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Stage 3 colon cancer: What's your experience?
Colorectal Cancer | Last Active: Sep 5, 2023 | Replies (52)Comment receiving replies
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.
Replies to "I was diagnosed with stage 3 anorectal cancer. I initially thought I had a gastro issue..."
can you please share what are the symptoms that you felt. i also feel a soft mass inside my rectum and painful at sometimes when i poop and after it. Please share your symptoms....
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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.