NEW-Need some positivity here.

[teacher2017]

Hi Teacher, I'm sorry you find yourself here. Can you please share your symptoms that led you to see a Dr.

Yes sure! I was having pains about 1/2 hour after I ate in late May. Seems I'd get bloated and feel the same feeling of having diarreah but it would never come. Only minimal blood when wiping. Thought I had an ulcer and some hemmoriods. Then it became frequent. I thought I had a food allergy. Went to the GP and they kind of blew it off. I was 48 with no history of cancer. It became so frequent that I demanded to see a GI. Being mid August everyone was on vacation. I had a colonoscopy scheduled and then the dreaded diagnosis. Never expected it. Dr could not get the scope though. This ordeal up to this point has been mental anguish. But knowing that the surgeon took it out, makes me sleep at night. Now is the pathology wait- it supposedly didn't spread according to the surgeon. But no one wants to tell me anything until it's on paper obviously. Personally I think I may have been lucky that it showed itself to me.

Being released today to go back home and micromanage my fam! I hope this helps...

[Kay1982]

Thank you for responding. I have had very similar symptoms except I would get diarrhea every si gle time I ate about a 1/2 after eating, it lasted for a month. I had a bad gallbladder which all my symptoms were blamed on that. 3 days ago I jad my gallbladder out and still having problems. I am having, and have been for months having left sided lower ovary or pelvic cramps. I am scared to death. I too have had bleeding when I wipe. I am so scared I can't sleep or eat. I have an appt with a gastro physician Wed.

[teacher2017]

Adjuvant chemotherapy is treatment after surgery. preadjuvant is before surgery. I had both. Radiation/chemo to shrink tumor, surgery, then clean up chemo after. I had 0 lymph node involvement and no spread. And even though after radiation all that was left of tumor was scar tissue and pet scan showed no cancer anywhere, pathology of surgery showed minimal residual cancer where tumor was. My oncologist felt 6 rounds of chemo would help ensure no recurrence. I did Xelox which is oxaliplatin given as an infusion every three weeks and two weeks of xeloda pills, then one week off.

You are right you will never be the same, but you will be okay and stronger. You are going to get through this and appreciate life more. The little things will not bother you so much and you will enjoy the gift of an ordinary day. Rest and take care during your recovery.

So even after removal of the tumor-they still made you do chemo and radiation. I just thought if it was removed and margins were clear and no lymph nodes where involved, you could be considered stage 0 or 1?

[teacher2017]

Thank you for responding. I have had very similar symptoms except I would get diarrhea every si gle time I ate about a 1/2 after eating, it lasted for a month. I had a bad gallbladder which all my symptoms were blamed on that. 3 days ago I jad my gallbladder out and still having problems. I am having, and have been for months having left sided lower ovary or pelvic cramps. I am scared to death. I too have had bleeding when I wipe. I am so scared I can't sleep or eat. I have an appt with a gastro physician Wed.

Get that colonoscopy. It's worth all the trouble. Insist on it. My tumor was left side low but you could have something completely different. A ctscan could tell too. An alcer? Colitis? Get the test. Then let us know.

[Aqx99]

Adjuvant chemotherapy is treatment after surgery. preadjuvant is before surgery. I had both. Radiation/chemo to shrink tumor, surgery, then clean up chemo after. I had 0 lymph node involvement and no spread. And even though after radiation all that was left of tumor was scar tissue and pet scan showed no cancer anywhere, pathology of surgery showed minimal residual cancer where tumor was. My oncologist felt 6 rounds of chemo would help ensure no recurrence. I did Xelox which is oxaliplatin given as an infusion every three weeks and two weeks of xeloda pills, then one week off.

You are right you will never be the same, but you will be okay and stronger. You are going to get through this and appreciate life more. The little things will not bother you so much and you will enjoy the gift of an ordinary day. Rest and take care during your recovery.

So even after removal of the tumor-they still made you do chemo and radiation. I just thought if it was removed and margins were clear and no lymph nodes where involved, you could be considered stage 0 or 1?

Staging is based on how far the tumor has invaded the tissue of the colon, lymph node involvement and metastasis. You can read about staging in the NCCN guidelines for colon cancer at the link I have provided. It also has a lot of good information about your treatment, in case you had any other questions.

https://www.nccn.org/patients/guideline ... index.html

[susie0915]

Adjuvant chemotherapy is treatment after surgery. preadjuvant is before surgery. I had both. Radiation/chemo to shrink tumor, surgery, then clean up chemo after. I had 0 lymph node involvement and no spread. And even though after radiation all that was left of tumor was scar tissue and pet scan showed no cancer anywhere, pathology of surgery showed minimal residual cancer where tumor was. My oncologist felt 6 rounds of chemo would help ensure no recurrence. I did Xelox which is oxaliplatin given as an infusion every three weeks and two weeks of xeloda pills, then one week off.

