Week one

Denise1966
Denise1966 Member Posts: 90
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Finally, I got to have the pump taken off and take a shower (never enjoyed a shower as much as today!). First week down, four more to go. So far, no side effects from the radiation or the chemo. I'm hoping it stays that way. At what point during radiation could you tell the tumor was shrinking? I don't know if you can really tell that or not. Thanks everyone and have a great weekend!

Comments

  • tootsie1
    tootsie1 Member Posts: 5,044 Member
    #2
    Congratulations on making it through week one!
    *hugs*

    Gail
  • valley
    valley Member Posts: 94
    #3
    Hi

    My husband had stage 3 rectal cancer Diagnosed Jan.06. He had chemoradiation, lower resection followed by 4 months of chemo. He worked all through his treatment, somedays only 4 hours because of tiredness. Numbness in hands and feet, much better now. He's doing great! He just went from 3 month check ups to 6 months(pet scans and blood work. Next pet in May. I'll be my usually wreck waiting for results!
    Good luck to you!
    Val
  • Faith4Cure
    Faith4Cure Member Posts: 405 Member
    #4
    Good job so far!! My husband had stage 3b cancer diagnosed in September 06. He had frequent bleeding when he was first diagnosed and after about 2 weeks of chemo and radiation it stopped. I guess this was a good sign that the tumor was getting "zapped"! Except for that, there was no sure way of knowing until he had his surgery about 2 months later when they could really see that there was not much left of the tumor. Great news!

    I'm sure it did feel great to take a hot shower after the week. My husband learned to wrap his arm up in shrink wrap (or a good cling wrap) and hang the chemo bag on a hook outside of the shower. It really worked great and he had no problems with this---just make sure to wrap it very securely and try to keep your arm out of the direct pressure of the shower.

    Have a great weekend!
    Faith
  • kristasplace
    kristasplace Member Posts: 957 Member
    #5
    Hi Denise! Congratulations on getting through your first week! It will be over before you know it!

    I don't remember if i told you about my experience with the chemoradiation, but if not, here it is...my bleeding subsided considerably after around week three, but i still had the sensation of severe blockage off and on the entire time. I did find out before my surgery that the tumor had shrunk considerably, but it obviously hadn't shrunk in the way i needed it to to feel relief. My tumor had grown like a donut around my colon. When they took it out, it was nothing more than a dead thing, so the treatment worked very well for me, as it does for most people.

    The major side effects were from the radiation which was exhaustion throughout the whole treatment, then radiation cystitis towards the end.

    You're so lucky you get a break from the pump! I had the thing 24/7, and taking a shower was never any fun. Well neither was sleeping, getting dressed, or moving off of the couch and forgetting about it!


    Many hugs,
    Krista

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