hi all

Yes, I have had this done. The prep is similar to the colonoscopy prep. I had no aftereffects. One question (remember, I am NOT a doctor...), have you been told what kind of cancer it is? If it is squamous cell, my 2" tumor COMPLETELY resolved with just chemo/rads. (This is anal cancer treatment). I went ahead with the surgery, because it was so unknown to my treating doctors, but all tissue removed was cancer free. What kind of surgery is the doctor recommending? A resection can be a bit of time to recover from.

Hugs, Kathi

Denise1966 said:

Hi Kathi, well it is in the rectum/sigmoid area. He's thinking of shrinking the tumor because it is so low. he has not told me what kind it is and he says th EUS will tell him the extent and lymph node involvement. Did yours tell you about any lymph nodes? How was the chemo/rad treatment, that is really freaking me out now.

my colon cancer was in the colorectal area - as I said last night they did the colon resection and them chemo and radiation because I had 2 positive lymph nodes. I had very standard colon cancer. What else have they told you? When they do the endoscopy/ultrasound what are they looking for exactly. I am not a doctor, but if they find lymph nodes they will probably go the chemo rad route - I did it and the surgery. It's not fun, but could be worse. You need to see what they say befor you freak out totally.

Hi there. My mom's oncologist suggested that she have the endoscopic ultrasound so that he would be able to stage her cancer immediately instead of waiting until after surgery. My mom has rectal cancer, and the oncologist told her that if the cancer were fully contained in the rectal wall and no lymph nodes were involved that immediate surgery would be an option without having to go through chemo and radiation first. He told her that even if the cancer had gone through some layers of the rectum but had not perforated through the rectal wall, and no lymph nodes were involved, he would be happy with chemo and radiation and surgery without any follow up chemotherapy. If her cancer had spread to her lymph nodes, then he would want to continue with chemotherapy after surgery. He told her that without being able to stage the cancer before surgery she would have to undergo chemo, radiation, surgery, and follow-up chemotherapy because even if no lymph nodes showed up positive in the tissue sample following surgery, this could be a false negative given the prior chemo and radiation. During the edoscopic ultrasound, the doctor was able to biopsy several of Mom's lymph nodes (a painless procedure) and received pathology on them in a matter of minutes. Unfortunately, mom's lymph nodes were positive, and a small portion of the tumor had grown beyond the rectal wall. Even though the news was not great, at least Mom knows how important the treatments she is going through are, and that she is not going through them needlessly. The procedure itself was a bit like a colonoscopy with an easier prep (Magnesium citrate instead of colyte), and she was lightly sedated. She said that there was no pain involved.
My mom started with Xeloda (an oral form of the chemo drug 5-FU) and radiation for six weeks. She felt really good the first two weeks, the second two weeks felt a bit tired, and the last two weeks had many days where she was happy just to lay on the couch and rest. She did lose her appetite for a few days at the end, but she has only been done with chemo and radiation for a few days and her appetite has already returned.
Just know that this is an information gathering procedure that will tell the doctor what he needs to know about your tumor to most effectively treat it. My prayers are with you as you start this journey.

Hugs,
Ardlie