Stage 3 colon cancer: What's your experience?

I was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer in June 2022. My tumor was quite large, 12 cm, so the surgeon wanted me to do light chemo and radiation first. Radiation 5 days a week and chemo pill daily for five weeks. No bad side affects to speak of. I was exhausted the week following my last radiation. Waited a month, had surgery, loop ileostomy… and now I’m in round 7 of 12 of Folflox. I’m doing okay, the last round I started really feeling it. Super tired mostly. Overall, it’s not bad, I almost feel guilty that my body seems to handle it better than some. I will admit though, I feel it more each round, but still not what I thought it would be. I’ve not had nausea or hair loss, but others that I have in treatment with have occasional nausea and mild hair loss. The most significant side affect has been exhaustion. It’s manageable though.

I was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer in June 2022. My tumor was quite large, 12 cm, so the surgeon wanted me to do light chemo and radiation first. Radiation 5 days a week and chemo pill daily for five weeks. No bad side affects to speak of. I was exhausted the week following my last radiation. Waited a month, had surgery, loop ileostomy… and now I’m in round 7 of 12 of Folflox. I’m doing okay, the last round I started really feeling it. Super tired mostly. Overall, it’s not bad, I almost feel guilty that my body seems to handle it better than some. I will admit though, I feel it more each round, but still not what I thought it would be. I’ve not had nausea or hair loss, but others that I have in treatment with have occasional nausea and mild hair loss. The most significant side affect has been exhaustion. It’s manageable though. There is a guy that has my same treatment day and he originally had colorectal cancer, his treatment was different from mine, he had oral chemo and radiation, then surgery, but no chemo after. He was good for two years and on one of his 6-month checkups, they found a spot on his lung. That really scared me. I was trying to do 8 rounds, not 12, but hearing his story changed my mind. I’ll gladly take the 12 rounds the surgeon and oncologist recommended. I don’t want a reoccurrence. My surgeon was more adamant than the oncologist, he clearly sees a high reoccurrence rate, even though it usually appears in other organs. Either way, the guy in treatment was my reason for doing the 12 rounds.

I really appreciate hearing your journey and it helps me also feel a little better about the choice to do chemo. I know some of the comments on this thread sort of feel like chemo is not the way and it left me feeling more confused but at the end of the day each person is different and that’s what I felt too the rate or recurrence is so high that I didn’t want to risk not doing chemo and then having something else come up. I have a family to take care. Wife and kids. I knew I needed to do everything to beat it and chemo was what gave me the best shot. That being said I’m in round 2 of folfox as I type this. I’m like you. My body seems to be tolerating it well so far. The exhaustion on the day of Chemo is rough and I do get the neuropathy in my fingers but I’m still early in my journey. But so far I’m managing and I’m keeping myself as healthy and clean eating as possible to give my body a chance to really stay strong. Hang in there. You’re almost to the end of your treatments.

I know exactly how you feel having undergone 4 rounds of chemo post surgery. I became severely dehydrated right after the second round and ended up in the hospital for 21-days. I lost almost 40 lbs in the process. I made a decision then to stop the treatment.

However, after being released, I worked hard to rebuild my strength and put on some weight. I talked to my family and oncologist. They convinced me to give it another shot... at a reduced dosage. Although I did go through much the same problem at the end of round four, I think it was the right choice... the one giving me the best odds of beating cancer.

I knock on wood as I say this. It's been 2 years since my diagnosis and about 18 months since my surgery. So far, so good. I'm having the ileoscopy reconnected in two weeks and feel better each day. Looking forward to a golf and travelling again this summer.

Good luck with your journey. Stick with it and stay positive. You can do it!!!!

I am on a similar journey, with stage 3 anorectal cancer. I had an emergency loop colostomy 2 weeks before starting treatment of daily radiation & Capcetapine tabs X3 twice a day. I had initial IV Mitamycin with no side effects, but hand, face and mouth burning sensation after each tablet dose. Holding coconut oil in my mouth for a minute or 2 gave instant relief & natural moisturiser for hands & face . I also have burning sensation between buttocks, groin & Peri area from radiation & will try coconut oil with Manuka oil on my days off. This is my first week of 6 weeks of treatment with weekends off, so hope I get the skin issues under control. The fatigue is really knocking me & any hints will be appreciated. The Colostomy is ok I guess, but working hard with discomfort at night, so considering pain relief before bed. I have also had an outbreak of HSV2 with blisters along my lower back, but hesitant to take Famvir tabs with chemo tabs. My poor body...i have promised it I will find solutions. On a brighter note, after radiation treatment yesterday, they told me the treatment was working well...and this was week 1.…maybe i won't need the 6 weeks. No hair loss or nausea at this stage, but daily Ondansetron (ante nausea) pre radiation.

