my mom was just diagnosed with stage 2 anal cancer

I am sorry you had to find us.  I too was a stage II and had the cancer on the anal verge. 

My gyno pa said this is not  a hemroid and I was reffered to a gastrologist who said this could be a hemroid who reffered me to a general surgeon who said this is not a hemroid and he was 99% sure it was anal cancer.  He also said if you have to have cancer this is the curable kind to get.  I have been ned (no evidence of decease) since 6-30-09. 

I don't know what the implications of the diabeties is but I would imagine they will watch your mom carefully as she will have regular blood work done to see how her counts are.

I wish you and your mom well and please keep us updated. Lori

I'm very sorry that your mom's diagnosis of anal cancer has brought you to this site, but it's great that you are advocating for her and educating yourself and her about this disease.  As already has been said, anal cancer can be successfully treated with chemo and radiation, so both your mom and you have every reason to be hopeful that she will be free of this disease after treatment is completed.  I am sure this is all very scary for both of you, but it's great that she has now been correctly diagnosed and will begin treatment very soon.  Many of us, including myself, were initially diagnosed with a bleeding hemorrhoid.  It's good that your mom's surgeon was able to make the right call.

I hope you will feel comfortable coming here on her behalf as often as you wish to get information and support.  There is such a great group of people on this board and we often have advice on dealing with side effects that the doctors do not know about.  We have all learned a great deal through our own experiences and are most willing to share.  If you need something or have a question, please ask.

I wish her all the very best with the port placement tomorrow, which is a minor procedure.  Since she will have a couple of weeks before her treatment starts, I hope she'll use that time to do some things that she enjoys and spend time with family and friends, as she may not be up to it during treatment.  She will get through this, but it can be a bumpy road towards the end.  The good news is it's a relatively short treatment, as compared to treatment for other types of cancers, so just take it one day at a time and soon it will all be behind her.  I send my best wishes to both of you.

Martha

I am a 60 year old woman with the same diagnosis. I had surgery done and Dr  removed the tumor and save my sphinxter muscle because I did not want a colosomy bag. I also thought I had a hemmoroid and could have been diagnosis a year ago if the doctor was educated that it was not a hemmoroid. I had to wait until my wound was healed because the tumor was cancer. I was put on very high vitamin D perscription for the radiation would possibly damage bones. I was put on a F5 chemo two treatments and radiation for 33 days straight. I am done and feeling fine. Except some pain from the radiation to urinate and some discomfort for bowls. I have done very good. I think as I kept area clean and any blisters was given some cream to battle this. I later found some other stuff for faster healing but you can't do that while doing radiation.

Im waiting for March to do a Pet scan to see if any possible chance the cancer moved. I really feel good we acted prompt. I was told in Europe they only do one bag of chemo but we did two. One in the begining and one at the end of the month.

I hope you have a Doctor who can save your mom sphinxter, I live in Washington, DR shalii kanneganti,

Franciscan Surgical Associates at St. Joseph

1708 S. Yakima Ave. Suite 105 Tacoma, WA 98405

Phone: 253-382-8450
Fax: 253-382-8125

Shalini Kanneganti, MD

I found her and she considered to be the best surgeon.

Let me know how she does.

Diana

Adam26 said:

Hey Stephanie,
i am pretty

Hey Stephanie,

i am pretty much in the same boat as you. My mum is 56 and has/had anal cancer (still waiting for the MRI results). 

I'm sure you've already been told this and researched it yourself as well, but anal cancer is very treatable. It's not nice that we have to go through it as carers, but you will get through it. I know you may not be able to see it now, I couldn't see it 6 months ago, but there is an end to it.

Just be positive for your mum and try to make the most of the moments you spend together through the ordeal. I have fond memories of playing candy crush with my mum when she was going through treatment! Make sure also that you ask questions on here if you need anything explained, there is a wealth of knowledge and experience and it has really helped me with understanding things at times.

Anyway, wishing you and your mum all the best and better times ahead.

Adam

Hi my name is Luann

I was just diaganosed with a 7cm tumor in the rectum. going to see the oncologist friday to discuss the chemo and radiation treatment. Have no idea what im up against. But i do know im a fighter and will see a happy ending to this. 

swood9008 said:

My moms upset

So sorry to hear about your recent diagnoses, I am new to this site but from what ive read anal cancer is very treatable. I do have an update on my mom, PET scan came back normal for the most part he said 1 lymph node was a little inflamed but not enough to consider to be involvement, it did confrim the anal tumor. My mom is feeling a little down today, because of the snow storm New England was hit with tues-wedn a lot of her test were postponed until thursday and today. Her doctor did call today and say that instead of starting treatment Monday he said they need another week of planning before stating chemo and radiation. This is very frustarting to her, she said she feels weaker by the day, and more bleeding. Though i am happy there is no spreading or lymph node involvement i wish they would start her treatment ASAP to get it done and for her to get better 

