Thx for port info, we now have a plan for Chemo

Hi Molly. I was diagnosed with stage III rectal cancer several years ago. I went through the same tx that your husband will be: 5.5 weeks of chemoradiation (5FU), then 5-6 week break, then surgery -- with colostomy.

There is a lot of individual variation in terms of how people react, but I coped pretty well with the routine. I had a harder time with the radiation than with the chemo (altho it can be hard to separate the two!). The radiation made me a little tired. That didn't kick in until about 2-3 weeks after the radiation started, but then lasted several weeks after the radiation finished (and I understand this is quite typical). I have sensitive skin and ended up with some skin 'burn' from the radiation, which was painful. Also the radiation caused pretty bad diarrhea. In terms of the chemo, I had mild nausea (controlled fairly well with medication) and that was it. I encourage him (and you) to talk with the nurses/doctors about any symptoms he experiences, to ask them for suggestions. I got a lot of useful tips this way.

Best of luck to you both.
Tara

Hi Molly,

I almost want to just say "what Tara said" as it is very close to what happened wth me too.

Typically radiation isn't bad at the beginning, but sneaks up on you after a while, and exhaustion can be common, so don't let that cause surprises. Build in to life the chance to be "lazy" for a while, as that may be needed. Being rectal cancer, there's a good chance that, again, after weeks, it will cause radiation diarrhea. And yes, that skin will likely get a nasty "sunburn" over the entry point. Don't put your usual things on it, your radiation oncologist will have special cremes if needed, because the "normal" things often have metals in them that you may not know about and that just makes things worse while undergoing radiation.

That said, radiation diarhrea may be "late" in the game, but chemo diarrhea doesn't wait, it will likely be the cause of any "early" that comes. And yes, nausea and all the things you hear about too, but this is where it's important to talk to your medical oncology team about things. There are a number of good meds they can give to counter those, and if one doesn't work well, another should. The key is to communicate well.

All that being said, while certain side effects are common, no two people react identically to the same chemo. I didn't have some side effects that "everyone" gets, for example, and I had others that "no one" gets.

Don't hesitate to come back here all through treatment and beyond. I hope we can help as things come up.