Port put in yesterday but still having bowel problems

Chris Ptown

I had the surgery almost 4 weeks ago to remove the two hemoroids that had the cancer in them. I had my port put in yesterday and start chemo/radiation in a week. My problem is I still have diarreah (spelling) and spots of blood on tissue when i wipe. The diarreah is yellow watery and flaky bowels. I tried to called the surgeon who did my surgery but he is not around until next Wed. The on call surgeon said i should drink more Metamusil and try eating toast, rice etc. She said if that doesn't work by tomorrow she can call in a prescription for something called quespran. Has anyone else had surgery before they started their treatment and had diarreah and specks of blood like I am having?

z

Chris
I had a biopsy, before treatment and I did have blood. Try to pat the area do not rub, because its already irritated. Like the dr said a brats diet is helpful with diarrhea, you could Google the brats diet to see what it has in it. From what I recall toast and banana are a couple of the foods in the brats diet, rice too, I think. I hope it will get better. Lori

mp327

BRAT diet
Chris, the BRAT diet can help with diarrhea and is Bananas, Rice, Applesauce and Toast (made from white bread). This can help curb diarrhea. Have you tried any Immodium? I would start with half a tablet to see if you get any results. The blood is probably still from the area of your surgery, as it's a hard area to heal. I hope this will ease quickly, but please keep us posted.

Dee2005

z said:

Chris
I had a biopsy, before treatment and I did have blood. Try to pat the area do not rub, because its already irritated. Like the dr said a brats diet is helpful with diarrhea, you could Google the brats diet to see what it has in it. From what I recall toast and banana are a couple of the foods in the brats diet, rice too, I think. I hope it will get better. Lori

Chris
I didn't have surgery prior to treatment, my tumor was to large. But I've had lots of experience with both the runs (can't spell it either lol) and constipation. I don't know if unstable bowel movements are common with our cancer or not, but have you had a colonoscopy and scans? Make sure you stay hydrated and follow the diet the doctor suggested. As far as the bleeding my best guess would be that you are still healing from surgery. This can take a little while because when tumors are gone there is an empty space left there that must heal. Whatever you do keep in touch with your doctors about this and tell them repeatedly if necessary! I'm not sure what meds you are on, but many medications have "the runs" as a side effect. Good luck and hang in there!

mxperry220

Normal
Chris,
The doctor removed 1/3 of my tumor. Due to the location near my spincter muscle he could not remove the entire tumor. The remainder was radiated. Unfortunately diaherrea seems to be a "norm" during this whole process. The yellow may be mucous which is a common symptom of anal cancer. I had mucous discharge for several months after my last treatments. Try taking several immodium. This has helped me. I am still using it three years after diagnosis in 11/2008. I take three each day. I do not have diaherrea but have frequent BMs. I started eating Activia Yogart 2 weeks ago and this has helped with my BMs. I was having 4-6 BMs daily. I now have 2-3 which is more like my norm prior to anal cancer. I had 1-2 BMs daily prior to analy cancer.

Hope this helps a little.
Mike

Chris Ptown

mxperry220 said:

Normal
Chris,
The doctor removed 1/3 of my tumor. Due to the location near my spincter muscle he could not remove the entire tumor. The remainder was radiated. Unfortunately diaherrea seems to be a "norm" during this whole process. The yellow may be mucous which is a common symptom of anal cancer. I had mucous discharge for several months after my last treatments. Try taking several immodium. This has helped me. I am still using it three years after diagnosis in 11/2008. I take three each day. I do not have diaherrea but have frequent BMs. I started eating Activia Yogart 2 weeks ago and this has helped with my BMs. I was having 4-6 BMs daily. I now have 2-3 which is more like my norm prior to anal cancer. I had 1-2 BMs daily prior to analy cancer.

Hope this helps a little.
Mike

Mike (mxperry220)
when you had your surgery did you have blood weeks after? i had my surgery to remove the two hemroids that had cancer almost four weeks ago and i still get blood when i wipe my bottom..sometimes just specks but sometimes a few good red blotches on tissue... i start my chemo and radiation a week from Monday and am just nervous about that all starting with me still having blood after i go to the bathroom

mxperry220

Chris Ptown said:

Mike (mxperry220)
when you had your surgery did you have blood weeks after? i had my surgery to remove the two hemroids that had cancer almost four weeks ago and i still get blood when i wipe my bottom..sometimes just specks but sometimes a few good red blotches on tissue... i start my chemo and radiation a week from Monday and am just nervous about that all starting with me still having blood after i go to the bathroom

No Blood
Chris,
I did not have any blood issues either before diagnosis, with surgery,during treatments, or post treatment. I just had to deal with the mucous discharge, which was irritating. I never felt clean. I used a thin liner women's sanitary pad in my briefs to help with the mucous discharge issue. From the blogs I have read on this site it is not uncommon to pass blood.

azgal

Chris Ptown said:

Mike (mxperry220)
when you had your surgery did you have blood weeks after? i had my surgery to remove the two hemroids that had cancer almost four weeks ago and i still get blood when i wipe my bottom..sometimes just specks but sometimes a few good red blotches on tissue... i start my chemo and radiation a week from Monday and am just nervous about that all starting with me still having blood after i go to the bathroom

Hi Chris, I had surgery
Hi Chris, I had surgery before starting treatment. The surgery I ended up having left a deep, quarter-ish size open wound at the anus and the wound was open and bleeding when I started treatment. Even when the surgery was only supposed to have been to simply shave off skin-tags/hemmi, the surgeon had told me it could take 12-16 weeks or more to heal and that there could be irritation/bleeding during that time.

