Stage IIIb rectal cancer 32yo/f. Will I pass tumor with chemo/rad?

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TrynaBCancerFree
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Joined: Fri Nov 03, 2017 10:24 pm

Stage IIIb rectal cancer 32yo/f. Will I pass tumor with chemo/rad?

Postby TrynaBCancerFree » Fri Nov 03, 2017 10:31 pm

Hey all!
I was dx in Late September 2017- had eggs harvested and ovarian transposition and today is my second day of 1300mg xeloda am and pm and radiation. My question is- will I pass the tumor? Does radiation break it up and does it come out in the bathroom or does it just absorb? I am having rectal pain this eve which I often do after long bouts on the toilet. I have had diarrhea today but I have always had a sensitive stomach and frequent diarrhea so it’s nothing that drastic, just worse than normal. How long until the pain starts? Has anyone had their tumor completed wiped out and chosen not to have LAR?
Thank you!
Tryna
Dx IIIb rectal cancer 9/21/2017
Egg harvest 10/14/17
Ovarian transposition 10/25/17
Began 6 weeks xeloda/radiation 11/2/17

AlexMichelle
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Joined: Sat Oct 28, 2017 11:54 am
Location: California

Re: Stage IIIb rectal cancer 32yo/f. Will I pass tumor with chemo/rad?

Postby AlexMichelle » Sat Nov 04, 2017 12:02 am

You are so young. I'm so sorry you are going through this at 32 yrs old. I don't have answers for you, but I am also having pain when going to bathroom. I pass lots of blood and blood clots which doctors say is expected. I'm on a low residue diet to help lessen the pain so that the fiber does not back up behind the tumor. The CT scan showed that my extremely high fiber diet was backing up substantially behind the tumor, causing more pain, and I did feel a little better once I got off my healthy high fiber diet and went on the low residue diet. How did you know to go to the doctor for this cancer at such a young age? Did you have blood?
F 9/14/17 blood, 10/05/17 endoscopy/colonoscopy 4.5 cm tumor lower colon/upper rectum/left side -11/09/17 open Rectosigmoid Colon Resection remove invasive adenocarcinoma, moderately diff marg clear.15 lymph nodes neg malignancy. benign liver w/fibrous nodule- rectum at 15cm Tumor location: above peritoneal reflection 4.2 x 2.7 cm Tumor inv muscularis closest 1.5 cm. pT2pNO Stage 1. No Lynch

Aqx99
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Location: Pfafftown, NC

Re: Stage IIIb rectal cancer 32yo/f. Will I pass tumor with chemo/rad?

Postby Aqx99 » Sat Nov 04, 2017 7:58 am

TrynaBCancerFree wrote:Hey all!
I was dx in Late September 2017- had eggs harvested and ovarian transposition and today is my second day of 1300mg xeloda am and pm and radiation. My question is- will I pass the tumor? Does radiation break it up and does it come out in the bathroom or does it just absorb? I am having rectal pain this eve which I often do after long bouts on the toilet. I have had diarrhea today but I have always had a sensitive stomach and frequent diarrhea so it’s nothing that drastic, just worse than normal. How long until the pain starts? Has anyone had their tumor completed wiped out and chosen not to have LAR?
Thank you!
Tryna


Nothing came out when I had chemoradiation. My tumor shrank, but was still there.
Anne, 40
Stage IIIB Rectal Cancer
T3N1bM0
2/21/17 Dx, Age 39
2/21/17 CEA 0.9
3/23/17 - 5/2/17 Chemoradiation, 28 treatments
6/14/17 Robotic LAR w/temp loop ileostomy, ovaries & fallopian tubes removed, 2/21 lymph nodes positive
7/24/17 - 12/18/17 CapeOx, 6 Cycles
7/24/17 Dx w/ovarian cancer
9/6/17 CA 125 11.1
11/27/17 CEA 2.6
12/5/17 CT NED
12/13/17 CEA 2.9
1/11/18 CA 125 8.6
1/23/18 Reversal
3/21/18 CT enlarged thymus
4/6/18 PET NED
7/10/18 CT NED
7/11/18 CEA 2.6
9/18 Bilateral Prophylactic Mastectomy

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susie0915
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Facebook Username: Susan DeGrazia Hostetter
Location: Michigan

Re: Stage IIIb rectal cancer 32yo/f. Will I pass tumor with chemo/rad?

