question about rectal cancer

qwe

I have been hearing about all kinds of people getting there
cancer back and went through radiations and chemo and I did
that before surgery and now I have a colostomy and the Dr said
I was clean in all margins and 12 limp nodes so they said I did not
need the 2nd round of chemo so I did not take it.

Now my question is how many of you who have had rectal cancer did
the cancer come back?I do not have a rectum any more and my tumor
was at the end of the rectum soft tissues stage 2 had Rad & 5-FU
now I am scared that I did not do the 2nd round.I could not start
it right away any way cause MY wound opened up when the staples came out
and I only have to Dec 23 for being out of work for a year and if I do
the chemo I will not have a job.This is why I am asking you if your cancer
came back only if you had rectal cancer sorry this is long but I need to
know.

PGLGreg

Not back
After an LAR operation for stage 2 rectal cancer in December of 2005, I had 6 weeks of radiation and 2 weeks of chemo (just 5fu+leukovorin). My cancer has not come back. However, my oncologist didn't recommend any further chemo for me, so I don't know how similar our cases are.
--Greg

dasspears

Round and 1/2..
I had anal cancer - stage 1. I had 1 round of 5fu & cisplatin and 6 weeks of radiation. My onc told me I handled the first round of chemo so well he wanted to do one more round at the end of radiation just as insurance. It wasn't totally necessary - just a mop up, so to speak. So I think that may be the same situation with you since you were a stage 2. Stage 1 and 2 are more curable.

qwe

dasspears said:

Round and 1/2..
I had anal cancer - stage 1. I had 1 round of 5fu & cisplatin and 6 weeks of radiation. My onc told me I handled the first round of chemo so well he wanted to do one more round at the end of radiation just as insurance. It wasn't totally necessary - just a mop up, so to speak. So I think that may be the same situation with you since you were a stage 2. Stage 1 and 2 are more curable.

Thanks you for your
Thanks you for your support.I still hope I can hear from more people who had rectal
cancer that did not come back and do you have a colostomy?

Unknown

qwe said:

Thanks you for your
Thanks you for your support.I still hope I can hear from more people who had rectal
cancer that did not come back and do you have a colostomy?

This comment has been removed by the Moderator

PGLGreg

qwe said:

Thanks you for your
Thanks you for your support.I still hope I can hear from more people who had rectal
cancer that did not come back and do you have a colostomy?

No colostomy.
Uh, do you mean me? I did not get a colostomy.

(For your other respondents, anal cancer is not the same as rectal cancer, and neither is colon cancer in the sigmoid colon.)
--Greg

taraHK

I was diagnosed with rectal cancer. I had presurgical chemoradiation, surgery (colostomy), then more chemo.

I'm afraid I'm one of those where the cancer did come back (in my lung). However, I was Stage III when I was diagnosed (2 lymph nodes affected). That makes a difference.

I am glad you had clear margins and no lymph nodes affected.

Best wishes

Tara

dasspears

qwe said:

Thanks you for your
Thanks you for your support.I still hope I can hear from more people who had rectal
cancer that did not come back and do you have a colostomy?

No colostomy...
Did not need one - the tumor was under 2 cm and surgery was successful.

dasspears

PGLGreg said:

No colostomy.
Uh, do you mean me? I did not get a colostomy.

(For your other respondents, anal cancer is not the same as rectal cancer, and neither is colon cancer in the sigmoid colon.)
--Greg

However...
depending upon the location of the rectal cancer, I believe, it may be associated with anal cancer more than colon cancer.

karguy

colorectal cancer
I had colorectal cancer,stage 3,I did both chemo,and radiation for six weeks before surgery.It has been almost a year since the surgery.I have done both a catscan,and colonosocopy,and so far I'm clear.They took out 11 lymph nodes,and my appendix,with the tumor.I have a permanant colostomy,and I didn't have to do any more chemo after surgery.My wound opened up also,but It healed up [shut] after about 4 months,It was opened 1 1/2 inches.I hope that helps you,I go back and see the chemo DR. in august,but so far no additional chemo. I hope that helps

serrana

Hi Qwe
Seems like there is
Hi Qwe
Seems like there is no one answer to your question
I had rectal tumor ( thought to be stage II or "maybe III") in 2007, xeloda/radiation 6 weeks, resection,j-pouch reconstruction, no colostomy, no tumor cells found at surgery, whoopee, post surg chemo Folfox 4 months 8/07- 12/07. Later discovered that oxy is not the right chemo for my genetics. Then surprise surprise a met showed up in my lung which a year later was removed w/ clear margins and no nodes 8/08, followed by 6 months of Folfiri/Avastin finished 3/09. NED right now, next scan in July. Everyone's stories are so different. Please be sure they do all the genetic marker testing as that seems to be important in picking the treatment. I thought I was home free ( so did my surgeon) when they found no cells in 2007. Important to keep watching and have a really good onc.Right now I feel fabulous and expect to live until I die from something else in the far distant future
Serrana

qwe

serrana said:

