyle and Isaac (Huey Quinn and Bobby Dunsmuir) were thrilled to have their dad back.

As far as Moira was concerned, this was now a time to look to the future after a very challenging and dark start to the year.

She was optimistic, but Cain was the polar opposite, as it became clear he was feeling very apprehensive about adjusting to life back at home following the operation.

Next week, Liam Cavanagh (Jonny McPherson) pays a visit to Cain and tells him to leave his pride at the door when it comes to his recovery once the catheter is removed.

Cain tells his mate that he doesn’t have time for Liam’s comments, which means his confidence is going to remain at a low for quite a while.