Saw surgeon today..

Lorikat
Lorikat Member Posts: 681 Member
in Anal Cancer #1
The surgeon did his exam and this tumor is actually nearly the size of a tennis ball. He staged it at T2/3NONO. Not sure how to interpret the NONO at the end.....nearly 5 centimeters and growing. Start radiation tomorrow and it looks like chemotherapy Monday.

...........I don't know if I said it before but I have now been diagnosed with "Squamish cell anal cancer in the rectum".

The size of this thing makes me nervous. Live, from MDA hospital. Lorie

Comments

  • z
    z Member Posts: 1,414 Member
    #2
    LoriKat
    Is it T2/3NOMO, that would mean no lymph node for the NO and no Metasis to other organs for the MO. I was a T2NOMO and my cancer was 2-3 cm and also squamous cell carcimoma. I completed tx on 6-30-09 and have a 80% cure rate. So far so good. I wish you well and you'll see how fast it shrinks once you start tx. Lori
  • RoseC
    RoseC Member Posts: 559
    #3
    Hi LoriKat
    No wonder you've been so uncomfortable! Please keep looking forward to the near future - to a time when you won't be sitting on a tennis ball anymore!
  • mp327
    mp327 Member Posts: 4,440 Member
    #4
    Hi Lorie--
    There are lots of forum members on this site and a couple of others I visit whose tumors were the size of yours and they are doing well after going through the same treatment you will be receiving. Don't focus on the size of the tumor. Instead, focus on the effectiveness of this treatment--it's VERY effective. You would be receiving the same treatment no matter what size your tumor is. I hope tomorrow goes well for your first day of treatment--please let us know how it went when you can. Wishing you all the best.
  • sephie
    sephie Member Posts: 650 Member
    #5
    you are in good hands
    MDA is great!!! learning more and more. they will shrink it and kill it. It is a hard tx but you will get thru it. i finished tx there on july 20 2009. so far no evidence of disease. i was t2nono. my tumor was very poorly differentiated which means that it had invaded the deeper tissues. you will conquer this. hugs sephie
  • Lorikat
    Lorikat Member Posts: 681 Member
    #6
    RoseC said:

    Hi LoriKat
    No wonder you've been so uncomfortable! Please keep looking forward to the near future - to a time when you won't be sitting on a tennis ball anymore!

    LOL! Sitting on a tennis
    LOL! Sitting on a tennis ball! Had not thought of it like that!

    2:00am can not sleep and really do not know why. I mean, treatments are starting, decisions have been made, I should be able just to relax and go with the flow! NOT! NOW I can't sleep! At least I can "talk" to you guys in the middle of the night.
  • Lorikat
    Lorikat Member Posts: 681 Member
    #7
    z said:

    LoriKat
    Is it T2/3NOMO, that would mean no lymph node for the NO and no Metasis to other organs for the MO. I was a T2NOMO and my cancer was 2-3 cm and also squamous cell carcimoma. I completed tx on 6-30-09 and have a 80% cure rate. So far so good. I wish you well and you'll see how fast it shrinks once you start tx. Lori

    Thanks for the explanation.
    Thanks for the explanation. It is so strange how my thought processes seem to leave me and I can't think to ask questions when I'm in the Doctors office. I am so not used to me being the patient. And I have a difficult time "complaining" (relaying symptoms) to the medical staff. I always want to say, "oh, I'm just fine, how are you"? Hummmmmmm."...wierd
  • Lorikat
    Lorikat Member Posts: 681 Member
    #8
    z said:

    LoriKat
    Is it T2/3NOMO, that would mean no lymph node for the NO and no Metasis to other organs for the MO. I was a T2NOMO and my cancer was 2-3 cm and also squamous cell carcimoma. I completed tx on 6-30-09 and have a 80% cure rate. So far so good. I wish you well and you'll see how fast it shrinks once you start tx. Lori

    Thanks for the explanation.
    Thanks for the explanation. It is so strange how my thought processes seem to leave me and I can't think to ask questions when I'm in the Doctors office. I am so not used to me being the patient. And I have a difficult time "complaining" (relaying symptoms) to the medical staff. I always want to say, "oh, I'm just fine, how are you"? Hummmmmmm."...wierd
  • mp327
    mp327 Member Posts: 4,440 Member
    #9
    Lorikat said:

    LOL! Sitting on a tennis
    LOL! Sitting on a tennis ball! Had not thought of it like that!

