My journey with rectal cancer: What's your experience?

My rectal cancer is 7 cm from the anus. With that being said surgeons did not want to do resection on me until the 2 inch tumor shrinks via chemo/radiation. Which I will be starting in next week or so. The surgeon wants to avoid colonoscopy bag if the resection Was done before chemo/radiation, shrinking of the tumor. Thru research the rectum is 12cm, my tumor starts at 7 cm in I believe mine would be considered low rectal. But your Dr should be able to tell you.

i have rectal c ---- i'm on my 5 chemo i hope it shrinks and i dont need bag - id like them do do exam and see if its shrunk and they can operate asap

My cancer is a 5cm SCC involving anal sphincter stage 3 diagnosed December 2022. I had an emergency loop colostomy end of January due to high risk of obstruction & commenced daily combined radiation & chemo. I completed my 28 treatments last week.
Firstly, I suffered more than most with the side effects of constant diarrhoea ( thank goodness for the Colostomy bag) leading to severe dehydration & electrolyte imbalance, loss of appetite & nausea leading to malnutrition, gross weight & muscle loss & nil energy . I had 2 breaks of 1 week each during treatment course & noticed improvement in appetite at end of each week . Interestingly, I began to pass bits of the dead tumour rectally in last week's of treatment. This was a putrid substance, but not unexpected according to Oncologist. Now I wait...chemo & radiation continues to work for about 1 month after treatment finishes...for my appetite to return, so I can begin my rebuild. Super important to keep fluids up & I have found cold drinks ( better if milk or high protein) with ice more successful with electrolyte replacement tablets once per day with diarrhoea. I have had 3 IV fluids replacements. I am still taking anti nausea medication so I can eat small amounts, but praying my appetite returns in next few days.

Was your treatment of chemo thru a port or intravenously? I will be taking 3 500mg pills twice a day. I’m wondering if I will have the same severe side affects! I was told to get high protein ensure which has all the vitamins! It looks as if I will also need to get Gatorade to replenish electrolytes

I lost 6 kilos in weight after my resection and during chemo and was advised by a dietician to pile on the calories, so full fat milk replaced semi skimmed, Greek yoghurt replaced natural and more bananas and eggs than usual. The result is stabilisation of weight but no significant gain yet. But having finished chemo and now building muscles again on a bike, and also currently skiing, I hope that this will result in weight gain.
Good luck with your diet!

My wife has a tumor at the same location (7 cm). She's just finished the chemo (FOLFOX infusions) and we're at the 'surgery or radio' phase. Would yo mind sharing how your treatment progressed?

I completed oral chemo and radiation after 6 weeks. My pet scan and biopsy after treatment, showed no more malignancy of cancer. Happy to say I am cancer free. I have follow ups with another pet scan to insure the cancer has not returned. Hope this helps!

Congrats! Sorry one more question. You avoided surgery?

I thought I’d check in. How are you doing, @martin77?

Hi Colleen. Good to hear from you. I'm doing fine thanks - fully recovered but having usual follow up scans / colonoscopy etc. So far so good and getting on with life. Lots of cycling, walking and skiing to come! All best. Martin