Dear Caat55,
Your body, your choice.
There are lot of information about radical and wait and see approaches on this forum, if you search for it you will find a wealth of experiences. There are good and bad to both sides.
That said, it really comes to the extent in which you are willing to take chances.
I had a really good clinical response after radiochemotherapy, my tumour was almost gone and you could only see scar tissue and a thickening of the wall. The lymph nodes had all a reduced size right before my surgery.
Nonetheless i went for it, as radical as it gets and when the pathology came ta-da! T2n2!
I was 29 at the time and I didn't want to take any chances at all. I chose surgery with a colostomy and was really happy about it when I read the report. I irrigate and feel very good about my self and my body and I am very proud of myself for taking this route.
I did the chemo as well.. and although I could only make 4 cycles of Oxaliplatin, I did 7 of Xeloda and I would do more if my oncologist would recommend me to.
If my cancer comes back I know I did everything in my power to stay alive, and I will have to accept that.
But I guess it is much harder to accept something that happens to you when you feel you could have made something more to prevent it.
My heart goes out to people like Rikimaroo who tried to go the other route you are considering and are now challenged with a greater battle.
Don't give up dear Rikimaroo, even it is difficult to accept the whole thing - you are still in the fight and still have a chance of hoping to overcome this!
Whatever your decision, make sure you can live with it.
I personally, if I have cancer when I'm an old lady, I think I'll pass radiation and chemo - but surgery with the right surgeon is always welcome. IMO
Good luck with your decision!
Love,
Ana
Dx @ 29 yo. Mum (2 y.o.) & Wife
12/2016: Rectal AdenoCa G2. CEA 4.3. RAS Wild. MSS. IIIB.
01 - 03/2017: 28 RTx + CHT 2,5 g/d Capecit.
03 - 06/2017: Suplemments and Cimetidine.
05/2017: TME/TAMIS + permanent Colostomy CEA 0.5
05/2017: ypT2N2aM0 (4/15), good cCR, limited pCR
06 - 8/2017: 4x CapOx 3,5 g/d (2x Oxi reduced to 80%)
09 -11/2017: 3x Capecit. monotherapy 4g/d
12/2017: Aspirin, Vit. D3, Curcumin, Multivitamin.