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[oceans]

I was just diagnosed with rectal cancer, they found a 13 cm fungated mass. I am young and relatively healthy so this came as a complete shock. I found this site trying to do research on rectal cancer. I was trying to figure out how bad mine was but some of the symptoms that are described on the Internet I don’t have so I have no idea. I haven’t had a CT yet and I won’t know anything until next week due to the holiday. The waiting is awful

[dliu]

Sorry for the reason you are here. Sending you positive vibes for the scan, and I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. Do let us know how it goes.

[erins]

Sorry that you’re here, but now you’re on the path to treatment and getting well. Folks here are fantastic for learning and getting support so I’m glad you’ve found us.

All of us have had different (or even no) symptoms, so alas, there’s a limit to how much we can self-diagnose.

Also, Dr Google is a fine mortician, but a terrible physician. I found googling symptoms, etc actually made things worse (especially before getting a treatment plan).

I have a friend who is a breast cancer survivor, and we both agreed that the waiting for formal diagnosis & initial staging is awful—try to keep busy, go to the movies, go out with fitness, etc so that the time passes more quickly.

Sending prayers your way!

[NHMike]

I was where you are in Summer of 2017 and I was scared as there's a lot I have to do. Is the 13 cm height+width+length? My tumor was 5 cm long which was pretty big but I could see 13 cm if adding up the three dimensions. There are some other factors which determine staging and staging determines treatment. The waiting is hard. We can talk about typical treatment approaches but you won't really know until you have more information.

[peanut_8]

Hi oceans, welcome to Colon Talk.

13 cm seems pretty large. I don't have a lot to add, butt my tumor was pretty large as well. My surgeon told me that in his experience, the large ones are less likely to spread. Hope that's the case for you.

Best Wishes,
peanut

[oceans]

Thank you all for the response. I’ve found a lot of relief just reading some of the posts on here. This site is a blessing and I’m vert thankful I found it. The waiting is the worst!