Caat55 wrote:... As I mentioned Miaderm and prescription Biafine were great. There is a study from Wash U Barnes Cancer Hospital published last October that found many creams safe to use during radiation. Published in JAMAICA Oncology.
HappyNao wrote:... I've got one more appointment with the surgeon for tomorrow morning as well, to talk about the surgery in general because we haven't done that yet, but I'm also going to get her take on how the radiation affects surgical outcomes. ...
Here are some major problems that most colon cancer patients don't overcome and cost them dearly:
1. Day 1, day of diagnosis until first major treatment
A. Inadequate "basic bloodwork", add $75 - $300; I advocate even more bloodwork.
The most commonly missing initial "basic bloodwork": CA199, hsCRP, LDH, 25-hydroxy-vitamin D.
https://coloncancersupport.colonclub.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=61741&p=487962#p487962
kellywin wrote:I think most people have said a lot of what I'd say to you, but I'll add my 2 cents anyway. Coming from someone who was stage IIIC in 2012. My personal feeling, I wanted to do whatever I had to do to be alive for my daughter. Statistics mean nothing, you don't know which group your going to be in, whatever needs to be done so that I can live, I had to do it.
HappyNao wrote:...Recommended treatment is short course radiation, which is currently scheduled to start on May 20, followed by surgery on June 6 which will result in a temporary ileostomy as well...
HappyNao wrote:Hi everyone, I was hoping to introduce myself and get some feedback (or maybe just encouragement) about my situation.
I'm a 38 year old stay at home mom of a 3 and 8 year old, my husband works 12 hour days, 5 days a week.
I started noticing blood in my poo probably 6 months ago? Figured it wasn't serious, decided to ask my doctor about it at my annual physical if it was still an issue. Of course it was still happening, so she sent me for a colonoscopy, which thankfully I managed to schedule for only about a week later. Woke up from the colonoscopy to the news that they found an 8-10 cm mass, plus a couple of polyps. Referred me to a colorectal surgeon who said it was cancer (he didn't say what kind, at that point I was assuming it was in my colon) and he scheduled me for an operation to remove it. All of my friends were telling me to get a second opinion, so I saw a colorectal surgeon in Boston who said that it was rectal cancer, and that she wanted me to talk to an oncologist before we discussed surgery.
They did CT scans and a pelvic MRI, results from those are that it's stage IIa, T3N0M0. It's pretty high up in the rectum, I don't know exactly how far, but the surgeon could barely touch it during one of the most aggressive rectal exams I've ever had (and I've had more than a few in the past month...)
Recommended treatment is short course radiation, which is currently scheduled to start on May 20, followed by surgery on June 6 which will result in a temporary ileostomy as well.
I am terrified of the radiation, not so much the side effects during, but I'm terribly afraid that there's going to be all kinds of permanent damage and that my quality of life will suffer... The news about menopause was a shock, too, that I'm having a hard time processing. Also lots of worries about the ileostomy and subsequent reversal, that it will leave me with bowel issues forever.
Any thoughts and encouragement are much appreciated, thank you.
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