Welcome pstolarski, While I'm sorry that you have had to join this club, I'm sure you'll find everyone here helpful and supportive - I know I have. I have had oxi now both neoadjuvantly (before surgery) and adjuvantly (post surgery) - so far a total of 16 weeks. I do have the pins and needles tingli...

smileynewt, You should check out the uoaa.org discussion board specifically for temporary ostomies and takedown surgery. There are wonderful tips there for adjusting to life after the reversal surgery and there are other colonic j-pouchers on there. Be sure to say you have a colonic j-pouch (as cont...

Thanks Helen for posting that article. It was a really good one. So it talked about "hope" being important and a factor in a breast cancer study about recurrence and survival. I've also seen long term colon cancer survivors at a few support group meetings I've attended (including Stage IV ...

I had a one week delay due to low blood counts after my first adjuvant round of chemo. That round was FOLFOX. After the delay I went back to XELOX (which I had neoadjuvantly) and since then I haven't had any low blood count problems so no delays. As an aside - I've seen the comments about oxaliplati...

Check out NCI (cancer.gov), ACS (cancer.org) and also the University of San Francisco medical center's website. My understanding is that there are NOT links between rectal adenocarcinoma and HPV and most rectal cancers are adenocarcinomas. I understand that there is a possible link between HPV and a...

Hi Ivona, Although I'm not yet done with chemo, my onc has talked about the post-chemo regimen and yes, a daily baby aspirin is part of that for me (along with the continued 2,000 IU of vitamin D and extra calcium (varies depending on other calcium intake during the day for me)). He said they used t...

I'd suggest scheduling an appointment with your doc to go over each of these specific concerns and take good notes in advance of the appointment so you have your specific list of information you want to cover. Frustrations can mount on both sides compromising care but without having a heart to heart...

Calmoseptine works wonders for the butt burn. Imodium Ad to slow things down too to prevent the butt burn. Low residue diets as well.

I posted something similar in the ANAL, ANAL, ANAL post but it may get lost since it is lower down in the thread Please go to The View's message boards and reply to the posting I did there (same user name - surroundedbylove) trying to get them to use the terms "anal cancer" and "recta...

I AGREE with all of you. I went and posted a message on the View's message boards harkeing back to prior fear of using "breast cancer" and asking them to effectively come out of the dark ages and refer to these cancers as anal cancers and rectal cancer (and I mentioned colon cancer too) to...

I echo Gaelen's comment to you to get to the doc since the Reglan only helped for 6 hours. By the way I use a combo of Zofran and Compazine to prevent vomiting - by using both I don't vomit - with only one I can control the nausea but not the vomiting. I don't have experience with CPT11 so can't spe...

Obviously none of us are doctors and you do need to speak with your own docs about this but I can give my personal situation perspective. I can't speak to the Avastin portion of your question but in terms of XELOX (Xeloda plus oxaliplatin) vs. FOLFOX (5FU + oxaliplatin + leucovorin), I understand th...

My onc gets mad if I don't call - they say "that's what we are here for" - they also have a list of symptoms to monitor for 24 hours verus calling right away. From what you describe I would have called. They may not have changed anything but they like to see the patient during the symptoma...

This was a little off topic in another thread so started a new thread and am hoping Gaelen replies and others with information from the radiologists about technology differences. :-) Gaelen stated: "Dr. Personality doesn't routinely order PET scans. She likes CTs, feels they offer greater visib...

I was diagnosed with Stage 3 rectal cancer. I had the combo PET/CT scan prior to treatment beginning. I had four suspicious lymph nodes based on the combo PET/CT. At surgery time all my lymph nodes were negative so either the four suspicious ones weren't cancerous after all or more likely the neoadj...