Dabbing gently to cleanse, instead of wiping, and using water-dampened extra large cotton balls or water-damp toilet paper is much less irritating to the area. The water for dampening (and rinsing the area first) can be kept handy in a peri bottle...those also travel well and do not leak.

Chris Ptown

azgal said:

Hi Chris, I had surgery
Hi Chris, I had surgery before starting treatment. The surgery I ended up having left a deep, quarter-ish size open wound at the anus and the wound was open and bleeding when I started treatment. Even when the surgery was only supposed to have been to simply shave off skin-tags/hemmi, the surgeon had told me it could take 12-16 weeks or more to heal and that there could be irritation/bleeding during that time.

Dabbing gently to cleanse, instead of wiping, and using water-dampened extra large cotton balls or water-damp toilet paper is much less irritating to the area. The water for dampening (and rinsing the area first) can be kept handy in a peri bottle...those also travel well and do not leak.

azgal
thanks very much for the info

Chris Ptown

mxperry220 said:

Normal
Chris,
The doctor removed 1/3 of my tumor. Due to the location near my spincter muscle he could not remove the entire tumor. The remainder was radiated. Unfortunately diaherrea seems to be a "norm" during this whole process. The yellow may be mucous which is a common symptom of anal cancer. I had mucous discharge for several months after my last treatments. Try taking several immodium. This has helped me. I am still using it three years after diagnosis in 11/2008. I take three each day. I do not have diaherrea but have frequent BMs. I started eating Activia Yogart 2 weeks ago and this has helped with my BMs. I was having 4-6 BMs daily. I now have 2-3 which is more like my norm prior to anal cancer. I had 1-2 BMs daily prior to analy cancer.

Hope this helps a little.
Mike

Mike
Mike you didnt have chemo and radiation, just radiation? I am a week away from the start of my treatment and already nervous about these two chemos they are going to give me.

azgal

Chris Ptown said:

Mike
Mike you didnt have chemo and radiation, just radiation? I am a week away from the start of my treatment and already nervous about these two chemos they are going to give me.

Chris, after your diagnosis
Chris, after your diagnosis was a colonoscopy scheduled? It's fairly routine as a pre-treatment test.

Gold standard treatment is chemo/rad combined for your stage of cancer (mine was also stage 2, although there was some debate for reasons that do not apply to your situation). In a nutshell, chemo (typcially 5fu & mito) is what helps the radiation be more effective in killing cancer cells.

For lack of a better analogy at the moment, radiation is the true "star" of the show, with the chemo drip being the very needed supporting cast.

Please note, as I mentioned in another post to you, there is a chemo toxicity test (DPD enzyme test) that can, and I believe should, be done in this day and age prior to starting treatment that pinpoints those that will have a high toxicity reaction to 5FU. Some of us are just partially deficient in this enzyme and so will experience greater toxicity to the 5FU, while for 1% of others who are *completely* deficient in the enzyme, 5FU is absolutely contradicted for use because it can be fatal in just one dose (and 5FU is labeled accordingly and onc docs are fully aware of this). Of those that have severe toxiticy to 5FU, 43-59% as I've read were deficient in this enzyme and it can be predicted beforehand. Please see this link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2563423/

Please know that I have not discussed that to scare you or anybody, but rather, so that we can be informed of choices (more than most of us ever were) and exercise options if we choose to that are well within our control before starting treatment for our own peace of mind and long term well-being, especially given our concerns of the chemo that will be used (which are normal concerns probably typical to all of us). Doctors routinely do NOT do the enzyme test before starting treatment -- one must usually insist that it be done.

Though harsh, the chemo/rad is what cures cancer. I kept that in mind every single moment during treatment. It helps keep one positive and looking towards the future of a cancer free life.

mxperry220

Chris Ptown said:

Mike
Mike you didnt have chemo and radiation, just radiation? I am a week away from the start of my treatment and already nervous about these two chemos they are going to give me.

I Had Both Chemo and Radiation
I had 30 rounds of radiation and 2 weeks of Chemo Mytomycin and 5FU(Fanny Pack worn 24/7 for 4 days)You will do fine but your butt will probably be sore as well as your groin area.

Chris Ptown

azgal said:

Chris, after your diagnosis
Chris, after your diagnosis was a colonoscopy scheduled? It's fairly routine as a pre-treatment test.

