anal cancer newbie

caholz33

Clarification

I am extremely grateful that I did not have to work and certainly don't want to imply that it would not be EXTREMELY difficult to have to work.  I remember somebody on this site said they had gone to work throughout and that sounded impossible to me (as opposed to work from home, which I can at least wrap my head around).  MOST important is being off during treament to avoid germs, to avoid sickness, to avoid ANY disruption to treament regime.  My doctors all stressed that survival depends on completing the treatement protocol, and getting sick can interrupt that.  I did not have many visitors and did not hug/kiss/touch anyone.  As far as post treatment, consider the first week essential to take off work (it is actually worse than the treatment weeks, ugh).  Taking 4 weeks off is good and 6 weeks ideal.

maggiesco

caholz33 said:

maggiesco

Hi Maggiesco - I had Stage II in 2013, got through the 6 week treatment pretty well.  I had been put in touch with 2 survivor buddies to help me through my treatment, wow, it helps SO much to hear from others who have been through it.  It is almost unbelievable how many things doctors will never mention.  And, to be fair, there were some big differences in our experiences (one buddy had terrible nausea, the other and I did not have any).  Thankfully I was not working at the time which made it a lot easier.   My opinion is that I could have probably managed to work through the treatment BUT ONLY a flexible WORK FROM HOME situation. That is key.  Because you will want to be able to organize your day around your radiation and your body's bowel movements.  Get a bunch of comfortable cotton knit dresses (I got a bunch of cheap ones from Target).  Pooping, cleaning, drying the butt becomes a second job, lol, which is why it would have been impossible to go into a structured work environment. Plus, you don't want to expose yourself to germs.   I had a PICC line instead of a port - it was wonderful on my last chemo day to have the PICC removed!  Weirdest thing was "phantom poop pressure," I think caused by swelling.  After pooping I was overwhelmed with sensation of having to move bowels, but nothing there.  SO uncomfortable but it helped to understand that nothing was there and it went away in 10 min.  Try to get a dental cleaning before you start treatment to maximize cleanliness and let your mouth heal before you need another cleaning.  Get sensitive skin baby wipes and as your skin get irritated you need to learn to pat, never wipe.  Understand that painkillers like oxy are great but constipating.  I took ducolax tablets very carefully throughout treatment to keep bowel movements loose and easy to pass.  But to avoid acid burn on skin, I would put on Desitan cream first.  So yeah, cleaning up after that is no joke.  Keep a pitcher in the bathroom for an improvised bidet.  Again - pat do not wipe your skin!  Don't eat raw fruits or veggies.  Don't eat high fiber foods.   I had to pay for magic mouthwash ($80!) and I would say it was worth it to help with the mouth tenderness.  I remember the first week on chemo I did not experience ANY side effects and started to worry that somehow the product they gave me wasn't even real chemo (some kind of black market counterfeit drugs).  What I didn't know was that the side effects don't kick in until the following week.  Sorry for rambling I am just throwing out whatever I can think of.  You can get through this and the success rate is very good!!  Don't be embarrassed to ask ANYTHING on this site, there is no modesty in this journey, lol!

caholtz33

thanks so much! any favorite foods? also, how was sitting and sleeping (probably not on your back)? hugs, maggie

maggiesco

caholz33 said:

Clarification

I am extremely grateful that I did not have to work and certainly don't want to imply that it would not be EXTREMELY difficult to have to work.  I remember somebody on this site said they had gone to work throughout and that sounded impossible to me (as opposed to work from home, which I can at least wrap my head around).  MOST important is being off during treament to avoid germs, to avoid sickness, to avoid ANY disruption to treament regime.  My doctors all stressed that survival depends on completing the treatement protocol, and getting sick can interrupt that.  I did not have many visitors and did not hug/kiss/touch anyone.  As far as post treatment, consider the first week essential to take off work (it is actually worse than the treatment weeks, ugh).  Taking 4 weeks off is good and 6 weeks ideal.

caholtz33

my treatment is 6 weeks (and my doctors said to take another 4 for recovery), i'll probably be taking a total of 12 weeks off. i know i have a rough road ahead, and thank goodness for this support system! hugs, maggie

maggiesco

tanda said:

maggiesco

I'm not a scientist or an oncologist, but I suspect a few weeks between diagnosis and treatment will not make a difference.  Most cancers have been growing for years before they make themselves known;an emergency might be something like spinal cord compressin, high fevers etc, inflammatory breast cancer, some leukemias,etc

I had what I considered to be an unconscionable delay between  a positive biopsy (December) and the beginning of  treatment(mid February) The cause of this delay was due to the difficulty of getting appropriate appointmnts with a treatment team(overbooked, out of the country temporarily,etc) treatment planing for proton radiation was very complex and a delay for that was ok

I was very upset about the delay, but was assured that this delay would not compromise treatment efficacy.