Thank you for the update.  I think once she starts tx she will feel better knowing shes on her way to recovery.  I am so glad the pet scan came out good.  I know I wanted to start tx asap too.  I wish you both well.

swood9008 said:

My moms upset

So sorry to hear about your recent diagnoses, I am new to this site but from what ive read anal cancer is very treatable. I do have an update on my mom, PET scan came back normal for the most part he said 1 lymph node was a little inflamed but not enough to consider to be involvement, it did confrim the anal tumor. My mom is feeling a little down today, because of the snow storm New England was hit with tues-wedn a lot of her test were postponed until thursday and today. Her doctor did call today and say that instead of starting treatment Monday he said they need another week of planning before stating chemo and radiation. This is very frustarting to her, she said she feels weaker by the day, and more bleeding. Though i am happy there is no spreading or lymph node involvement i wish they would start her treatment ASAP to get it done and for her to get better 

Hey,

We were in the exact same position over here in the UK Swood: My mum's treatment was pushed back by a week and she went to bed and cried. I know the feeling you're having right now, you just want to start right away.

For the record, my mum was assured it wouldn't hinder her recovery chances by waiting a week. 

You'll get there, and you'll go through the counting down of weeks that I did, before the treatment is over. It's hard to imagine that day when the treatment is over, but it comes in time. Keep going and best wishes to you.

Adam

swood9008 said:

Hey Adam, 
Sounds like our

Hey Adam, 

Sounds like our situations are very similar, I am so greatful even in the short amount of time i have been on this site for all the positive ecouragement! My mom is really trying to push through but like i said she feels weaker by the day, and hasnt been going out really because the bleeding is such a inconvienve! She is hoping though radiation will (suck) that it will stop some of the bleeding. Im worried becasue we have talked about if she needs a transfusion along the way and she said she refuses to get blood from the hospital bank (she had a fear it has not been screened properly) I am going to speak with her dr about seeing if i am a match in case she needs it! She has lost some of her appetite already which is scary since she hasnt even started treatment yet, she is staying very positive just bummed she cant be a busy bee like she usually is, all she keeps saying is she doesnt have time to be sick and she wants to get back to her normal life, i keep telling her we are on the way to that! Again thank you for all the kind words!

 

I remember one of my surgeons telling me that I'll know that the radiation is really doing its job when the bleeding stopped.  He was right and it was a relief to have the bleeding over with.  Of course there were new things to deal with but all was doable.  I did need one transfusion the week after the end of tx.  It was the worst week of all. But after that I slowly got better.  If your mom is so concerned about the blood bank you could check around with family and friends if you're not a match.  I donated for one of my brothers years ago (in the late 80s in SF, reasonable to be concerned then)  He didn't need it so it went in the bank for someone else.

Best,

Janet

Hammah said:

10 years cancer free!

Hi all!

Dave is my name and I would like to share my story with you all of my origional diagnosis back in Oct of 2004 while I was then living in florida. To make a long story short, it was a stage 2 squamus cell carcinoma about the size of a small wallnut and it had started to migrate down towards my lymphnodes. I had 6 complete weeks of radiation treatment at the melbourne cancer center and two complete weeks of chemo. the first week of radiation and the last week of radiation treatments. I had a port attached to the left side of my chest and received 5 days worth of mitimisen (sp) and 5FU for the chemo drugs that were pumped into me directly from an infusion pump that I wore on my right hip. my wife and kids totally supported me and we all agreed that we were going to get through this. My radiation guy was a guy reminded me of doogy houser. lol. He was about 30 but looked like he was 21. It was my great fortune to have both doctors and their facilities as they both had brand new state of the art technology. I won't suger coat anything folks. It was not the most pleasent thing to go through but after completing the chemo and radiation just about at thanksgiving in nov 04 I totally recovered and was declared 100% cancer free around july of 05. What really gave me hope at the beginning was when my radiation dr told me I had a 99% chance of being totally cured of cancer due to the great progress that they had made in 04. So in closing I would just like to say to all of you facing this that with the love and support of your family and your own determination to be strong and fight it you will have a great chance at some day telling some other people that you too have been cancer free for a little over 10 years.

My prayers and well wishes are with you all! God bless and good luck!

Dave

ps. I forgot to mention that it was anal/rectal cancer that I had.

 

 

 

Thank you so much for posting this, as it gives us all a lot of hope and encouragement!  I'm glad you beat the beast and may your good health continue for many, many years to come!  I am a 6 1/2 year survivor of anal cancer and I guess that can be considered long-term in the scope of things.  I am doing quite well.  My treatment was no picnic, but it was worth all the pain and agony to be here now, alive and living a normal life.  I wish you all the very best and hope you'll come back here now and then to remind us that this disease can be beaten!  Take care.

Martha