Eleda, I had a period during the first month of chemo/radiation, it was my last, doctor said I would have no more and he was right. Welcome hot flashes. No diarrhea. No more signs of blood. Tired. Peeing was painful. Developed a fissure so BM were like passing razor blades. The only relief was a bat...

Yes, Dr. Shelton is my surgeon. It is double blind, first year follow up is same as for all patients as they have explained it. I will read the links see what more I can find then in literature they supplied.
Thank you O Stoma Mia

We all need good news

I was about 3 yrs out from surgery, scan picked up some swollen nodes in my stomach area. My Onc was stressing to me not to worry. As she put it, you have 2 young kids, something tells me one of them brought some bug home and your nodes are doing their job, fighting off some infection. Yep, 6 month...

Thank you all for the information. My surgeon gave me 6 weeks, oncologist recommends 12. I think he is concerned about the physical nature of my job and the little cute germy kiddos I spend my days with. I guess we wait and see. I. Meet the nurse on Friday to decide about where my stoma will be and ...

Hello! My mother was told that her primary cancer originated from her rectal tumor. Her initial CT in the ER showed her liver Mets but we did not find out about her rectal tumor until her colonoscopy the next day. They actually could not even advance the scope due to the size of the rectal tumor an...

You might want a driver for the first infusion. I drove (and still am driving myself) each time. The first couple of times I had a slight fuzzy head feeling and just took back roads, which are slower and less traffic, home. I live 25 minutes away from where I get my infusion. I live in the Sierra N...

Caat: I am somewhat familiar with LifeSeal and its clinical study and pending FDA approval. It is an ingenious product, and if you have the opportunity to participate through Stanford it might be well worth the additional time/energy of travel to the Stanford University medical campus. Lifeseal is ...

I am a water treatment plant operator and I took a month off after surgery. You may want to speak to your surgeon about the physical nature of your job and see what he has to say. As for ileostomy care in public restrooms, I have never had to change a pouch in public. To make clean up after emptyin...

Lots of questions here. My LAP is scheduled for 1/31/18. Finished neoadjunct 12/8/17. It is a terrible month, my skin on legs, genital area for fried. Finally feeling "Normal" still issues with wrinkly fingers, itchy skin, but walking a couple miles a day. Stanford is participating in stud...

Why didn't you need a temporary ileostomy? Where was your tumor located? My tumor is about 12CM from the anal verge and my doc is saying he wants to give me a temp for healing purpose, but I am kind of wondering why you didn't get one? Being that high up a direct anastomosis for me should be all th...

Hi. Just completed 5 wks neoadjuvant Xeloda/rad. After initially feeling very optimistic about my drs. and the local hospital am now having some reservations, but unsure if justified. First two weeks went smoothly. Last three weeks extreme diarrhea and dehydration. Rec'd 2 liters IV H2O nearly dail...

This was really good news! I got excited for you! :D I am scheduled MR in two weeks to check how much the tumor have shrinked :) Claudia Thank you. It's scary because you want to believe it's gone but afraid to be disappointed. I am an over achiever and would love to kick this cancer to the curb co...

Meet my surgeon on Thursday for first time. He said he could barely find tumor, previous 9.2 cm. MRI showed similar results, only thickening of the rectal wall. Oncologist said that is results of tissue under microscope is similar we are 99.9 %, total remission. Is that same as NED? Happy, excited g...

Thanks for the responses. I can't get over how sensitive my skin has become, shampoo bubbles caused a flare up yesterday. Don't know about "Gray", what is it? Yes, tailbone is sore. The radiologist finally gave me Miaderm, which has helped some. Initially offered Percocet, I would have pr...