Adenocarcinoma - just diagnosed

Thats for the ideas I pass on Motel 6 chain as I never feel safe Microtels are ok small rooms but what does one do besides eat & sleep in a hotel room when you are by yourself

Well a mix up on advice from Mayo you do not need a care giver Horay this saves my pocketbook

@cvestor, I'm glad the information was corrected. You're right that you do not need to have a caregiver to be a guest at the Hope Lodge. Caregivers are also welcome to lodge for free with cancer patients who have someone accompanying them to Mayo Clinic and treatment.

Here's more information about the Hope Lodge: https://www.cancer.org/support-programs-and-services/patient-lodging/hope-lodge/rochester-mn.html

I also want to let you know that not all chemotherapy drugs cause hair loss. When my dad had colorectal cancer treatment, he did not lose his hair. It thinned a bit, but he did not go bald.

What chemotherapy regimen will you be getting?

@sundance6, welcome back!!!
So good to see you again. I welcome your return. You will quickly notice a few new things on Mayo Clinic Connect in your absence. First of all, many new members have joined the Colorectal Cancer support group. Your experience and support will go a long way.

There is also a relatively new group dedicated to TBI that you may wish to follow and join in the discussions here:
- Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Support Group https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/traumatic-brain-injury-tbi/

folfox for 4 months xeloda & radiation for 28 treatments feel I will be done by Halloween if this works not holding my breathe

Good to be back! Will go into both sites and see what is happening.
Thanks,
Sundance (aka- RB)

That's a very complete plan, @cvestor ! I sincerely hope it does the job for your cancer.

One tip about the radiation, if your cancer is low in your rectum, you can feel that the skin around your anus and up the butt crack gets burnt. Be prepared with a soothing cream like Cicalfate+. You should also be prepared to the possilbe secondary effects of Xeloda. For me it was some paraesthesia in my left limbs after 22 days of taking it. It stopped as soon as I stopped taking Xeloda, when I reported the effect to my oncologist.

cancer is on the inside of the anal sphincter proton treatment. so hope that is better than the mass old way of treating And how can one stop Xeloda if you want to kill the cancer cells Assume one has to bite the bullet and get through the treatments of the drugs so it can kill the cancer cells Are you free or just in remission

I was first programmed for 25 radiotherapy sessions with 3 pills of Xeloda on the days of the sessions. Then they added three more sessions. Actually, it was around session 23 and 24 that I felt the paresthesia. I called the oncologist and he's the one who told me to stop taking the Xeloda; he said it had been enough. RT ended mid March 2023.
All my MRI and CT Scans afterwards were clean.
At the end of November, a colonoscopy showed a pre-cancerous adenoma growing close to the radiated area.
I had a recto-vaginal fistula that had formed in the midst of the necrotized rectal tissue extremely close to the sphincter and I had the adenoma facing it. It was very complicated to fix the fistula and after much debate and consultations with a full team of experts, we decided on a TME (total resection of the rectum, mesorectum and sygmoid) in the form of a pullthrough to avoid a temporary ostomy. The biopsy of the resected tissues and organs was negative and the adenoma was downgraded to having low displasia.
So, I'm cancer free. There still will be check ups, but there will be time for that.

Is there any way to get communication from the medical staff about what is going to happen as far as treatment for anal cancer Am suppose to have a nurse navigator which I think all she does is collect a paycheck Call, leave message no return calls nothing from any body Appointments set up & have no idea why and keep telling them I do not do mornings as I am 5+ hours away and no way can I do a 8 a m appointments Folks think I can get up at midnight and drive across the state with jumping deer No problem Anybody got any ideas????