Anal cancer
Comments
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I’m am half way through radiation. Chemo being reevaluated due to weight loss and extremely low blood counts. Have Had three transfusions. FYI I am 82 Will find out tomorrow if i will be getting white blood cell shots
I am trying to proactive. The way I deal with the panic is (1) I put appointments/treatments in my calendar. Check out tomorrow’s schedule with tomorrow’s ride and then close my calendar till tomorrow morning. )2) I report appointment results briefly one time with my family right after the appointment. End of discussion!!
I am getting very tired, irritated and bored with having no strength, overwhelming fatigue , itching and pain. And I’m tired of reading cozy mysteries. 😡 So I’ve been looking for what I can do in the five minutes I can be vertical before I fall out 🥴 and then continue while in bed and that will help distract me. I bought a new point and shoot camera that is light enough for me to lift and carry. I’ll get my ride to stop when I see something I want to photograph. And a new tablet (all my digital stuff is so old 20 + years)it won’t update) now I need to relearn Lightroom and new camera. All of this between naps 🤪 as you can tell I am working hard to distract myself and not dwell on tomorrow and the future.
i have started a list of things I want do when this is over and I have my strength back; having a focus and researching on line while in bed helps occupy meTrain ride along the California Oregon coast and then drive to see the “trolls”. get back to my clay/ceramic work , make photo record of the outside and inside of the house for insurance purposes if ever needed. Daily photo with drawing.
Sorry this is such a long reply. I hope some of it helps and remember there are people on this site with great solutions and support.0 -
Wow, thank you for your inspiring response. I hope your bloodwork gets back on track soon, and you can finish treatment, regain your strength, and start working on your list of things to do. It’s nice you have new camera and can focus on your photography in spite of what you’re going through. Great tips for coping, and I love the ideas! Thank you😊Best of luck and health to you.
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I completed radiation a year ago. I don’t want bring up your anxiety but as you get through the radiation, it gets harder, so be prepared. Make sure that you don’t have any protective creams on the area where they’re treating you during the radiation session. as it will amplify the radiation there and make it more painful. It’s something they don’t tell you: or they didn’t tell me. Good luck.
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Well my chemo and radiation treatment starts today. I was diagnosed with stage 2 anal cancer in December. My journey has been complicated with an ongoing infection in my right hip that caused me to have emergency surgery in January and unfortunately still has not completely healed. My doctors made the decision to put me on a strong antibiotic and start my cancer treatment with the understanding that we will be watching the blood platelets closely. If my blood becomes sepsis treatment will stop and emergency surgery will have to be done on my hip. Scared doesn’t begin to cover how I’m feeling. I have to let go and let God handle all of this.
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first, just breathe. You are not alone. I was diagnosed with anal cancer in Feb of this year. Been doing chemo and radiation, as well as daily 1000ml hydration treatments as my blood pressure keeps dropping out. I was scared as well as i was having bleeding, no bowel movements, pressure, etc. Was told of all the side effects that can be debilitating, but (knock on wood) my side effects are manageable with some simple things ….8 protein shakes with ice cream a day, soft foods, eat small amounts 6 - 8 times a day. Heat pad for cramps, baby wipes as your backside will feel like sunburn, but i use a simple lotion and do okay. Sith bath (spelling) lots of bananas seems to help my nausea which only kicks in while on the chemo bag which i wear for 96 hours (week 1, 4 and 8). Best thing is stay calm, your not alone, and you are stronger than you think.
