I too had a very low rectal tumor 5cm so staged at 3 due to the size. I did 6 months of chemo and 5 weeks of radiation. All the cancer was gone. first two scans were still gone. Had an MRI in June, some concerns for residual/recurrence disease. Just had biopsy at Brigham in Boston yesterday. Surgeon said it does not look like cancer, looks like scar tissue, but doing biopsy anyway. we are on the Watch and Wait. So far it has worked. Hope everything goes as we think this week. I have another friend doing the same treatment, she had a stage 2 rectal cancer. she is still clean after 6 months on the watch and wait. If it reoccurs we will need the surgery but I am okay with waiting and hopefully will never need it. I did go to a general surgeon when I was first diagnosed and they wanted to take everything out and put a bag on me. I got a second opinion at Dana Farber, they told me they were going to cure me and if I needed surgery, they would do it not a general surgeon…so much to think about with this disease.. hope this helps.