The Colon Club

Can anyone please tell me your experiences with Capecitabine and radiation treatment for rectal cancer. I am ending week 1 1/2 right now (Started last Thursday) and can say that I have yet to experience any side effects. I have 5 total weeks of treatment or 25 total radiation sessions. I do smoke and consume marijuana as I live in a recreational state and have read up on this helping alleviate some of the side effects such as poor appetite or nausea.

I’m in the same boat.

Done 20 sessions now and have 5 more to go.

I’ve had some gas and more frequent bowel movements but no pain, or pooping glass like I’ve read. My tumor is quite high though, at the sigmoid/rectosigmoid junction, maybe that has something to do with that.

I worked out regularly until this week where I probably could have gone a few times, but opted not to.

I’ll try to finish strong next week.

The radiologist told me today that next week and the one after are when i’ll really feel it as the dose accumulates.

No nausea, no loss of appetite at all, and I don’t use cannabis.

From what I’ve read, I’d say I got off pretty easy on side effects so far, knocking furiously on wood.

It will get worse, it is cumulative. I really didn't notice any issues until the last two weeks. The skin does become sore. My biggest issue was I felt like I was passing glass when I urinated. I had to use lidocaine to numb the area every time i went. I don't know if you're a man or woman. If you are male it may not affect you the same. I really didn't notice any side effects from the xeloda, but the radiation did show side effects the last two weeks, and for a couple weeks after I finished.

susie0915 wrote:It will get worse, it is cumulative. I really didn't notice any issues until the last two weeks. The skin does become sore. My biggest issue was I felt like I was passing glass when I urinated. I had to use lidocaine to numb the area every time i went. I don't know if you're a man or woman. If you are male it may not affect you the same. I really didn't notice any side effects from the xeloda, but the radiation did show side effects the last two weeks, and for a couple weeks after I finished.

Thanks for responding. I am male.

CF_69 wrote:I’m in the same boat.

Done 20 sessions now and have 5 more to go.

I’ve had some gas and more frequent bowel movements but no pain, or pooping glass like I’ve read. My tumor is quite high though, at the sigmoid/rectosigmoid junction, maybe that has something to do with that.

I worked out regularly until this week where I probably could have gone a few times, but opted not to.

I’ll try to finish strong next week.

The radiologist told me today that next week and the one after are when i’ll really feel it as the dose accumulates.

No nausea, no loss of appetite at all, and I don’t use cannabis.

From what I’ve read, I’d say I got off pretty easy on side effects so far, knocking furiously on wood.

Thanks for letting me know your experience so far. I am hoping for the same outcome as you at 20 treatments. My tumor is 9cm from the Anal verge. Not sure if that is high up or not.

I'm right there with you - finished week 1 today. Knocking on wood it stays pretty side effect free.

Keep us updated!

In my experience the radiation is cumulative, for me the week after treatment ended was by far the worst. I don't know what having a red hot poker shoved up your ass feels like, but bowel movements during that week gave me a pretty good idea!!

My first reaction to the radiation was a bloom of external hemorrhoids They were not at all painful, but they did significantly increase the surface area for burns. The skin burns started to show up at about week three and got progressively worse, by the end of week four some of the burned areas started bleeding.

My tumor was very low, actually attached to the sphincter muscles, so it's likely a greater concentration of radiation had to be directed thru the anal area than if the tumor was higher up. Hope this helps.

I have been taking preventative measures like the baking soda / salt water mouth rinse, putting moisturizer on my hands and feet at night, and not wiping with paper when I do have a BM.

Straight into the shower.

I’m pretty much eating whatever I want. A few things have upset my system but nothing too severe. Not trusting a fart type stuff.

I quit drinking beer and coffee when I found out, and that’s been about 2.5 months now.

I drank a lot of both before.

I do miss the coffee but have been drinking green tea in its place.

I wouldn't complain about the lack of side effects. As others have posted the effects are cumulative. The first few weeks they're blasting the general area with radiation but then they start narrowing the beam to concentrate on the tumor itself. I think that's when the fun starts.

Personally, I didn't have too many problems with the Xeloda except for some vague stomach cramps. The radiation just left me feeling drained of energy towards the end of each week. The weekend after my last treatment the cumulative radiation effects really kicked in. Lots of diarrhea and painful razor poops. Saturday was the worst, Sunday was better, and thing's weren't too bad by Monday.

My last week I’ve had noticeable fatigue and more bowel activities like mucous farts, more frequent BM’s and definitely softer stools. I wouldn’t describe it as passing glass, more like grit.

Really looking forward to the end of my final treatment tomorrow.

Scared of the surgery ahead but happy to be making progress.

Final treatment as in before the 3 bumps ? The last 3 treatments target the tumor directly, while the previous have circled the area involved. Once the tumor breaks up, it can feel unlike anything you might have experienced .

I’m not sure about that. I asked the therapist if these were any stronger and she said no.

I did #25 this morning and am finished this stage.

Meet with surgeon in about 2 weeks time.

You are lucky, I was told 25, and then was told 3 more and you're done . I had low rectum rad . I also had a tumor in my sigmoid, that caused me to do FOLFOX, during radiation .
Michael

Anus itching is all I got, extremely low tumor.

Well I’m definitely feeling some pain around the anus and it feels like I’m shitting rocks. Last treatment was last Friday, so about 5-6 days ago now.

Hope it passes soon.