    2:00am can not sleep and really do not know why. I mean, treatments are starting, decisions have been made, I should be able just to relax and go with the flow! NOT! NOW I can't sleep! At least I can "talk" to you guys in the middle of the night.

    Lack of sleep
    That was (and still is) one of my biggest issues since being diagnosed. Before I started treatment, which took 6 weeks from date of diagnosis to first day of treatment, I think I slept a total of 10 hours! lol! I could NOT shut my mind off. My med onc gave me Ambien and it helped a little, but not a lot--only made me feel hungover when I awoke the next morning. You might ask your doc for a prescription for a sleep aid to see if it would help you through this. I think sleep plays a very important role in our health--I just wish I could get more!
  • sephie
    sephie Member Posts: 650 Member
    #10
    mp327 said:

    Lack of sleep
    That was (and still is) one of my biggest issues since being diagnosed. Before I started treatment, which took 6 weeks from date of diagnosis to first day of treatment, I think I slept a total of 10 hours! lol! I could NOT shut my mind off. My med onc gave me Ambien and it helped a little, but not a lot--only made me feel hungover when I awoke the next morning. You might ask your doc for a prescription for a sleep aid to see if it would help you through this. I think sleep plays a very important role in our health--I just wish I could get more!

    ???
    mp327, were you treated at MDA??? i wish i had gotten Dr. Eng back in may 2009 because i have heard about her and she has had so many anal cancers. I had to postpone my appt. to MDA in the beginning because i was not near healed up from the huge biopsy that my surgeon (not at MDA ) did. he tried to cut out the whole tumor but stopped when he found it too deep. i was stitched up on the outside as well as the inside. thought i was going to die from the pain. so was advised to wait 6 weeks for healing but i took 8 weeks. i do not know how to email people on this site so i put this here. thanks for always helping sephie
  • mp327
    mp327 Member Posts: 4,440 Member
    #11
    sephie said:

    ???
    mp327, were you treated at MDA??? i wish i had gotten Dr. Eng back in may 2009 because i have heard about her and she has had so many anal cancers. I had to postpone my appt. to MDA in the beginning because i was not near healed up from the huge biopsy that my surgeon (not at MDA ) did. he tried to cut out the whole tumor but stopped when he found it too deep. i was stitched up on the outside as well as the inside. thought i was going to die from the pain. so was advised to wait 6 weeks for healing but i took 8 weeks. i do not know how to email people on this site so i put this here. thanks for always helping sephie

    Hi sephie!
    No, I was not treated at MDA and have never seen Dr. Eng. However, I have been active on several different forums for anal cancer for almost 3 years now and Dr. Eng's praises are sung on a regular basis. She seems to be the leading expert on all things anal cancer.
  • z
    z Member Posts: 1,414 Member
    #12
    LoriKat Live from MDA
    LOL, I just saw that, or breaking news from MDA. I wish you well Lori.
  • sephie
    sephie Member Posts: 650 Member
    #13
    mp327 said:

    Hi sephie!
    No, I was not treated at MDA and have never seen Dr. Eng. However, I have been active on several different forums for anal cancer for almost 3 years now and Dr. Eng's praises are sung on a regular basis. She seems to be the leading expert on all things anal cancer.

    thanks for reply
    i am so glad you are on here. you help so much. and it is good to hear that you are doing so well and seem to be healthy and back to normal (or close to it). it is good to hear that there are other great places for treatment, also. hugs sephie

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