Gold standard treatment is chemo/rad combined for your stage of cancer (mine was also stage 2, although there was some debate for reasons that do not apply to your situation). In a nutshell, chemo (typcially 5fu & mito) is what helps the radiation be more effective in killing cancer cells.

For lack of a better analogy at the moment, radiation is the true "star" of the show, with the chemo drip being the very needed supporting cast.

Please note, as I mentioned in another post to you, there is a chemo toxicity test (DPD enzyme test) that can, and I believe should, be done in this day and age prior to starting treatment that pinpoints those that will have a high toxicity reaction to 5FU. Some of us are just partially deficient in this enzyme and so will experience greater toxicity to the 5FU, while for 1% of others who are *completely* deficient in the enzyme, 5FU is absolutely contradicted for use because it can be fatal in just one dose (and 5FU is labeled accordingly and onc docs are fully aware of this). Of those that have severe toxiticy to 5FU, 43-59% as I've read were deficient in this enzyme and it can be predicted beforehand. Please see this link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2563423/

Please know that I have not discussed that to scare you or anybody, but rather, so that we can be informed of choices (more than most of us ever were) and exercise options if we choose to that are well within our control before starting treatment for our own peace of mind and long term well-being, especially given our concerns of the chemo that will be used (which are normal concerns probably typical to all of us). Doctors routinely do NOT do the enzyme test before starting treatment -- one must usually insist that it be done.

Though harsh, the chemo/rad is what cures cancer. I kept that in mind every single moment during treatment. It helps keep one positive and looking towards the future of a cancer free life.

azgal
azgal i start treatment a week from today and was never scheduled for a colonoscopy..now i am worried all over again...uggghhh...and the DPD test i mentioned to my oncologist a week ago and he said that most insurance companies dont pay for it... i guess i better call him today and talk about these two things

thanks

Chris Ptown

mxperry220 said:

I Had Both Chemo and Radiation
I had 30 rounds of radiation and 2 weeks of Chemo Mytomycin and 5FU(Fanny Pack worn 24/7 for 4 days)You will do fine but your butt will probably be sore as well as your groin area.

mxperry220
thank you for telling me ... i am getting so overwhelmed reading some of these posts talking about white bloood cells and being anemic and now the DPD enzyme test or colonoscopy that i was not scheduled for... next monday i start ....stressed again

Lorikat

Chris Ptown said:

mxperry220
thank you for telling me ... i am getting so overwhelmed reading some of these posts talking about white bloood cells and being anemic and now the DPD enzyme test or colonoscopy that i was not scheduled for... next monday i start ....stressed again

Chris.... I am guilty of
Chris.... I am guilty of posting about my anemia and low white blood count. I did not mean to add to your anxiety....right now, not even a full month post treatment, and with my difficulties I am doing well. My biggest problem is fatigue and a tender (not constantly hurting) behind. I suggest you stock up on kilts, LOL! You are younger than I am so may even heal faster. The treatment is not easy, and the three weeks after are really tough (this was my experience of course, not everyone's).

Keep looking for info so you will be prepared but when you get really nervous take an Ativan if that is what the doctor ordered. We will be here to listen and, answer what we can. Good luck, Lorie

Chris Ptown

Lorikat said:

Chris.... I am guilty of
Chris.... I am guilty of posting about my anemia and low white blood count. I did not mean to add to your anxiety....right now, not even a full month post treatment, and with my difficulties I am doing well. My biggest problem is fatigue and a tender (not constantly hurting) behind. I suggest you stock up on kilts, LOL! You are younger than I am so may even heal faster. The treatment is not easy, and the three weeks after are really tough (this was my experience of course, not everyone's).

Keep looking for info so you will be prepared but when you get really nervous take an Ativan if that is what the doctor ordered. We will be here to listen and, answer what we can. Good luck, Lorie

Lorikat
thanks Lori appreciate it

janke

Bowel Probs
Sorry Chris

Yes I can relate.
As prev. posted try the BRAT diet. If that does not work try some immodium (contact doctor first) But in my experience the doc will tell you to do what works for you. But make sure you discuss with to doc so he documents your symptoms.
Personally I controlled my bowel issues with my diet... trial and error. EVERYDAY was a new adventure. I don't mean to be a jerk but - Carry lots of fresh underware, baby wipes and stay close to the facilities.
It was uncomfortable, the extreme swing of BM's,===go to the funny post about never trust a fart. It will make you laugh. But you will get thru this.I wish I could make it go away for you. Blood in BM still have this to date.
As a matter of fact after being cured...I have more symptoms of anal cancer now than I did before treatment.
My best advice to you is be your own advocate. I have a whole TEAM of docs, but they all seem to be in awe of my symptoms. So document your progress / issues well and discuss with all of your doctors. And DO what works for YOU!!
Our doctors are just that doctors..they don't have all the answers. But they will Cure you and it is up to you to manage your symptoms from here on out.
I do bleed often from BM so I have my PCP docs check regularly for anemia. Find a great PCP and tell them about all of your concerns and issues, they will refer you to a specilaist if needed.
Hope it helps. Keep the faith - you will get thru this.