 

tanda

thanks tanda. of course, any waiting time can be stressful. because, of course, we want to take of this cancer as soon as possible! hope you had a happy christmas/holidays. hugs, maggie

maggiesco

Pat42 said:

My wife Melissa was diagnosed

My wife Melissa was diagnosed with 4.5 cm tumor on December 7, 2016. Didn't start treatment till 27 January 2017. It was definitely very hard waiting for the start of treatment, you want it gone NOW! But from everything we read and we were told, 1-2 months won't make much of a difference. Treatment was not fun, especially after week 3. But she is NED after about a year from diagnosis, eating like she used too. She also had the oral form of 5FU, called Xeloda.

Stay positive, and ask your nurses about any questions you have. They seemed to be very responsive, and more available than the doctors on short notice. This forum helped us a LOT, with knowledge of what was coming, tips for coping, etc.Melissa didn't want to read the forum, she was afraid there would be too much that would make her more worried. But it was wonderful for me to be able to understand things that could help her through, and things to watch for that might be worth following up with the medical team.

There are so many great folks here that have been through this. Don't hesitate to ask if you have a question, there is someone that has been on the same road, and will let you know how they handled just about any situation. As a resource, this forum was very inspiring to me.

Pat42

Congrats for you and your wife for NED! My treatment is the oral form of 5FU plus radiation (treatment is 6 weeks total). Yes, this forum has been a godsend for me. There is so much combined experience and knowledge. Hugs, Maggie

maggiesco

Mollymaude said:

Tanda and Pat are right

It does seem like forever between diagnosis and treatment but it is unlikely to spread during that time. Maybe try to think of this as a time of preparation. Spend time with friends and family. I used my worry energy to host a big Thanksgiving meal for friends (2 turkeys!). I "pulled the cancer card" as my daughter put it and took the kids out of school for the day and took them early Christmas shopping and bought them everything on their list- when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping, right? Cancer does put things into perspective about what does and doesn't matter. 

mollymaude

Very true, I already seem to have a different perspective than I did  pre-dianosis two weeks ago. Thank you. Hugs, Maggie

Ohmy

Welcome Maggiesco!   I was

Welcome Maggiesco!   I was diagnosed with Stage 3 anal cancer January 6, 2017.  My tumor was 3 cm with a couple of positive lymph nodes near it.  I thought I was going to die but my wonderful oncologists assured me it was curable.  I started reading the blogs before and during treatment.  I learned about dialators.  I used a dialator through treatment and I still use it a few times a week.  The treatment is brutal but doable.  Take the pain medication and sleep through the bad days.  I stayed home from work through treatment and two months post treatment.  I was taking a nap every day until I went back to work in May.  The good news is my PET scan in June was NED.  I cried.  Another PET scan in December was NED.  I pretty much can eat anything but I try to stay healthy.  I still wear boxer shorts just because I like them.  I can do this and so will you.  My doctor told me positive people respond better to treatment so let's be positive and look forward to the new year.

maggiesco

Ohmy

Thanks so much Ohmy! I really try to be positive. Sounds like you have a great oncologist. I like mine, I only met him once and he was very informative and knowledgable, and kind. He went over the scans with me and my husband, and he said anal cancer would be at the top of his list list if he had to choose a cancer. (I guess that made me feel a bit better?) My husband and I walked away feeling a little more relieved because he gave us a boost of confidence that anal cancer is treatable and curable. I know I have a rough road ahead and need to get through treatment and recovery. I'm so happy about your NED in June and December! I bet the anticipation of the follow-up can be difficult too, but positivity does help. Hugs, Maggie

