Diagnosed With Rectal cancer

STS said:

I am starting my oral and IV

I am starting my oral and IV chemo on Sunday. Oncologist has suggested i need to go 8 cycles of IV chemo every 3 weeks together wth oral chemo. After completion of chemo, i might go 25 cycles of radiation.

Well, I wish you the best with the treatments. We all have different things that our doctors try for various reasons. It's entirely possible that your body will react well to the treatments and they will change their prognosis. Or it won't worek well and they'll try something else that will make a huge positive difference. I hope you can prove the doctors wrong.

I will always have hope no matter what they tell me. I had a severe medical situation a year and a half ago- blood clot to my lung which caused cardiac arrests, a stroke, kidney failure, etc.- and the doctors were asking my husband and daughter of they wanted to revive me because they felt I'd never be the same and would probably be in a nursing home forever totally dependant on caregivers. Instead I not only survived- the ICU doctors called it a mircale- but I'm exactly the same mentally and almost back to normal physically after spending 4 months in the hospital learning how to do everything because I came out of the coma paralyzed. So I do not accept it when doctors say there is no hope for someone. Our bodies can do miraculous things. Never, ever give up, that's all I know.

So when the doctors say there's not much they can do, tell yourself you'll show them. You'll survive and they'll have to eat their words. God bless.

Jan  

I'm  71, and was diagnosed with stage 4 rectal  cancer  with a 1.5cm metastatic tumor and some sub-centimeter  spots in the liver in May 2015. I haven't had any surgery yet, since the  rectal surgeon was concerned that the liver  tumor presented more of a problem than the rectal tumor. He felt  there was a good chance chemo and radiation could shrink the rectal tumor and if it didn't we could do surgery later, after the liver had been taken care of.  So I received  8 rounds of Folfox plus Avastin,  during which time the rectal tumor  began to slough off and shrink so that it no longer caused me   a  problem and the liver tumor shrank down to 1 cm. I then received 28 rounds of radiation with 5-FU, which  shrank  the rectal tumor so that it  was no longer visible on a scan, but the liver tumor grew to  3 x 2.4 cm. The oncologist switched me to 4 rounds of Bevacizumab, fluoracil, & levoleucovorin, but the liver tumor continued to  grow another 18%, so she switched me to Erbitux plus Irinotecan and I 've now had six treatments. My liver tumor, which is very close to the diaphragm, has now decreased in size  to 1.5 cm, plus there are two small lesions under 1 cm which may or may not be  tumors. I met with a liver surgeon   a couple of days ago and we are  going  ahead with an ablation on all three liver spots, but no date has been set yet. My port was not functioning  properly when I went for chemo this week, so  my oncologist decided to delay chemo  temporarily so  we could go ahead with the ablation in a few  weeks.   A decision has not yet been made on  the rectal tumor,  pending results of a PET scan I had earlier this week. The last two CT scans showed that the  rectal tumor  was not  visible, so I'm hoping the radiation and chemo zapped it for now.

I'm not a long-term survivor, but I've survived just over a year with a really good quality of life, with few side effects and I'm very pleased with that.  My oncologist has been very staightforward in  stating that  she doesn't use the word "cure" when   talking about stage 4, but that with new treatments  the cancer can be managed much like other chronic disease, and different people react differently to the treatment.  Some don't respond well at all while others have  defied the odds and  survived for many years after a stage 4 diagnois. I don't know how much longer I'll be around, but   really none of us do anyway- we could get hit by a bus or something tomorrow, so I've decided to just get on with living  as best I can with the cancer rather than spending a lot of time worrying about dying from it. If your oncologist  gives off an aura of  doom or makes you feel depressed all the time, I would seriously  consider asking  for another  oncologist.

As Laz noted, it's always a good idea to  have your affairs in order, and to prepare for the worst, but hope and work  towards the best. Ask a lot of questions,   learn all you can and  when you  have serious concerns about your proposed treatment, ask  for a second opinion.  I wish you the best of luck with your treatments and  hope  you are able to show your oncologist that he was  wrong and you  do have a chance for quite a few more years. 

I received the same message from Ghest as is posted here and just blocked this person or robot or whatever it/he/she is.

I don't think there is a downside to waiting to get the iliostomy reversed, at least I hope not. I had some trouble with mine, but it seems to have settled down. I couldn't wait much longer to start chemo or it would lose its effectiveness apparently.

I met a man while getting infused that said he was stage 4. I think he was 8 treatments in and said he has had a great response. His primary tumor has shrunk and at least some of his METs are gone. Chemo has been his only treatment so far. Not sure if he and the doctor have additional plans. He said his was found during his 10 yr colonoscopy, he didn't have other symptoms.

There is always hope, I think it really hrlps that  you lived a healthy lifestyle before your diagnosis. I had changd my diet as soon as I found out to a mostly raw food diet, cutting out many processed foods. I had a good response to treatment. I also think finding ways to reduce stress and keeping a positive outlook helps.

Best of luck,

Ellen

Hi STS, my husband was diagnosed with sigmoid colon cancer on 4/22/2016. It was a rather large tumor which they surgically removed on 5/16/2016. He also has an iliostomy bag. We have learned to deal with the bag but not without having had one or two disasters with it.  PET scan done a month after surgery revealed 2 lymph nodes were affected as well. He is now on IV chemo cocktail of anti nausea med, steriods, benydryl, Erbitux followed by Folfox. It is a 6 hour long chemo session with a 46 hour drip of Fluorouracil (Part of Folfox). The monday after the pump is disconnected he goes for a Neulasta injection, which helps increase white blood cell production. We go for the 6 hour chemo sessions every other week, up to 12 sessions. In regard to side effects, hes experienced a strong sensitivty to cold (can't drink cold beverages, or touch anything cold) and an acne like rash on his face and back.

I am a little confused with you saying they are treating you with radiation as well. It was my understanding that colorectal cancer is generally not treated with radiation. Are they attempting to shrink your tumor with radiation prior to surgery? 

Prior to his surgery, my husband lost over 50 lbs. I am happy to say he's gained about 20 back. His spirits are good, all things considered and we remain very positive. This is something that I  can not stress enough, keep focused, ask questions and remain positive. You must have the utmost faith in your doctors. We are pretty much at the beginning of our battle here as we just finished our 4th chemo session today. We don't know what the future holds but we know we will do whatever is necessary and never give up the fight.

If I were you I most definitely would have had a second opinion. I would not take one doctors recommendation of getting "my affairs in order" especially since that was prior to any treatment. I wish you the best of luck and please feel free to reach out to me should you have any questions or need an ear.

Warm regards,

Robin

Any stories or experiences with medical marijuana?

STS said:

Thank You Danker. Did you go

Thank You Danker. Did you go through Chemo and Radio ?

Look up my csn space and you w[ll see my complete history.