Don’t want to lose anus

Please do not let that %^&* even touch you. You are the patient and YOU make the decisions as to what you want to do with YOUR life. No body even doctors need to treat people that way Run from this jerky. I too am a anal cancer patient just starting chem & radiation with hopes to be done by Halloween. I started with a positive Cologuard to colonoscopy with an appointment with a rectal surgeon. But each test that they did they came back with the results a month later At the rectal surgeons appointment she asked if she could do a biopsy I said sure lets find out what this is Can back positive but then blamed me in her report that she went over her time allocation. But the cancer was contained at this point Surgery day set up get to the hospital & procedure was cancelled as time had been moved up. Never a call or nothing if such & such time would work. I left her hanging with this game of hers. And then they had the gall to call me & wanted to repeat all the tests I had just done. Hospital was just looking for money the heck with the patient After 5 months of being kept in the dark this poly now is cancer all because of the 1st hospital that kept dragging me along but never keep one informed
Then went to Milwaukee Wi oncologist & radiologist were great gave good % of beating this. Saw the surgeon there And she said go die or a bag. Tried to explain to her my life style would not work with a bag heavy equipment & large animals I work with Did talk to someone that had a bag & was just a piece of cake his life style was pretty quite to my work style And insisted once I had another MRI she could not tell me the results until 12 days later but her nurse could tell me the same results the next day. Boy that made sense
SO I said to heck with this group & went to Mayos What a difference in how a patient is treated. Their goal to help people to live not told to go die I know this is long but PLEASE get yourself to a real cancer center. Mayos in Minnesota ,Sloan Kettenring New York or MD Anderson in Houston
It's your life their can suggest but I made the decisions not some knife happy surgeon and you can do this too I was told I am cranky but I call it standing up for my rights. You are the patient you get to have the final say

Hi @blby1976, good to hear that reading the discussions here led to your asking the radiation oncologist questions.

How did the appointment with the oncologist go? When do you start chemoradiation?

I also have a new diagnosis of anal cancer; mine in greater than 2cm and in the sphincter muscle. I will have radiation and chemo for 6 weeks. This is one of the questions I asked my radiation oncologist because of comments I read on here. He told me that if my muscle is working now, it should continue to work after radiation is finished. I hope he is correct. I will see my other oncologist on Tuesday to get my plan of care for chemo. It will be concurrent with the radiation and my radiation oncologist said it is normally at first and last treatment of radiation. I was expecting weekly treatments so this make me feel better about what is coming. I try to remember that everyone has different experiences, but I still appreciate reading their comments. Even if I don't go through the same side effects, I feel that I can learn more from everyone. Ask lots of questions with your care providers and research as much as you can so that you are prepared and can make choices that are right for you. By the way, I am a critical care nurse whose brother died from colon cancer. He had a colostomy and dealt well with it. He was able to continue all activities until just before he died. Good luck and prayers for you.

There isn't much talk of the impact of our surgeries on our sexual life, is there? I've seen groups open to talk about sexuality for women with breast cancer, but I haven't seen it for people with colorectal cancer. Why?

Yes, I know we should talk about it more…even if someone doesn’t have a bag or have had resection (recovery) or just chemo med induced diarrhea/gas it definitely interrupts any sexual activity. Well, even constipation can and these are all things we will all experience. I did find a few articles on the ostamates support website and there is also a section in the NCCN patient guide.

I think I am in the same situation.

I have finished radiation (feb 7th) and had a sigmoid only 2 weeks later as I developed an anal fissure from constipation, point being, my tumor was gone visually only an ulcer left and biopsy came back clear.

I start CAPox regimen on Thursday, as I have lymph node involvement but I am very confident in beating this cancer and putting off the surgery. I have come to terms with a possible ostomy though but I sounded just like your post right after diagnosis. I was most concerned with my marriage and our sexual relationship.. but my husband said we can make it through anything and I have heard they have bags now that filter any unexpected gas etc.
and they have bag covers…..

After going through constipation with an anal fissure, I was honestly wondering if I could make it through all treatment! I was in the ER screaming in pain while trying to have a BM. It was the most painful moments of my entire life thus far so let me tell you that a bag sounded like heaven!

Good luck and I will pray that you are able to feel more comfortable IF and only IF that becomes your only treatment option but I bet it’s not after rad and chemo

I think I am in the same situation.

I have finished radiation (feb 7th) and had a sigmoid only 2 weeks later as I developed an anal fissure from constipation, point being, my tumor was gone visually only an ulcer left and biopsy came back clear.

I start CAPox regimen on Thursday, as I have lymph node involvement but I am very confident in beating this cancer and putting off the surgery. I have come to terms with a possible ostomy though but I sounded just like your post right after diagnosis. I was most concerned with my marriage and our sexual relationship.. but my husband said we can make it through anything and I have heard they have bags now that filter any unexpected gas etc.
and they have bag covers…..

After going through constipation with an anal fissure, I was honestly wondering if I could make it through all treatment! I was in the ER screaming in pain while trying to have a BM. It was the most painful moments of my entire life thus far so let me tell you that a bag sounded like heaven!

Good luck and I will pray that you are able to feel more comfortable IF and only IF that becomes your only treatment option but I bet it’s not after rad and chemo