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I started Radiation/Chemo Treatment for my Anal Cancer April 30th, 28 Treatments in all. Day 1 was Chemo Injection for about 40 mins and Radiation for about 15 mins (3 passes over the body). May 28th another Chemo Injection for about 40 mins and Radiation the same. I also had 5 pills of Chemo to take on every day that I was to receive Radiation, 2 pills in the morning and 3 pills at supper hour. I tolerated the Chemo very well and here are 2 tips that worked for me. Bought on Amazon, wrist bands with a plastic ball to create accupressure on the wrist (used by people to prevent seasickness and other nausea producing events). The only time I took the wrist bands off was to shower. Bought on Amazon, ginger cubes called "Elan" I would suck on half a cube at a time, continually throughout Treatment Monday to Friday and weekends too. I only had 2 episodes where I was near to vomitting, but never got there, and one episode where I was decidedly dizzy - but more from being dehydrated than anything else. As for the Radiation, I had a Sitz Bath that would be used to both pee into and poop, disgusting as that is, it helps. You do what you have to do. And a Peri Bottle that I filled with warm water (I had a Hot Pot that would keep water at 195 F, so half measure of that to half measure of cold tap water). For the first half of Radiation Treatments, I could use gel packs from the freezer, but towards the end, the gel packs were too cold to safely use. There is a gel pack that fits in a sleeve the shape of a period pad, bought from Amazon called First Days Maternity, Postpartum Recovery. At the start of Radiation, I even poured a measure of Milk of Magnesia into the Sitz Bath because the ingredient did for the outer skin what it does for inside tummy skin and that is neutralize the stomach acid. Towards the end though, I didn't use Milk of Magnesia, but I must have gone through about 6 large bottles in the process. At the very end of Treatment, when you pee and the skin around the uretha feels like 100 paper cuts, this is what I did to reduce that discomfort: I took a pool noodle, and cut it down to about a 3 inch section (hoping the pee would exit through the central hole) the top of the noodle I would lay a circular cotton pad first, then a piece of cushion-care gauze pad - each of those I would cut a small hole in the center, use an elastic band to hold the pad and gauze in place, then Smear the top with 2 products: Flamazine (prescribed by the Oncologist) and Gynatrof (Vulvar Moisturizing Cream - Amazon) Pressed up into position for the pee to exit down the center hole, somehow this application really helped those paper cut sensations to fade off. It really got me through those 2 weeks after Treatment had ended. I have a whole new perspective on caner and cancer survivors. I wish you all of God's aid and love!!!
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Hey love. It kinda depends on what drug you are receiving. I was diagnosed in 2023 and have been through two different kinds of chemo, radiation with chemo pills, and now going through immunotherapy since the type mine is doesn't respond well to chemo. If you are doing oxaliplatin it will cause you to be really sensitive to anything cold. Weather, cold food or drinks. This was the first kind I had. I have a little bit of neuropathy in my feet from it still. Make sure to keep stuff handy for nausea, and I found protein drinks to be my friend because I had no desire to eat at all. But everyone is different. I had this treatment every two weeks and was sent home with a pump for 46 hours then went back to the infusion center to be de-accessed. If you can have someone go with you to treatments to drive. Good thing with oxaliplatin it doesn't cause hair loose. I can't remember the name of the second chemo drug I received but they gave me a steroid with it each time and it ran my glucose really high. Like 769, everyone was amazed that I was functioning as good as I was. Has your oncologist had a port placed? It makes it easier than them having to do an I.V. everytime, that's hard on the viens. I pray everything goes well for you. I know it's hard but if you can keep a positive attitude through all this makes it easy. Yeah I had times where all I did was cry and ask why me, and times I'd cry and say Lord take me home. But being here for my children has helped me push through.
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It depends more on the drug they use. My first rounds of chemo i had oxaliplatin which with it you have a cold intolerance. I couldn't eat or drink anything cold, it felt like swallowing needles. Hand i couldn't hold anything cold cause my fingers would feel like fire. I didn't have a whole lot of nausea with that one. I had an infusion then was sent home with a pump for 46 hrs that went in more slowly. The second chemo drug I received i can't remember the name of but they gave it with a steroid that ran my glucose up to 769. I also had a pump with it for 46hrs. Neither of them worked to good and after seeing specialist at Duke hospital I found out that the type of cancer I have doesn't respond well to chemo but better to immunotherapy. So I've recently started that. Ive had one treatment so far.
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