caholz33

Other Random Tips

Foods:  I ate a lot of chicken, white rice, boiled carrots and sauteed spinach.  My go-to breakfast was a fried egg sandwish on white toast with spinach.  Lots of yogurt but on tough days I treated myself with ice cream.  occasionally ate a banana but mostly avoided raw fruits/veggies.  Keep in mind that roughage/fiber is good for healthy systems but too hard on your tender radiated bowels.  So skip the brown rice and whole grain bread ... substitute gentle bland white rice and soft wonder bread.  Mashed potatoes are excellent.  Don't put anything into your mouth without consideration for how gentle and easy it will be going through (no spices, nothing greasy fried, no tomatoes, no seeds or nuts).  Chew food well.  Get a super soft toothbrush and be very gentle on your mouth chemo weeks and week after chemo.  Stay positive and be proud of everything you are doing to take care of yourself.  Do not overdo anything.  Walking and gentle activity are good but no exercise.  I agree that if I had to choose a type of cancer this would not be a bad choice, lol!  One doctor told me (maybe to scare me?) that for the most part the people who didn't survive had their treatment protocol interrupted.  Maybe they were just instilling in me the goal to get through the treatment no matter how uncomfortable it got.  I remember my radiation oncologist saying that for people only getting palliative care, she would "give them a day off" if radiation got too hard on their skin.  She made a point of telling me that "days off" would not apply to cases where survival was the goal.  I'm not trying to scare you ... I actually never got to the point where it was unbearable.  The worst days were the 4-5 days after my last treatment - but I was happy at that point that I didn't have to get up and get to treatment.   Just be prepared for your body to be weird.  I remember having to blot between butt cheeks because of wetness (sweat?  idk).  I felt cold all the time.  Maybe from the oxy, I would sleep on and off throughout day and night, no normal schedule.  It's a balancing act between accepting strange side effects but trying to monitor for anything important (like fever).  Use this site to ask questions.  Stay positive!!

Pat42

Nutrition

Maggie, you sound like you've already locked in a great attitude to get through the treatment. Our doctors also emphasized the importance of completing the treatment with as few breaks as possible.  "This disease is probably not going to kill you," is what both oncologists said. You can't totally control how your body responds to treatment (although the creams, baby wipes,etc can help a lot). But making sure you get enough calories can help keep your strength up. Melissa was on Xeloda, and she said it made almost all foods taste bad, kind of a metallic after taste. As others have said, there are good foods and not so good ones, but people are different in how they respond. With .Melissa, she started to eat a lot less because nothing tasted good. Docs said if she started losing weight too fast, he'd put her in the hospital, and emphasized again to avoid breaks due to that or dehydration. He said if you could eat it, don't worry if it wasn't on the "good" list.just get the calories in. There are several varieties of boost or ensure, Melissa got a lot of her cals from the 350 cal per bottle version of ensure. Two of those a day, and she only needed another 800 to break even for the day. That was filled by some of the most unhealthy stuff. Her favorites included Arby's mozzarella sticks, cherry turnovers, and Wendy's frosties. Afraid I'm not the cook in the family, that might have limited her options, although my daughter also cooked quite a bit. Probably her favorite food was red grapes during the last two weeks.she didn't have mouth sores but had extreme dry mouth, and I the grapes helped more than anything to keep it moist.

Since you only take Xeloda mon-fri, food might start tasting better on the weekends, so take advantage of that time to "load up" if you need to.

If you feel like you're developing one of the other symptoms, get the nurses treating you quickly before it can become a big enough problem to delay your treatments.

If there is a possibility of your husband or relative taking the last week off of work to help, that might be beneficial. It will be hard on them seeing you in discomfort, but being able to help you with simple stuff will help them cope too.

maggiesco

Pat42

This is great nutritional advice. Thank you. My husband will be with me the entire time of the treatment and for that I'm so lucky and thankful.

 

Since I've been diagnosed (and waiting for treatment to start), it seems that I'm super aware of my symptoms. Was Melissa like that too?

 

caholz33

Pat42 said:

Nutrition

Maggie, you sound like you've already locked in a great attitude to get through the treatment. Our doctors also emphasized the importance of completing the treatment with as few breaks as possible.  "This disease is probably not going to kill you," is what both oncologists said. You can't totally control how your body responds to treatment (although the creams, baby wipes,etc can help a lot). But making sure you get enough calories can help keep your strength up. Melissa was on Xeloda, and she said it made almost all foods taste bad, kind of a metallic after taste. As others have said, there are good foods and not so good ones, but people are different in how they respond. With .Melissa, she started to eat a lot less because nothing tasted good. Docs said if she started losing weight too fast, he'd put her in the hospital, and emphasized again to avoid breaks due to that or dehydration. He said if you could eat it, don't worry if it wasn't on the "good" list.just get the calories in. There are several varieties of boost or ensure, Melissa got a lot of her cals from the 350 cal per bottle version of ensure. Two of those a day, and she only needed another 800 to break even for the day. That was filled by some of the most unhealthy stuff. Her favorites included Arby's mozzarella sticks, cherry turnovers, and Wendy's frosties. Afraid I'm not the cook in the family, that might have limited her options, although my daughter also cooked quite a bit. Probably her favorite food was red grapes during the last two weeks.she didn't have mouth sores but had extreme dry mouth, and I the grapes helped more than anything to keep it moist.

