HAVING SERIOUS ISSUES WITH TREATMENT

JoeCal1952 said:

Thanks to all

Sorry I have been offline for a bit but I was struggling with many issues during treatment. Things are better now thanks to ALL of your help and input. Today is day 23 of 30 radiation treatments and I have adjusted to pain levels and appraoching the end of treatment. I sure hope after they scan me the tumor is gone, or small enough to remove without having a colostomy. Thanks to all! I'll be back with the final results! God Bless!!!

you are in the home stretch... almost done!

I also had similar side effects from the radiation/chemo treatment. I don't remember the gas as much as the searing pain. As other people mentioned, sitz baths helped to soothe the area. I also used Calmoseptine and Aquaphor as barriers to protect the skin in the vicinity. I also had internal pain. The radiologist gave me a prescription for suppositories that helped reduce the internal swelling and pain as well. I don't remember whether I could do that during the treatment, or he waited until after the treatment was complete. My surgeon also gave me samples of creams that could be used internally to help alleviate pain. It does get better, but the radiation makes long term changes to the area and unfortunately, it probably won't be the same.

The radiation/chemo course worked well for me in terms of knocking out the cancer. The tumor shrunk to the point it was almost gone. Mine was very close to the anal verge and it shrunk enough that I didn't have to live with a permanent iliostomy. I had a temporary one because the surgeon wanted to let the area heal before reconnecting everything. I hope you don't have to live with a permanent iliostomy or colostomy.

Ellen