Postby susie0915 » Sat Nov 04, 2017 8:02 am

I don't remember anything coming out. My tumor shrank to scar tissue. My surgeon did a sigmoidoscopy after I completed chemo/radiation.
58 yrs old Dx @ 55
5/15 DX T3N0MO
6/15 5 wks chemo/rad
7/15 sigmoidoscopy/only scar tissue left
8/15 PET scan NED
9/15 LAR
0/24 nodes
10/15 blockage. surgery,early ileo rev, c-diff inf :(
12/15 6 rds of xelox
5/16 CT lung scarring/inflammation
9/16 clear colonoscopy
4/17 C 4mm lung nod
10/17 pel/abd CT NED
11/17 CEA<.5
1/18 CT/Lung no change in 4mm nodule
5/18 CEA<.5, CT pel/abd/lung NED
11/18 CEA .6
5/19 CT NED, CEA <.5
10/19 Clear colonscopy
11/19 CEA <.5

mozart13
Posts: 158
Joined: Fri Dec 09, 2016 7:38 pm
Location: Toronto

Re: Stage IIIb rectal cancer 32yo/f. Will I pass tumor with chemo/rad?

Postby mozart13 » Sat Nov 04, 2017 11:17 am

My tumor was gonne completlly after chemo/rad, 25 sessions. Was passing some bluish looking flakes, no pain, no diarhea, tolerated well whole thing. Was active, walked every day 3 to 4 km, avoided antioxydants, vitamins, some one on this forum told me to eat food high in proteins, so I did, something to do with radiation.

There is another tread on this forum about wait and see approach, you could find some good info there.
viewtopic.php?t=53498

Good luck to you!
55 year at the time of diagnosis, male
Diagnosed with T1,T2 N0 M0 rectal cancer
Total neoadjuvant therapy or TNT (chemoradiation followed by systemic chemotherapy)
Negative since Feb. '17
No surgery
Watch&Wait approach 8)
I don’t come much to the forum , so if this is not updated it means I remain negative!
Wish good luck to all!

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NZJay
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Location: NZ

Re: Stage IIIb rectal cancer 32yo/f. Will I pass tumor with chemo/rad?

Postby NZJay » Sat Nov 04, 2017 3:36 pm

As you are 3b I assume lymph node involvement.
Because of this - from my understanding, even if you had a complete response, surgery and post-op chemo would be recommended.
I'm sure your oncologist / surgical team can answer properly though.
11-13 Dx CC
SPS T4b(touched stomach organ),N1(3/23),M0(Stage 3B)
11-13: resect + partial gastrect
2-14: 1 Tx Cape + Oxy; renal failure, colitis
4-14: 7 Tx Capecitabine
1-15: clear CT
7-15: clear scope
1-16: clear CT
3-17: clear CT
10-17: clear scope (5 year gap now!)
CEA@dx: 8.4 / 6-15: 4.0 / 10-15: 4.2 / 2-16: 4.9 / 7-16: 4.9 / 11-16: 5.0 / 6-17: 4.5
NED since resection

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ocstacy
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Re: Stage IIIb rectal cancer 32yo/f. Will I pass tumor with chemo/rad?

Postby ocstacy » Sat Nov 04, 2017 3:54 pm

will I pass the tumor? Does radiation break it up and does it come out in the bathroom or does it just absorb? I am having rectal pain this eve which I often do after long bouts on the toilet. I have had diarrhea today but I have always had a sensitive stomach and frequent diarrhea so it’s nothing that drastic, just worse than normal. How long until the pain starts? Has anyone had their tumor completed wiped out and chosen not to have LAR?


Hi hun!

My mother has same DX as you. She started her radiation/chemo July 1st, ended Aug 16ish. I do remember towards the end of my mom's radiation, she did mention that she had mucusy type of discharge w/ blood. Dr. mentioned that the tumor like shrinking, melting, whatever you want to call it. My mother's tumor did shrink, just not sure how much since we haven't talked to the surgeon post surgery just yet. I'm nervous to hear anything right now as my mom is in the hospital with an abscess 2 weeks after surgery but doing much better. Apparently she had a leak and it's not common so I am glad that she is there and not at home. My mom's tumor was located very low in rectum (finger distance) so not sure where your is located. I'm sorry that you are going through this at an early age. I finally got my colonoscopy after arguing with 2 doctor's. Finally, my insurance approved, came out benign but still.

