Post-treatment pain with BMs

If you are on pain meds tthey can constipate you.  You might try a stool softener  .For me diarrhea was the issue and I took immodium.  I am a little over 8 years post treatment of anal cancer.

Mike 

I had painful BM's for awhile after treatment was over.  The area was burned/traumatized and will take a little time to heal.  And as others have said, pain meds can cause constipation.  Using a stool softener may help.  I had the opposite--terrible diarrhea.  Hang in there, things will get better as your body heals!

Martha

I'm glad you got good news and I hope you can keep moving forward in your recovery.  It may take some time, but you'll get there!

Martha

AmyD1310 said:

Missy

Hi Pat,

I was just thinking of you and your wife this morning and I figured I would check in. I know Missy was just a week behind me in treatment...how is she feeling? I bet she is grateful to have had your support while going through this. My husband, family, friends and the people on this discussion board were a godsend for me. I hope you are both doing well.

Sincerely,

Amy

Amy,

   Thanks!  I feel like a sidekick, while you all are trying to win the super bowl, or something.  Looking back on the last two months, it's still hard to imagine trying to do this from Missy's viewpoint.  I can't count the number of hours I've spent reading forums and medical journals with a few trips to the university medical library thrown in. I wanted to know everything I could about the disease and the treatment, while she just really wanted to not think about it too much.   I guess now that I've actually written that down, I understand it maybe more than I have.  I guess it makes sense in a way that you would just want to leave it to the experts.  As much as I think I've learned, I don't think it would have changed a whole lot about how we went through this.  I think she probably felt it would help her to not drift towards thinking about the worst case scenarios.  I guess everyone's different, that's what makes things interesting.
    I think she's doing a lot better in all of the areas that were giving her trouble last week.  She says her pain level is still a 5 when going to the bathroom, but she's spending a lot less time in there each time, and she's a lot less worn out doing it.  She's still napping daily, but then so am I when I get home at night!  I've been coming home every day for lunch so she gets some human interaction, and our oldest daughter comes over most evenings and is becoming a very good cook as a result of this whole episode, so a good side benefit there!
    Food is tasting better for her, she's craving a lot of things that she hasn't eaten since starting treatment.  Still in small portions, think her stomach shrunk.  She ended up losing about five pounds, which is about all she could afford to lose, she's back to her high school weight for the first time in thirty years, and pretty happy about that.  I think I'm going to have to lose a few!
    Food was kind of a funny thing during treatment.  I kept trying to steer her towards a lot of the suggestions to make the pain less, but for her it was always about how bad the food tasted or how it was too hard to eat certain things because of how dry her mouth was.  So this is no recommendation for anyone, but these top the list of what she ate the most:

1.  Grapes!  This was the absolute best tasting thing to her, and she probably ate more than she had over the last two or three years during the treatments.
2.  Arby's cheese sticks and french dip sandwiches.  We laughed about this a lot.  Apparently they slid down well.  Maybe Arby's needs to consider a cancer patient menu, "Tastes good but not necessarily the best thing for your system at this point."
3.  Pat's homemade spaghetti.  She didn't seem to want much of anything spicy, so this may have been a backhanded compliment.
4.  Cranberry juice.
5.  Diet Ginger ale.
6.  Chocolate Ensure Enlive.  Lots of calories and protein in this.  It was funny that all our older relatives like the vanilla instead.
7.  Chicken noodle soup.

We have another blood test tomorrow, hopefully just a quick visit to make sure the blood counts are all still increasing.
Oh, and one more thing, she's very happy about!  No hair loss!  One of her biggest fears was this, so that at least she was spared.  Good strong hair genes, I guess!

I'm sure the overthinking the "did the treatment work" question is going to be a big weight over the next couple years, so far she doesn't want to talk about that at all, can't say that I blame her.  That was a big weight on me during my little bump twenty years ago, and I didn't really want to talk it over with anybody, even her.  I know people are trained to listen, but I just couldn't sit and talk to a stranger about those fears.  And here I am on an open internet forum! Maybe the anonymity is for me!  Once again, people are different, thank God for the variety!  Just feel like I need to keep an eye on her, I've seen her tear up two or three times during the last three months, and never before in the last thirty years of marriage, so I know she's doing some heavy thinking/worrying that she's not letting out.

She went out for her first drive alone today since about week three of treatment.  Still wearing jammy pants.  Got cash at the bank drive thru and you guessed it, mid-afternoon snack at Arby's.  That was a big adventure!

Hope you're still getting better and quickly!  Sending the most positive thoughts your way!
Pat

Pat42 said:

Improving!

