Hello ,
Looking for some advice about my dad we are currently waiting for a biopsy to check to see if the cancer in his rectum is still there . After his surgery they told us they didn't get it all so we have been watching and waiting now it's growing . If the biopsy is positive the oncologist radiation oncologist and surgeon as well as a second opinion all seem to agree . There will be two options chemotherapy which would be just to control the disease or radiation which could cure it since it would be considered localized . As you could have guessed its not that simple as my other posts have said . My dad has a colostomy and urostomy which gives him alot of UTI's which of course is a concern with chemotherapy .
However radiation carries it's own risks since my dad has had it before to the same area however now he doesn't have a prostate or bladder . Also the surgeon used his omentum to create a wall basically keeping my dad's small intestines from falling into the open space where his bladder and prostate used to be . The concern is will this " omentum wall " hold up enough to keep his small intestines out of the way from getting radiation damage which I understand could be a permanent nightmare . Also my dad's last radiation didn't even shrink his tumor even though it stopped the bleeding so there is the question of will it work this time ?
So as you can see there is really no good choice clearly the hope of curing this disease is a easy choice but there is no guarantee the radiation will work and if it does what kind of damage will it have done . So I am looking for any advice to help my dad make his choice and looking for input from people who have been in this situation and looking for people who have had radiation damage to the small intestines . We are really stuck on what to do and hopefully someone has some advice and experience that can help make this easier .