You are right you will never be the same, but you will be okay and stronger. You are going to get through this and appreciate life more. The little things will not bother you so much and you will enjoy the gift of an ordinary day. Rest and take care during your recovery.

So even after removal of the tumor-they still made you do chemo and radiation. I just thought if it was removed and margins were clear and no lymph nodes where involved, you could be considered stage 0 or 1?

I had chemo/radiation for 5 weeks before surgery, then chemo after surgery. The chemo/radiation is done to shrink the tumor to make for easier removal and help to avoid permanent colostomy. After this treatment all that was left was scar tissue and the pet scan showed no sign of cancer. The surgeon said he would still have to do surgery, check lymph nodes, but good chance I would not need chemotherapy after. When the pathology report came back and margins were clear, no lymph nodes affected 0/24, the sample did have minimal residual cancer cells where the tumor was. Because of this, my oncologist and surgeon recommended clean up chemo as they could not guarantee no cancer cells got into the blood stream. I was disappointed but went ahead. I didn't want to have wonder "what if", if I were to have a recurrence. The chemo was delayed as I did have a bowel obstruction 4 weeks after surgery. The surgeon had to go back in and remove scar tissue. He reversed my temporary ileostomy at the same time. (I was suppose to keep until after chemo). It did make it tougher during chemo as I had diarrhea during chemo. But I made it through and have been cancer free since. I had rectal cancer so treatment is a little different. Yours sounds very contained. My tumor was a T3 which did penetrate the rectal wall but did not go to distant organs or lymph nodes. My doctors told me they were curing me so I was always encouraged, just had to deal with the side effects of treatment.

I know it is difficult to wait for information. Hopefully you can relax, and take care of yourself and family. I will pray that your news will be good and send positive thoughts your way.

[Robino1]

I had my resection and no lymph node involvement. All margins were clear. I did not do any chemo after.

Hindsight is usually 20/20. I am now halfway through chemo and need to start thinking about the next step. My timeline is in my signature.

I really don't want to scare you but you should consider all options with an oncologist.

[teacher2017]

I had my resection and no lymph node involvement. All margins were clear. I did not do any chemo after.

Hindsight is usually 20/20. I am now halfway through chemo and need to start thinking about the next step. My timeline is in my signature.

I really don't want to scare you but you should consider all options with an oncologist.

So you'd advise preventive chemo I assume. Thank you for the heads up.

[JJH]

... So even after removal of the tumor-they still made you do chemo and radiation. I just thought if it was removed and margins were clear and no lymph nodes where involved, you could be considered stage 0 or 1?

It's a little more complicated than that. When your pathology report comes back they will look at all of the risk factors that they have information on and then decide what is best for you. There are many possible risk factors that they need to look at, not only just the main three T, N, and M. Altogether there are probably over a dozen factors to consider, most of which come from the details of the surgery pathology report, but some may come from other reports, such as a genetics pathology report.

This is why it is so important to have a critical look at your pathology report, line by line, when it comes back.

They won't recommend radiation for you because you are not a Rectal Cancer patient, but they might recommend a few months of chemo, depending on what they find in all of the reports. If they recommend chemo they will probably want to start it about 6 weeks after the date of your surgery, and it could last for up to 4 or 6 months.

- -

Here's some information on low residue diets

https://www.nm.org/-/media/Northwestern/Resources/patients-and-visitors/patient-education-diet-and-nutrition/northwestern-medicine-low-fiber-low-residue-diet-april-2016.pdf

http://dda.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Low_Residue_Diet.pdf

http://www.gwh.nhs.uk/media/140811/low-residue_diet.pdf

[Robino1]

I had my resection and no lymph node involvement. All margins were clear. I did not do any chemo after.

Hindsight is usually 20/20. I am now halfway through chemo and need to start thinking about the next step. My timeline is in my signature.

I really don't want to scare you but you should consider all options with an oncologist.

So you'd advise preventive chemo I assume. Thank you for the heads up.

If I'd have known then what I would be dealing with now, I would have done chemo. I don't know if it would have made a difference but I would have been able to say I did all that I could to keep it from 'seeding' in me. If it had come back after going through a chemo regime, I wouldn't be thinking of 'what if's.

I try not to think of those what if scenarios because they really don't do any good . Once in a while they creep in then I knock them back down. I will get through this and I will be a survivor. There is no other option.

I believe the mind can help in beating this thing. Notice I said help.

I can't in good conscience recommend anything for anyone. I'm just telling of my own experience. Ultimately it is between you, your surgeon and your oncologist.

I do recommend seeing an oncologist. I declined back then.

Editing to add: The theory is some cells dropped out while removing the section containing the cancer. Just a theory. Or as my oncologist said, I was unlucky.