ps) the last week of radiation, they target your tumor with stronger beams so I think the most pain you will feel wlll be the last week and the few weeks following. My my mom did fairly well for the first 5 and than 4 weeks after that was the hardest. I would def. recommend this cream after you are DONE with radiation, it helps with the rectal pain.. it has Zinc and that is why you can' t use it now. Here it is : it's called "Calmoseptine" ask your nurse about it and don't use until after you are done with radiation and of course ask your dr. first but my mom didn't find out about it until like two weeks ago and I was upset. She mentinoed that it worked. better than Aquaphor
Last edited by ocstacy on Wed Nov 08, 2017 8:29 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Caregiver/daughter to dear mother age 78, dx 5/09/17 because of me!! :wink:
Rectal CA Stage 3 low-grade adenocarcinoma- 6 cm
Neoadjuvant start 7/10/17 ended 08/16/17
3D Lap. surgery @ Keck USC, Dr. Sang Lee 10/17/17 temp ileostomy
11/1 hospitalized abscess/hernia - home 11/06/17 antibiotics
NO LYMPHS INVOLVED! NEAR PATHOLOGICAL RESPONSE! YAY! :shock:
Took her last chemo med 05/10/18! Ileo reversal 07/24/18
1st BM after reversal 07/25/18 Anal Fissure 8/15/18
Me:1st Colonoscopy age 38. 08/17 Benign polp.

NHMike
Posts: 2555
Joined: Fri Jul 21, 2017 3:43 am

Re: Stage IIIb rectal cancer 32yo/f. Will I pass tumor with chemo/rad?

Postby NHMike » Sat Nov 04, 2017 4:15 pm

Sorry that you have to deal with this at such a young age.

I was 3B as well though the local lymph nodes were termed suspicious. I've had surgery and the lymph nodes have gone to pathology and there's a possibility that I could be downstaged to 2 something though I don't think that the post-surgical treatment will be any different. My tumor was over 100 cm^2 so it was quite uncomfortable, even painful. The presence of the tumor made me want to go to the bathroom but I couldn't go because it was the tumor causing the sensation - not any material that needed to come out. So figuring out when I really needed to poop was a problem.

The effects of the radiation and chemo kicked in the second week I think and I saw regular flakes of the tumor coming out into the toilet. The flakes were light colored and had a little blood on one end. And this kept happening up until about two weeks after the end of the radiation. The MRI after chemo and radiation showed that the tumor was less than 10 cm^2, so 90% shrinkage. So they removed it last Monday surgically and I'm at home recovering from the surgery and I have an illeostomy to manage. My surgeon told me that there was a 10% chance of a permanent colostomy and that she would make the decision when she was inside. I think that the level of success partially depends on how low the tumor is attached to the Anal Verge as the lower it is, the less sphincter muscle can be retained.

I have read of cases where the tumor shrank so much that it was difficult to find and one of the folks with that case has posted here. But I never assumed that that would happen to me, particularly because my original tumor was so large.

As far as the bathroom pain goes, I guess I learned to try to go and then stop if I couldn't. It was uncomfortable when my body was telling me to go but I refrained from doing so but at least I avoided a lot of time and effort. The tricky thing is figuring out when it's real and when it isn't. BTW, I stated wearing Depends for those times when I got it wrong, and also to deal with the radiation effects near the end of the treatments.

My perspective was that I would have the standard course of treatment - chemo and radiation, followed by surgery, followed by chemo. There have been lots of us here that have gone through this and we're fine walking you through it as it happens. If it should be the case that you have a complete response (tumor is completely gone), then you can decide with your team (surgeon, oncologist, radiation) as to whether or not you do surgery.
6/17: ER rectal bleeding; Colonoscopy
7/17: 3B rectal. T3N1bM0. 5.2 4.5 4.3 cm. Lymphs: 6 x 4 mm, 8 x 6, 5 x 5
7/17-9/17: Xeloda radiation
7/5: CEA 2.7; 8/16: 1.9; 11/30: 0.6; 12/20 1.4; 1/10 1.8; 1/31 2.2; 2/28 2.6; 4/10 2.8; 5/1 2.8; 5/29 3.2; 7/13 4.5; 8/9 2.8, 2/12 1.2
MSS, KRAS G12D
10/17: 2.7 2.2 1.6 cm (-90%). Lymphs: 3 x 3 mm (-62.5%), 4 x 3 (-75%), 5 x 3 (-40%). 5.1 CM from AV
10/17: LAR, Temp Ileostomy, Path Complete Response
CapeOx (8) 12/17-6/18
7/18: Reversal, Port Removal
2/19: Clean CT


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