← Return to Living with long-term bowel side effects post anal cancer treatment

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So happy that so many of my “colleagues” are willing to share their experiences. I’m still in the “honeymoon phase” and hoped that bowel movements would return to normal after 6 month post transitional phase. All of your shared comments will help me to adjust my expectations without worrying that cancer must not be gone. I always wonder what has changed in my body that causes my fecal matter to continue to want to adjust its size and consistency so it can pass through my radiated anus. I forgot about the gas issues (all day) until someone else mentioned it. Thank you to everyone for sharing!

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You bring up something else that, thankfully, I worry less about now, though as you mentioned, it was a concern for me in the beginning too. I used to think that having no real change in bowel movements, or the frequent mucous soiling in my underwear, meant the cancer wasn’t fully gone. Learning that this isn’t the case has been such a relief. In a strange way, I’ve even found it fascinating how the body adapts and, as you said, how fecal matter keeps adjusting its size and consistency so it can pass through my radiated anus. I’m truly glad you didn’t wait as long as I did to seek out support, because in just a matter of days I already feel understood and like a huge weight has been lifted. Family can only understand so much, and my partner often phrases things in a way that makes it sound like I’m at fault—for not trying this or that, for eating this or that, or for not doing something differently. When he doesn’t understand that all of this is beyond my control, I end up speaking less about it, and that silence builds into frustration and resentment.