Postby skier03 » Sat Jan 07, 2006 3:37 pm
Hi Lisa,
I was diagnosed with stage III rectal cancer in November 2004 at age 22. Initially, the doctors wanted me to undergo radiation and chemotherapy. However, after meeting with the radiation oncologist, who told us of all of the side effects of radiation (which I'd be happy to tell you about if you'd like - some may be a little too much for posting right here), my family and I demanded another option. We spoke to the surgeon again, and then to a new oncologist, who suggested a much stronger chemotherapy regimine (FOLFOX & Erbitux), which he assured us, would be just as effective as radiation. I underwent 3 months of chemo before surgery and then 4 months afterwards (adding Avastin to the mix), finishing my treatments in August. The drugs worked beautifully for me, and I just received a clean report in December. I just wanted to let you know that there are options other than radiation. Please speak with your doctors, seek other opinions, and talk about your options with loved ones who are helping you through this when deciding about radiation. I'm extremely grateful that we didn't do the first thing the first doctor said...
Good luck and let me know if I can help in any other way!
Corinne