I was diagnosed with stage 3 anorectal cancer. I initially thought I had a gastro issue and saw a gastroenterologist. He suspected cancer and I had a colonoscopy done, where it was confirmed. They decided to treat me with chemotherapy followed by radiation. They inserted a port in my chest and I have had 8 chemo sessions now. I am not sure exactly what chemo they used except that it supposedly targets fast growing cells. I was on pain killers (ibuprofin) for a number of months, which I was not too happy about as it can attack the stomach lining. Just the same, it was the only thing that seemed to help, but after my 2nd chemo session I have not used pain killers.

I also could not sit due to pain so had to lie on a couch or stand to eat. I have not experienced a loss in appetite, although I did lose about 15 lb initially. I am now able to sit at a table so that makes it much easier to socialize which I think is important to keep a semblance of normality.

Chemo was not as bad as I expected, and I have managed my 8 sessions (every 2 weeks) plus 2 days with a chemo pump. You do feel absolutely wiped out after the sessions, but I have not experienced nausea or hair loss. Only real fatigue for a number of days afterwards. I now move on to radiation so we will see what that brings.

I have just completed my 8th chemo session. I had a port inserted in my chest and have about 4hrs on a drip on Wednesdays, then go home with a small chemo pump which gets removed on Friday. I can say you feel absolutely exhausted after chemo but after about 4 days start to get some energy back.

I have not had hair loss or nausea (they gave me nausea tablets during each 3 day session) and I have also kept a healthy appetite. I don't know exactly what chemo I was on but was told it targeted fast growing cells. You will experience a kind of metallic taste and slight stinging sensation in nostrils and mouth, but it is nothing you will not be able to cope with. I will say, I was expecting chemo to be much worse. Expect to feel really fatigued after each session but you start to get energy back as the days progress until your next session.

Hi all, I was diagnosed with rectal cancer, T3 tumor, stage IIa in mid-October. I finished 6 weeks of chemo and radiation at the end of January. It was rough at times, with spasms in my bowels being particularly painful early on, but that was treated with a medication and then got better as the treatment went on. The skin got really bad at the end, particularly the week after treatment ended, but that has healed really well now three weeks out. Daily moisturizing and then an ointment that was a mixture of Aquaphor and lidocaine really seemed to help. Fatigue and brain fog have been real, but ok.

I had an MRI at the beginning of last week, which I'm learning now was rather early compared to what's recommended as the radiation continues to work up to 8 weeks after treatment. But nonetheless, got really great news from the doctor on Wednesday that the tumor is gone. In the notes from the visit, the medical oncologist called my result "unbelievable" and "very surprising", especially only two and a half weeks out from treatment. This will need to be examined in an endoscopy on March 10, but may make me a candidate for "watch and wait" rather than lead directly to surgery, which is the protocol.

Anyway, it's really helpful to read the stories here (and hard to read them, I have to add), but am sharing mine in case it's helpful to anyone else. What a weird chapter of life we have all wandered into. Wishing peace and grace to all on this journey.

I was diagnosed with anal cancer in September of 2022. I thought it was my hemorrhoids acting up. I saw my gastroenterologist. I told them I felt like I was sitting on a golf ball. Even with a cushion, I couldn’t sit comfortably. After weeks of back and forth he finally did a sigmoidoscopy. When I woke up and saw his face, he looked like he saw a ghost. My tumor was that large. Almost the size of a tennis ball. I was referred to a radiologist and oncologist. I had one dose of Mytomicin and Xeloda for 5 days a week for 6 weeks. I had radiation at the same time. I think I did pretty well with the chemo. The hardest part of that was forcing myself to eat something before I took the 5 pills 2X a day. The burns from the radiation is what really affected me the most. The pain was excruciating. We bought a bidet that fit on our toilet and that really helped. My stomach was another story. I suffered from radiation enteritis from the second week of treatment until recently. Now I am left with little control over my sphincter muscle. In 2 weeks I will have a CAT scan to see if the treatment helped. It has been an extremely difficult time waiting for these results. I don’t know what’s ahead of me. I am doing my best to remain positive.

I am so happy that you got good news about your tumor! I hope I am as lucky. My first scan is March 6th and results on the 8th. I ended my treatments in December and have been anxiously waiting for the scan. My tumor was very large, but I felt relief after the first week of treatment. I could finally sit without pain. So I’m hopeful.