Hi Qwe
Seems like there is
Hi Qwe
Seems like there is no one answer to your question
I had rectal tumor ( thought to be stage II or "maybe III") in 2007, xeloda/radiation 6 weeks, resection,j-pouch reconstruction, no colostomy, no tumor cells found at surgery, whoopee, post surg chemo Folfox 4 months 8/07- 12/07. Later discovered that oxy is not the right chemo for my genetics. Then surprise surprise a met showed up in my lung which a year later was removed w/ clear margins and no nodes 8/08, followed by 6 months of Folfiri/Avastin finished 3/09. NED right now, next scan in July. Everyone's stories are so different. Please be sure they do all the genetic marker testing as that seems to be important in picking the treatment. I thought I was home free ( so did my surgeon) when they found no cells in 2007. Important to keep watching and have a really good onc.Right now I feel fabulous and expect to live until I die from something else in the far distant future
Serrana

Thank all you were helpfull
Thank all you were helpfull to me it gives me hope.

paulette S

qwe said:

Thank all you were helpfull
Thank all you were helpfull to me it gives me hope.

for me
i had rectal cancer- i had 28 sessions of rad and 6 wks of chemo oxyplatin on mondys and chemo fannie mon- friedy. waited one month and had surgery o may 26th. fr told me to prepare for a temp ilistomy just in case. woke up with no bag just a 5 inch scar. i was in hospital tues- sat. margins and lymph nodes came back clean thank god- now i need 4-5 months chemo every other wk as a post thing to be sure. we are all so pleased. i havent felt this good in so long, wishing you all the best

KathiM

NO reoccurance!!!!!

First rectal fold. Rectum and sig colon removed, J-pouch procedure. Pre-surgical chemo/rads to reduce the tumor size eliminated it. No post-surgical treatment...all tissue remove showed no evidence of cancer...

Breast cancer...stage II....almost 4 years since dx...NO reoccurance!!!!

Hugs, Kathi

Annabelle41415

paulette S said:

for me
i had rectal cancer- i had 28 sessions of rad and 6 wks of chemo oxyplatin on mondys and chemo fannie mon- friedy. waited one month and had surgery o may 26th. fr told me to prepare for a temp ilistomy just in case. woke up with no bag just a 5 inch scar. i was in hospital tues- sat. margins and lymph nodes came back clean thank god- now i need 4-5 months chemo every other wk as a post thing to be sure. we are all so pleased. i havent felt this good in so long, wishing you all the best

Mop Up Chemo
Yes Paulette, all my margins came back normal along with lymph nodes and I am also doing the "mop up chemo" every other week. Sounds like you are going through the same procedure as me. My doctors also were very pleased with my pathology report. Some doctors don't require the extra chemo after surgery. I did end up with ileostomy (temporary) and about 8 inch scar.

QWE thinking about you and hoping all is going well.

We just want the best for ourselves and to trust in our doctors but sometimes we need to go with our instinct. Hard to do always.

Kim

paulette S

Annabelle41415 said:

Mop Up Chemo
Yes Paulette, all my margins came back normal along with lymph nodes and I am also doing the "mop up chemo" every other week. Sounds like you are going through the same procedure as me. My doctors also were very pleased with my pathology report. Some doctors don't require the extra chemo after surgery. I did end up with ileostomy (temporary) and about 8 inch scar.

QWE thinking about you and hoping all is going well.

We just want the best for ourselves and to trust in our doctors but sometimes we need to go with our instinct. Hard to do always.

Kim

Annabelle
so how are you feeling? well i do go to the surgeon today. im curious what caused me not to get a temp bag- im not complaining though. hope u continue to do well

Annabelle41415

paulette S said:

Annabelle
so how are you feeling? well i do go to the surgeon today. im curious what caused me not to get a temp bag- im not complaining though. hope u continue to do well

Paulette
I was originally scheduled at first diagnosis to have a permanent colostomy because my tumor was very low in the rectum and they thought they would have to take all the sphinkter (sp? never could spell that LOL) muscle so therefore I would have no control of bowels, but the radiation/chemo worked so well in shrinking the tumor they were actually able to save the muscle, make a rectum out of the colon (they gave me a j-pouch) and I will have a reversal after chemo is finished. Hope you are doing well too. Kim