Hi Jolene. Good news that you have another option to consider! I am intrigued by your 2 & 4 month schedule as I am on a 4 mo (DRE/flex sig) and 8 mo (MRI) schedule. Based on what I've read here, it seems those doctors/institutions newer to W&W do it more often. (Wish I were on that schedule!...

I had a local excision in 2007 after a complete clinical response to chemoradiation. I'm not sure what 'side effects' your doctor is talking about. Yes, I had a slight amount of pain (mine was due to the fact that the instruments were pushed against my tailbone for the duration of the surgery and I...

I'm in a huge dilemma at the moment as I believed I will be making some major decisions next week ! Just did my sigmoid scope this morning and biopsy. Results should be out by Monday. So many thoughts going through my mind at the moment. It's gonna be a tough weekend wait ! The biopsy is now almost...

EIGHT?! And you trained for a marathon?

Cancer has no idea what it’s in for - getting mixed up with YOU! You will kick its butt!

Congratulations!!!!!

Nifty624 - What I’ve learned from all of this last year (chemo and then chemo/rad) is that everyone has a different experience. You have a different body and tolerance than I do. You have different doctors than I do. You have a radiation injury (and I’m so sorry about that) and while I’ve learned no...

Hi Jolene, I do hope your PET/CT tomorrow turns out well. One interesting thing I would like to point out is that my Dr relied almost exclusively on visual observation of the tumor site to determine CCR. I did have confirming MRIs and she did feel the site with her fingers, but she used some kind o...

I’m so sorry to hear this news.....

I have the same question as I have elected W&W but trying to determine the logistics as I am not close to the major cancer center. It is quite complicated in my mind and it concerns me.

I just met with my surgeon yesterday (that's another story), but was reminded again how surgeons constantly point out how radiation affects tissues in the female pelvis - vaginal, urinary, rectal, etc. (short and long term) while rad oncs (the folks in charge of the radiation) will stand there and l...

Jolene: The silicon dilator sets by Vaginimus really are exceptional. I heard about them through a women’s support group for uvulitis and their upfront and personal reviews of different products. I agree with weissoccermom and the importance of Premarin in conjunction with the dilators. The vaginal...

I've been on this board for a good part of a year and I am continuously impressed with how smart some of you are. I'm no dummy, but you guys seem to grasp these concepts much easier than I do. (Do you have science backgrounds?) Thanks for sharing and for dumbing it down for some of us.

Hi Weisssoccermom. Thanks for all that info and details. I had TNT (chemo upfront and then chemo/Rad). I don’t believe additional chemo is part of W&W protocol (but I agree that chemo should be part of equation before W&W!). I’ve aiways been a healthy eater (stopped eating red meat when I wa...

PRS, SKB, Weisssoccermom, and other W&W-ers: Food/nutrition: Did you change your nutrition when you decided to do W&W? Add supplements? Fitness: Did you do anything specific exercise-wise? BMs: How did radiation change your BMs (if they changed) or tolerance to foods (ie, spicy, etc.) in the...

Nifty624 - W&W is not an accepted protocol/treatment for Rectal Cancer so, as far as I know, only a few major cancer centers (esp those doing clinical trials) are "on board" with the strategy as it's so new. In fact, @MSK they still "prefer" you are on a trial to do W&W g...

Not sure how to post link to specific page but on page 13 of this thread, someone lists facilities who do W&W. There’s a center in Minnesota on the list?

MissMolly. Informative post. Thank you.