Since you only take Xeloda mon-fri, food might start tasting better on the weekends, so take advantage of that time to "load up" if you need to.

If you feel like you're developing one of the other symptoms, get the nurses treating you quickly before it can become a big enough problem to delay your treatments.

If there is a possibility of your husband or relative taking the last week off of work to help, that might be beneficial. It will be hard on them seeing you in discomfort, but being able to help you with simple stuff will help them cope too.

Food taste

I was so fortunate to never develop any big problem with food taste, but Pat is absolutely right about the importance of calories regardless of how it tastes.  Unless nausea is a factor, just find something you can swallow and get it down into your belly.  The doctors and nurses have their jobs, and YOUR biggest job during your treatment is to protect your body as much as possible from disruptions to treatment.  To stay in good "fighting" condition you must eat, rest, and avoid germs and bacteria.  Give your home a big cleaning in advance.  No raw foods. Don't go out except to treatments and doctors, and when you are out don't touch anything or anyone you don't have to.  Don't let friends hug you.  Keep antibacterial lotion and wipes to hold if you have to touch anything (doors, the little styus on the credit card machine, or touchscreen anything ... seriously get in touch with your inner Howard Hughes germaphobic side, it is appropriate in this situation!)  One of my cancer mentors had been vegetarian, but when her blood counts went down to a level that threatened her treatment, she made herself eat a big fat hamburger.  You can indulge yourself in a lot of ways but refusing to eat is not one of them!  If your husband is supportive like Pat, and like mine was, that is a huge blessing and also a big advantage!!  

Ohmy

Along with calories, my

Along with calories, my nutritionist stressed getting enough protein.  There were a couple of weeks during and after chemo when I could barely drink water.  I had mouth sores the first round and nausea the second round of chemo.  I drank Ensure and Carnation Instant Breakfast for the protein.  I received IV fluids to prevent dehydration.  My husband said I ate ground  beef and rice every day for a couple of weeks.  My oncologist said I could eat ice cream every day so I did!  Take the anti nausea medication!  Funny to see someone mentioned Arby's.   I ate quite a few Arby's Jr. Roast Beef sandwiches during treatment.

Pat42

maggiesco said:

Pat42

This is great nutritional advice. Thank you. My husband will be with me the entire time of the treatment and for that I'm so lucky and thankful.

 

Since I've been diagnosed (and waiting for treatment to start), it seems that I'm super aware of my symptoms. Was Melissa like that too?

 

Maggie

She didn't have any symptoms other than very occasional, very small amounts of bleeding.  She was only diagnosed because she finally went in for her first routine colonscopy at 54 (that was not a fun day!).  So while she was waiting for the treatment plan to get set up and treatments to start, they told her to just keep an eye on that one symptom, and call them if it got worse, which it didn't.  They emphasized it was unlikely that there would be much change to her symptoms in that time interval.   As in many marriages I think, we are different in different ways.  I read everything I could get my hands on about anal cancer, but she felt that if she knew about all the worst case scenarios, she would focus on those, so she listened to the doctors, who in general focused on very positive viewpoints (with good reason, this cancer is very treatable).  You seem to be more like me, in that sense.  I think it's better to know as much as possible to be able to make any decisions that come along.  But what's hard to keep in mind is that when you read a lot of this information, many of these awful side effects are outliers, that occur with a small percentage of people.  If you know about them it's good, because you can be alert for early signs of symptoms, so they can treat anything that does occur early.  Since she didn't do the reading, I'd ask her (too frequently) whether she had specific symptoms, mostly all associated with the treatment, not the disease.  But one of the nurses told me that although some of the symptoms CAN be serious for some people if they get out of control, it was kind of like watching the drug commercials on tv.  You're not sure exactly what the benefit of the drug is, since they spend 95% of the commercial talking about the hundreds of ways the drug is going to kill you.  The capecitabine/xeloda pamphlets actually had a list of side effects that quantified what percentage of patients saw those side effects, so I tended to focus on making sure the more common ones were under control/not occurring.