Amy,

   Thanks!  I feel like a sidekick, while you all are trying to win the super bowl, or something.  Looking back on the last two months, it's still hard to imagine trying to do this from Missy's viewpoint.  I can't count the number of hours I've spent reading forums and medical journals with a few trips to the university medical library thrown in. I wanted to know everything I could about the disease and the treatment, while she just really wanted to not think about it too much.   I guess now that I've actually written that down, I understand it maybe more than I have.  I guess it makes sense in a way that you would just want to leave it to the experts.  As much as I think I've learned, I don't think it would have changed a whole lot about how we went through this.  I think she probably felt it would help her to not drift towards thinking about the worst case scenarios.  I guess everyone's different, that's what makes things interesting.
    I think she's doing a lot better in all of the areas that were giving her trouble last week.  She says her pain level is still a 5 when going to the bathroom, but she's spending a lot less time in there each time, and she's a lot less worn out doing it.  She's still napping daily, but then so am I when I get home at night!  I've been coming home every day for lunch so she gets some human interaction, and our oldest daughter comes over most evenings and is becoming a very good cook as a result of this whole episode, so a good side benefit there!
    Food is tasting better for her, she's craving a lot of things that she hasn't eaten since starting treatment.  Still in small portions, think her stomach shrunk.  She ended up losing about five pounds, which is about all she could afford to lose, she's back to her high school weight for the first time in thirty years, and pretty happy about that.  I think I'm going to have to lose a few!
    Food was kind of a funny thing during treatment.  I kept trying to steer her towards a lot of the suggestions to make the pain less, but for her it was always about how bad the food tasted or how it was too hard to eat certain things because of how dry her mouth was.  So this is no recommendation for anyone, but these top the list of what she ate the most:

1.  Grapes!  This was the absolute best tasting thing to her, and she probably ate more than she had over the last two or three years during the treatments.
2.  Arby's cheese sticks and french dip sandwiches.  We laughed about this a lot.  Apparently they slid down well.  Maybe Arby's needs to consider a cancer patient menu, "Tastes good but not necessarily the best thing for your system at this point."
3.  Pat's homemade spaghetti.  She didn't seem to want much of anything spicy, so this may have been a backhanded compliment.
4.  Cranberry juice.
5.  Diet Ginger ale.
6.  Chocolate Ensure Enlive.  Lots of calories and protein in this.  It was funny that all our older relatives like the vanilla instead.
7.  Chicken noodle soup.

We have another blood test tomorrow, hopefully just a quick visit to make sure the blood counts are all still increasing.
Oh, and one more thing, she's very happy about!  No hair loss!  One of her biggest fears was this, so that at least she was spared.  Good strong hair genes, I guess!

I'm sure the overthinking the "did the treatment work" question is going to be a big weight over the next couple years, so far she doesn't want to talk about that at all, can't say that I blame her.  That was a big weight on me during my little bump twenty years ago, and I didn't really want to talk it over with anybody, even her.  I know people are trained to listen, but I just couldn't sit and talk to a stranger about those fears.  And here I am on an open internet forum! Maybe the anonymity is for me!  Once again, people are different, thank God for the variety!  Just feel like I need to keep an eye on her, I've seen her tear up two or three times during the last three months, and never before in the last thirty years of marriage, so I know she's doing some heavy thinking/worrying that she's not letting out.

She went out for her first drive alone today since about week three of treatment.  Still wearing jammy pants.  Got cash at the bank drive thru and you guessed it, mid-afternoon snack at Arby's.  That was a big adventure!

Hope you're still getting better and quickly!  Sending the most positive thoughts your way!
Pat

I was very glad to see your update on Missy.  It sounds like she is doing quite well in recovery mode.  Getting out of the house and running an errand on her own is a big deal--I remember the first time I did that after treatment.  It made me feel so good, knowing that I could once again do something I did before and not really dread it or over think it.  Good for her!  I hope her blood work will show that things are bouncing back.  As for the pain that continues when going to the bathroom, that will improve with time.  May her appetite continue to increase--mine seemed to come back just out of the blue one day and I could not get enough to eat!

I must tell you how wonderful you are for being her advocate and caregiver.  You have obviously gone the distance in caring for her, learning about her disease and treatment, and gathering information from others for her benefit.  I wish you both all the very best as you get your life back to normal, which you will!  May God bless!

Martha

mp327 said:

Pat

I was very glad to see your update on Missy.  It sounds like she is doing quite well in recovery mode.  Getting out of the house and running an errand on her own is a big deal--I remember the first time I did that after treatment.  It made me feel so good, knowing that I could once again do something I did before and not really dread it or over think it.  Good for her!  I hope her blood work will show that things are bouncing back.  As for the pain that continues when going to the bathroom, that will improve with time.  May her appetite continue to increase--mine seemed to come back just out of the blue one day and I could not get enough to eat!

I must tell you how wonderful you are for being her advocate and caregiver.  You have obviously gone the distance in caring for her, learning about her disease and treatment, and gathering information from others for her benefit.  I wish you both all the very best as you get your life back to normal, which you will!  May God bless!

Martha

Martha,

   You are an endlessly positive person, obviously you know this from all the other thank you's you've gotten over the years for your advice and encouragement.  In this case you really helped a NON-cancer patient through this treatment period.  You deserve the best of everything!

  Got the results from another weekly blood test, and all the counts are good.  She escaped from the house on her own again today, went shopping at the grocery store in her sweat pants, then out for a half hour drive to visit her folks.

Pat

Glad that Missy is able to go out and about thats great news!

Also happy to see where Molly is on vacation and doing so well!

I know it has been said before but you are so impressive to do all this reading and research on Missy's behalf. She is lucky to have you!