Thoughts on radiation

joy44
joy44 Member Posts: 50
in Colorectal Cancer #1
My husband is stage 4 colon, he has started his first chemo this week and got along fine. We went for a check up with his surgeon and he suggested radiation, the tumors were removed but still suggesting radiation. He had spoke to three oncologists they said just chemo would be enough but he didn't seem to like that anwser so he tried a fourth, we have an appointment on the 16th just to talk. I would like some feed back about radiation from the veterans what do you think.

Thank you

Comments

  • Lifeisajourney
    Lifeisajourney Member Posts: 216
    #2
    radiation
    my understaning about radiation is that it depends on type of cancer/location. I had stage 3 with 3 positive nodes in the right ascending colon which was removed. Only took chemo, no radiation due to type colon/location. Interested to see if that is the consesus. Pat
  • joy44
    joy44 Member Posts: 50
    #3
    Lifeisajourney said:

    radiation
    my understaning about radiation is that it depends on type of cancer/location. I had stage 3 with 3 positive nodes in the right ascending colon which was removed. Only took chemo, no radiation due to type colon/location. Interested to see if that is the consesus. Pat

    My husband is the same but
    My husband is the same but stage 4, the whole gallbladder was a tumor and a baseball size tumor in the right ascending colon then they were fused along with a small part of his intestines(spelling) and pancreis(again spelling) and everything that needed to be removed was. the surgeon just thought it would be good one because my husband is only 45, plus the size of the tumors. I know its a good idea but i was just wondering about radiation.
  • AnneCan
    AnneCan Member Posts: 3,673 Member
    #4
    Joy
    Has a radiation oncologist been consulted? I think that is who can determine if your husband should have readiation or not.
  • joy44
    joy44 Member Posts: 50
    #5
    AnneCan said:

    Joy
    Has a radiation oncologist been consulted? I think that is who can determine if your husband should have readiation or not.

    Yes we meet with one next
    Yes we meet with one next week is there a difference in a radiation oncologist and a chemo oncologist? Do you know the side effects?
  • PGLGreg
    PGLGreg Member Posts: 731
    #6
    joy44 said:

    Yes we meet with one next
    Yes we meet with one next week is there a difference in a radiation oncologist and a chemo oncologist? Do you know the side effects?

    Yes, radiation oncology and
    Yes, radiation oncology and medical oncology are different specialties. I currently see both a radiation oncologist (I have an appointment next week) and a medical oncologist (I have an appointment in a month). Radiation treatments are usual for those of us with rectal cancer (me, for instance), but I don't know what other circumstances call for radiation. I had 6 weeks of radiation treatments in 2006, with minimal side effects, but I've read here of others with more severe effects.

    --Greg
  • AnneCan
    AnneCan Member Posts: 3,673 Member
    #7
    joy44 said:

    Yes we meet with one next
    Yes we meet with one next week is there a difference in a radiation oncologist and a chemo oncologist? Do you know the side effects?

    Joy
    There is a big difference between a radiation oncologist + a chemo oncologist - the radiation oncologist specializes in how radiation can treat cancer, + the chemo oncologist specializes in how chemo can treat cancer. At the cancer centre that I go to, I was assigned to a colorectal surgeon, radiation oncologist + chemo oncologist. They worked together to develop + keep evaluating a plan for me. There is also a "tumour board", made up of ~ 50 professionals who helped develop the plan for my treatment. I had 5 weeks of chemo + radiation in June/July 2009; + was supposed to have surgery after that. Unfortunately at that point, it was confirmed that I had several liver mets + was not a candidate for surgery. I have been on chemo since Sept/09. As far as side effects from radiation, it would partly depend on what is being radiated. My pelvic area was radiated, + my side effects were fatigue, sore bottom and diarrhea.
  • Lilmiss82
    Lilmiss82 Member Posts: 257 Member
    #8
    AnneCan said:

    Joy
    There is a big difference between a radiation oncologist + a chemo oncologist - the radiation oncologist specializes in how radiation can treat cancer, + the chemo oncologist specializes in how chemo can treat cancer. At the cancer centre that I go to, I was assigned to a colorectal surgeon, radiation oncologist + chemo oncologist. They worked together to develop + keep evaluating a plan for me. There is also a "tumour board", made up of ~ 50 professionals who helped develop the plan for my treatment. I had 5 weeks of chemo + radiation in June/July 2009; + was supposed to have surgery after that. Unfortunately at that point, it was confirmed that I had several liver mets + was not a candidate for surgery. I have been on chemo since Sept/09. As far as side effects from radiation, it would partly depend on what is being radiated. My pelvic area was radiated, + my side effects were fatigue, sore bottom and diarrhea.

    Hi Joy
    I had rectal cancer and recieved 6 weeks of pelvic radiation. With my experience it was s a lot harder than Folfox, but I was also recieving 5-FU 24 hours a day with radiation 5 days a week. I had severe side effects but it killed the crap out of the tumor:) I had severe diarrhea, bad burns on my bottom, painful urination from lacerations, fatigue, mouth sores, nausea BUT this is not true for everyone, and I could have had more severe side effects because I was on the 5-Fu too. Plus I'm a woman and I do not know if men have a different experience since their arrangement is a little different:) I am grateful that the radiation did a great job of shrinking my tumor so much that my doctors were barely able to find it, but it was a hard six weeks and to this day I suffer from radiation damage/ scarring that my doctors are trying to fix or let me live with it and see if it will improve on its own. Hopes this helps and I didn't scare you. Yes, it was horrid (for me) but it saved my life -Melissa
  • joy44
    joy44 Member Posts: 50
    #9
    Lilmiss82 said:

    Hi Joy
    I had rectal cancer and recieved 6 weeks of pelvic radiation. With my experience it was s a lot harder than Folfox, but I was also recieving 5-FU 24 hours a day with radiation 5 days a week. I had severe side effects but it killed the crap out of the tumor:) I had severe diarrhea, bad burns on my bottom, painful urination from lacerations, fatigue, mouth sores, nausea BUT this is not true for everyone, and I could have had more severe side effects because I was on the 5-Fu too. Plus I'm a woman and I do not know if men have a different experience since their arrangement is a little different:) I am grateful that the radiation did a great job of shrinking my tumor so much that my doctors were barely able to find it, but it was a hard six weeks and to this day I suffer from radiation damage/ scarring that my doctors are trying to fix or let me live with it and see if it will improve on its own. Hopes this helps and I didn't scare you. Yes, it was horrid (for me) but it saved my life -Melissa

    I am so glad you feel
    I am so glad you feel postive about it even with the bad side effects. The tumors that my husband had are gone our surgeon wants to see this dr because they were so big do you think it will stll help even though there are no tumors?
  • pepebcn
    pepebcn Member Posts: 6,331 Member
    #10
    joy44 said:

    I am so glad you feel
    I am so glad you feel postive about it even with the bad side effects. The tumors that my husband had are gone our surgeon wants to see this dr because they were so big do you think it will stll help even though there are no tumors?

    Joy , I had radiation recently easy in my case ant hope,
    successful , but what do they suggest irradiate?liver? lungs? where was the met or mets?
    Hugs!

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