Melissa didn't really have strong noticeable effects of treatment till week 4.  Until then she had the bad taste and dry mouth from Xeloda, a general fatigue, and then in week 4 started to have "stinging" in the "nether regions" where the radiation was hitting the skin.  From week 4 onwards, she had the local discomfort from radiation that kept getting more painful, more fatigue, and this is when her appetite went to where we had to get the Ensures down her every day.  She had tingling in her hands and feet, but it didn't progress any further to what is called hand and foot syndrome.  She had low blood counts, which is a normal effect of the treatment, but they stayed high enough that she never needed transfusions or neupogen. She didn't loose a hair on her head that I could tell, but she says she did actually some thinning (she has a lot of hair).  She was prescribed percocet for pain control, but found after a couple days that ibuprofen (ask the doctor first) worked better for her.  Neither killed the pain during bathroom trips completely, but the percocet caused constipation for her that she thought actually made it worse.  Others have had better luck by using stool softeners in combination with the stronger pain reliever.  Her brother-in-law was struggling with opioid addiction as a result of his cancer treatment at the same time, so she was very reluctanct to go to the full dosage they allocated her - that may have been a short term mistake that she made to avoid the long term possibility of opioid worries.

Hope that helps some! Try to get some good tv or books on hand to keep your mind from dwelling on low probability effects.  During the later weeks, you'll probably want to spend quite a bit of your time laying down and resting.

Pat

caholz33

Everyone is different

I remember wanting to go over EVERYTHING my cancer mentor buddies told me about their experiences, but it's true that it wasn't exactly the same for any of us.  But I liked having clues about things to expect and watch for.  Probably my best example of benefitting from others' experience was the phantom bowel pressure and spasms that began maybe halfway through treatment.  That felt super distrubing and I would have made an unnecessary doctor's appointment, not to mention been scared out of my wits, if I hadn't had my 2 mentors to consult via FB message.  Oh, the convo's we had, lol.  There may be things you don't want to post on this board, but everybody here wants to help you and I'm sure would not mind if you send them questions via PM.  About anything.  To add to what Pat said about painkillers, yes oxy constipates, so as weird as it sounds have laxatives on hand.  I took them along with oxy with the objective of very mild diarrhea (it was more comfortable to me than passing anything of substance, though you need to drink a LOT of water to stay hydrated).  You have a great attitude and sound like you are enpowering yourself for success.  XOXO!

 

mp327

Ice Cream

I love the stuff and prior to treatment, stocked my freezer full of 6 half-gallon cartons in my favorite flavors so I'd be ready for the anticipated weight loss and poor appetite.  I thought surely my taste buds or body would never reject ice cream!  But you know what?  It did.  I remember several times standing in front of the refrigerator with the freezer door open, staring at all of those cartons and not wanting even one bite of it.  Sometimes I would think of something that sounded good, but by the time I got it prepared, I no longer wanted it.  I ended up eating a lot of ramen noodles, but would never dream of eating those things now.  Bad, bad, bad!  But, when your appetite tanks, you must eat whatever you can get down and sometimes you won't know what that is until that moment, making it very difficult to plan ahead.  I've always had a very good appetite, so it really hit me hard not knowing what to eat or being able to force myself to eat.

maggiesco

Pat42 said:

Maggie

She didn't have any symptoms other than very occasional, very small amounts of bleeding.  She was only diagnosed because she finally went in for her first routine colonscopy at 54 (that was not a fun day!).  So while she was waiting for the treatment plan to get set up and treatments to start, they told her to just keep an eye on that one symptom, and call them if it got worse, which it didn't.  They emphasized it was unlikely that there would be much change to her symptoms in that time interval.   As in many marriages I think, we are different in different ways.  I read everything I could get my hands on about anal cancer, but she felt that if she knew about all the worst case scenarios, she would focus on those, so she listened to the doctors, who in general focused on very positive viewpoints (with good reason, this cancer is very treatable).  You seem to be more like me, in that sense.  I think it's better to know as much as possible to be able to make any decisions that come along.  But what's hard to keep in mind is that when you read a lot of this information, many of these awful side effects are outliers, that occur with a small percentage of people.  If you know about them it's good, because you can be alert for early signs of symptoms, so they can treat anything that does occur early.  Since she didn't do the reading, I'd ask her (too frequently) whether she had specific symptoms, mostly all associated with the treatment, not the disease.  But one of the nurses told me that although some of the symptoms CAN be serious for some people if they get out of control, it was kind of like watching the drug commercials on tv.  You're not sure exactly what the benefit of the drug is, since they spend 95% of the commercial talking about the hundreds of ways the drug is going to kill you.  The capecitabine/xeloda pamphlets actually had a list of side effects that quantified what percentage of patients saw those side effects, so I tended to focus on making sure the more common ones were under control/not occurring.

