Anorectal Squamous Cell Cancer

Raellen

Hello, I am a new here, 64 yr old female diagnosed with Anorectal Squamous Cell Cancer back in February of 2026. By report, my tumor is localized to anorectal region with inguinal/rectal nodes that are being treated with radiation. No signs of metastatic disease. I am one week from completing my chemo/radiation treatment. Scared and very anxious to know if this treatment plan is going to be successful in killing the cancer completely and avoiding surgery. All I can do is wait, no ideal if it’s shrinking, nothing! Just wait. I am hoping to hear about other’s experience with Anorectal Squamous Cancer, and learn about the treatment they received, the outcome of their treatment, how they coped with side affects, and products they used to relieve radiation burn, particularly for the Vulva and Vagina area. Please share!

My journey, I had struggled with intermittent constipation over the past years and coped with it using Miralax. I had a small protrusion from my anus which I thought was a hemorrhoid. Then in late December 2025, I had an episode of hematochezia, and then followed by two more episodes of hematochhezia in January 2026. I still thought this was related to a possible internal hemorrhoid and scheduled a colonoscopy. My diagnosis, I did not have any hemorrhoids, external nor internal, I was told I had anorectal cancer. The biopsy of the anal mass was significant for moderately differentiated invasive SCC that is p16+. I was in shock. I could not believe this was happening. I cried and told the Doctor I could not do it, I could not go through treatment and surgeries. You see, my husband is a rectal cancer survivor. He battled his cancer back in 2016 and I was by his side through the entire journey. My husband received chemo and radiation, had surgery and had to take a Ostomy bag for life. I had watched him go through the hell of treatment, the side affects, the mental toll it had on him. Today, he struggles with his ostomy bag daily. I told my Doctor, I was not my husband, I was not stong enough to go through it. So I went home and spent the next few days researching, hoping I could find some way to beat this without going through the treatments and avoid surgery too. With the love of my family around me, I decided to go forward with the treatment. Late January, I met with my Oncology Team, Chemo, Radiation, and Surgeon, and was on my way to starting my treatment.

As stated before, it’s very frustrating to go through these treatments not knowing if the tumor is going away, I have to wait a month or more before they do another PET scan to see where I am at, then another follow up scan to check again before calling the Surgeon back into action. The chemo side of the treatment so far has been tolerable, side effects are being extremely tired, no appetite, tender hands. The radiation has been brutal! The radiation burns are very painful, only thing my Radiation Oncologist wants me to use down there is Aquaphor ointment. Only problem is my vulva and vagina areas. I can carefully use it on the vulva area, but not really thinking I want to use it on the internal area around the vagina opening. It’s so tender, at times difficult to use the vaginal dialator because it’s so tender around the entrance. I really would love to hear back from other women about how they coped with this and what they found safe to use both internal and external areas. This radiation is much much harder on women!