[susie0915]

It's a tough call. When my surgeon told me I may not need chemo after surgery due to results of chemo/radiation, I kind of got it set in my mind. So I was pretty emotional when he said I need to do chemo. After talking with him, oncologist, and my husband I went ahead. I didn't feel like they were giving me a choice, but that was my next step in treatment, although, I could've declined. So you have to weigh all the info. The chemo was not easy, and I still do deal with some side effects, but I don't regret doing it.

[Kay1982]

Thank you for responding. I have had very similar symptoms except I would get diarrhea every si gle time I ate about a 1/2 after eating, it lasted for a month. I had a bad gallbladder which all my symptoms were blamed on that. 3 days ago I jad my gallbladder out and still having problems. I am having, and have been for months having left sided lower ovary or pelvic cramps. I am scared to death. I too have had bleeding when I wipe. I am so scared I can't sleep or eat. I have an appt with a gastro physician Wed.

Get that colonoscopy. It's worth all the trouble. Insist on it. My tumor was left side low but you could have something completely different. A ctscan could tell too. An alcer? Colitis? Get the test. Then let us know.

Thank you Teacher. I do have an appt this week with a gastro. How did you left sided pain feel? I had a CT without contrast showed nothing. If you had one was it with ot without?

[teacher2017]

I had my resection and no lymph node involvement. All margins were clear. I did not do any chemo after.

Hindsight is usually 20/20. I am now halfway through chemo and need to start thinking about the next step. My timeline is in my signature.

I really don't want to scare you but you should consider all options with an oncologist.

So you'd advise preventive chemo I assume. Thank you for the heads up.

If I'd have known then what I would be dealing with now, I would have done chemo. I don't know if it would have made a difference but I would have been able to say I did all that I could to keep it from 'seeding' in me. If it had come back after going through a chemo regime, I wouldn't be thinking of 'what if's.

I try not to think of those what if scenarios because they really don't do any good . Once in a while they creep in then I knock them back down. I will get through this and I will be a survivor. There is no other option.

I believe the mind can help in beating this thing. Notice I said help.

I can't in good conscience recommend anything for anyone. I'm just telling of my own experience. Ultimately it is between you, your surgeon and your oncologist.

I do recommend seeing an oncologist. I declined back then.

Editing to add: The theory is some cells dropped out while removing the section containing the cancer. Just a theory. Or as my oncologist said, I was unlucky.

Well that just scared the crap out of me. Thank you. I will listen to you.

[Beckster]

Adjuvant chemotherapy is treatment after surgery. preadjuvant is before surgery. I had both. Radiation/chemo to shrink tumor, surgery, then clean up chemo after. I had 0 lymph node involvement and no spread. And even though after radiation all that was left of tumor was scar tissue and pet scan showed no cancer anywhere, pathology of surgery showed minimal residual cancer where tumor was. My oncologist felt 6 rounds of chemo would help ensure no recurrence. I did Xelox which is oxaliplatin given as an infusion every three weeks and two weeks of xeloda pills, then one week off.

You are right you will never be the same, but you will be okay and stronger. You are going to get through this and appreciate life more. The little things will not bother you so much and you will enjoy the gift of an ordinary day. Rest and take care during your recovery.

So even after removal of the tumor-they still made you do chemo and radiation. I just thought if it was removed and margins were clear and no lymph nodes where involved, you could be considered stage 0 or 1?

Far from the truth....I was stage IIA...0 out of 24 lymphs nodes were positive; however, stage IIA is a T3 tumor. As I discussed, I went on chemo for preventative measures. Just because he got everything does not mean that microscopic cells remained. Chemo does clean up. Also, onc check your pathology report for "high risk factors," which I sent to you. If you are stage I, you will not be given chemo, but you will need to see an onc for surveillance.

[teacher2017]

Thank you for responding. I have had very similar symptoms except I would get diarrhea every si gle time I ate about a 1/2 after eating, it lasted for a month. I had a bad gallbladder which all my symptoms were blamed on that. 3 days ago I jad my gallbladder out and still having problems. I am having, and have been for months having left sided lower ovary or pelvic cramps. I am scared to death. I too have had bleeding when I wipe. I am so scared I can't sleep or eat. I have an appt with a gastro physician Wed.

Get that colonoscopy. It's worth all the trouble. Insist on it. My tumor was left side low but you could have something completely different. A ctscan could tell too. An alcer? Colitis? Get the test. Then let us know.

Thank you Teacher. I do have an appt this week with a gastro. How did you left sided pain feel? I had a CT without contrast showed nothing. If you had one was it with ot without?

It felt like a blockage pain- like diarreah was coming but never happened. Yes I had a ctscan with contrast. Hope you get to the bottom of this.