I see light at the end of the tunnel

It's good to hear from you.  You are headed into the last (and worst) week, as they focus those beams only on the tumor.  I'm glad you are getting support from your friend.  The diarrhea was a huge issue for me.  I look back now and think I should have just lived in the bathroom.  Mine continued for some time after treatment ended.  However, I believe it was partly my fault, as I was trying to go back to eating lots of fruits and veggies, which meant much more fiber intake than my damaged system could handle.  It took awhile to figure it all out, especially since I was not on this support site or any other, which would have been a huge help.  As far as my burns, they healed pretty quickly, although BM's were painful for awhile.  All in all, my recovery happened pretty quickly.  I bounced back from the fatigue in a couple of weeks.  My best advice is to just be patient with yourself, as it doesn't happen overnight, but you should soon feel much better.

As for follow-up protocol, I urge you to register on the site www.NCCN.org (the National Comprehensive Cancer Network).  Once registered, you will have access to the most current follow-up guidelines so you can know how often your doctors should be seeing you and what type of exams, tests or scans you should be getting.

Eat lots of protein--it's good for healing.  If you can, when treatment finishes up and you are not in pain, try to get a little exercise.  It will help with your energy level. 

I wish you the best with the remainder of your treatment and your recovery.  Please keep us posted on how things are going for you.

Martha

lp1964 said:

Dear Friend,

I'm glad that you have weathered through the radiation and chemo.

You mentioned that you have rectal cancer. This is important because the treatment for rectal cancer and anal cancer is different. Most anal cancers are squamous (skin) cancers that spread up the anus from the outside. In this case you are pretty much done. If you have rectal cancer which are adenocarcinonas (gland) that start in the inside of the rectum although can be close to the opening. In case of adenocarcinona you may need surgery to remove it. 

So you need to talk to whoever disgnosed you and clarify what type of cancer you have. I hope this helps and certainly hope for the easier option.

All the best,

Laz

lp1964 (Laz) is correct: anal cancer does not = rectal cancer. One big, basic difference that you may be now appreciating is that the anus has LOTS of easily riled-up nerve endings while from the rectum on northwards, there are few nerve endings. As Laz pointed out, the protocols are different for the two types. The NCCN site will spell out the protocol that you should expect to follow. The pathologist can also examine your specimen (they probably still have it) for the presence or absence of human papilloma virus (HPV) as the causative agent. It causes most of the anal cancers, but not the rectal cancers (unless you have an anal cancer the has spread upwards). The HPV vaccination is an important component in the eradication of HPV-mediated cancers (anal, perineal skin, penile, mouth, throat, and in women, vulvular, vaginal, and cervical). So, if you know of any kids, talk to their parents about getting them vaccinated!