Here's hoping it all works out for you Jolene. I was very uncomfortable talking about my rectal cancer when first diagnosed, and we only told those people who would have been curious about my absences for treatment. :oops: Three years later the number of people who have seen my bare backside is in t...

Does the sigmoidoscopy requires a full operating theater preparation and admission(in-patient) like the colonoscopy does ? Or is it simply done at the doctor's clinic (out-patient) ? Were you under sedation ? I just googled and it says typically not, but with a scope up in the bum for 10-20 mins th...

Yes, liquid diet for 24 hours before the procedure, followed by two Fleet saline enemas, two hours before the procedure. The two enemas to be about 1/2 hour apart. I usually do an extra enema the evening before.

I should add my W&W program also includes an annual colonoscopy.

So like many on this board, I am a fully qualified MiraLAX expert.

Hi Annie50, I'm still on W&W, it's a five year program. For the first two years I had quarterly flex sigs and MRIs. Now it's every six months until the five years are up! It's a very long drive for me to get to my Drs in LA. Most often they will kindly arrange for me to have the flex sig in the ...

Hi Jolene You should check this out. He is head of MSK Colorectal surgery and running the watch and wait study. I'm surprised you have not been advised to do full chemotherapy. It's called "consolidation" chemo and increases the chance of a full response. My opinion is that I would do eve...

My colorectal surgeon introduced W&W to her facility in LA. I could tell that my local oncologist and my radiation oncologist were not too thrilled about it, although they never actually came out and said anything negative. Three years later both these Drs are enthusiastic W&Wers after they'...

Please don't fret about your month of waiting. I believe it was pretty much standard practice for Dr Habr-Gama's patients to wait 12 weeks before she determined if they'd had a CCR.

W&W is not an NCI approved treatment for rectal cancer so it's likely that some medical facilities are reluctant to introduce it for fear of being sued. Also the medical profession is very conservative, and quite rightly so. New treatments gain acceptance more quickly when deep pocket drug Compa...

There is a lot of bone in the pelvic area and, as I understand it, radiation negatively impacts the ability of that bone to produce blood cells. I know all my blood counts dropped during radiation, and it took a year for them to climb back to just below the low end of the normal range. The counts le...

Hi Jolene, FYI a flex sig goes in plenty far enough to fully examine the rectum, so no need for a full colonoscopy. A flex sig is a mini colonoscopy for rectal cancer patients.

Determination of a clinical complete response is by visual observation only. I understand Dr Habr-Gama published photos and very complete descriptions of what the doctor needs to observe before declaring a CCR. My surgeon told me that these strict guidelines included a determinations of the color of...

The only difference between God and a surgeon is that God knows he's not a surgeon. :lol: Is the surgeon going to wait for a recurrence to put you you chemo, and then say sorry? Annie, it's your body and your life....go get the chemo!!! PS It was seven weeks for me from end of radiation to starting ...

In my experience the radiation is cumulative, for me the week after treatment ended was by far the worst. I don't know what having a red hot poker shoved up your ass feels like, but bowel movements during that week gave me a pretty good idea!! :) My first reaction to the radiation was a bloom of ext...

Hi Annie50, my surgeon definitely recommended I take mop up chemo as soon as she told me I'd had a CCR. In fact I had my first infusion seven days later. She has since told me there is plenty of data out there showing that patients who have mop up chemo have lower recurrence rates than those who don...