Melissa didn't really have strong noticeable effects of treatment till week 4.  Until then she had the bad taste and dry mouth from Xeloda, a general fatigue, and then in week 4 started to have "stinging" in the "nether regions" where the radiation was hitting the skin.  From week 4 onwards, she had the local discomfort from radiation that kept getting more painful, more fatigue, and this is when her appetite went to where we had to get the Ensures down her every day.  She had tingling in her hands and feet, but it didn't progress any further to what is called hand and foot syndrome.  She had low blood counts, which is a normal effect of the treatment, but they stayed high enough that she never needed transfusions or neupogen. She didn't loose a hair on her head that I could tell, but she says she did actually some thinning (she has a lot of hair).  She was prescribed percocet for pain control, but found after a couple days that ibuprofen (ask the doctor first) worked better for her.  Neither killed the pain during bathroom trips completely, but the percocet caused constipation for her that she thought actually made it worse.  Others have had better luck by using stool softeners in combination with the stronger pain reliever.  Her brother-in-law was struggling with opioid addiction as a result of his cancer treatment at the same time, so she was very reluctanct to go to the full dosage they allocated her - that may have been a short term mistake that she made to avoid the long term possibility of opioid worries.

Hope that helps some! Try to get some good tv or books on hand to keep your mind from dwelling on low probability effects.  During the later weeks, you'll probably want to spend quite a bit of your time laying down and resting.

Pat

Pat42

Thank you.  

maggiesco

caholz33 said:

Everyone is different

I remember wanting to go over EVERYTHING my cancer mentor buddies told me about their experiences, but it's true that it wasn't exactly the same for any of us.  But I liked having clues about things to expect and watch for.  Probably my best example of benefitting from others' experience was the phantom bowel pressure and spasms that began maybe halfway through treatment.  That felt super distrubing and I would have made an unnecessary doctor's appointment, not to mention been scared out of my wits, if I hadn't had my 2 mentors to consult via FB message.  Oh, the convo's we had, lol.  There may be things you don't want to post on this board, but everybody here wants to help you and I'm sure would not mind if you send them questions via PM.  About anything.  To add to what Pat said about painkillers, yes oxy constipates, so as weird as it sounds have laxatives on hand.  I took them along with oxy with the objective of very mild diarrhea (it was more comfortable to me than passing anything of substance, though you need to drink a LOT of water to stay hydrated).  You have a great attitude and sound like you are enpowering yourself for success.  XOXO!

 

caholtz33

Phantom bowel movements are to be expected? I heard about these and bought some fancy depends underwear, just in case. Halfway through treatment, did you stick around the house?

maggiesco

mp327 said:

Ice Cream

I love the stuff and prior to treatment, stocked my freezer full of 6 half-gallon cartons in my favorite flavors so I'd be ready for the anticipated weight loss and poor appetite.  I thought surely my taste buds or body would never reject ice cream!  But you know what?  It did.  I remember several times standing in front of the refrigerator with the freezer door open, staring at all of those cartons and not wanting even one bite of it.  Sometimes I would think of something that sounded good, but by the time I got it prepared, I no longer wanted it.  I ended up eating a lot of ramen noodles, but would never dream of eating those things now.  Bad, bad, bad!  But, when your appetite tanks, you must eat whatever you can get down and sometimes you won't know what that is until that moment, making it very difficult to plan ahead.  I've always had a very good appetite, so it really hit me hard not knowing what to eat or being able to force myself to eat.

Same symptoms as I wait for treatment

Bowel movement difficulity-only a little comes out at a time, feeling like I have to go, and a bit of pressure. Dealing with the symptoms as I wait for treatment. Similar experiences when waiting for treatment? Will the symptoms subside during treatment?

mp327

maggiesco

I had horrible diarrhea during treatment, except for the short time my doctor had me on an iron supplement, due to anemia.  It immediately constipated me, so I stopped taking it.  In your case, prior to treatment, your symptoms could be due to the tumor.  I remember having issues with constipation, thin ribbon-like bm's and pain/pressure prior to beginning treatment.