Recovering from anal cancer treatments - things are looking up!

Hi all...have not been on here since the end of August. Just an update...I finished chemo and radiation on 9/17. It was hell, but for any newbies, it does eventually get better! I was diagnosed on 7/7/2009. My tumor was over 5cm and at stage II/III. I had 30 radiation treatments and chemo once a week for 7 weeks. I had an allergic reaction to Oxaliplatin after the 3rd dose and ended up in ICU for a few days. I had horrific pain from the radiation - especially in the anal area, vagina, and labia - it was like medieval torture treatment. I had a continuous metal taste in my mouth; neuropathy; uncontollable diarhea; headaches; and nausea. It was awful, but I made it through!

Since then, my skin has healed miracuously; I have normal bowel function; I am no longer in pain; I can eat anything I want, just like before...even dairy, raw veggies and fruit, and spicy foods! I had a CT Scan on 10/5 and the tumor is gone. The results of the scan showed only a small area of thickened cells - my oncologist and radiology oncologist both believe that this may only be scar tissue (fingers crossed!). I saw the colon/rectal surgeon yesterday and he said NO SURGERY!!!! He concurred that the tumor is gone and said that my next steps are follow up exams and scans (PET and CT). He also believes that the thickened area of cells may be scar tissue and stated that the PET scan will show whether or not the area is actually scar tissue/normal cells or if there are still malignant cells in that spot - as well as show that no cells got loose and decided to swim to any other part of my body. I feel great and went back to work last week. If you didn't know it, you could not tell that I have ever been sick. Just wanted to let anyone just starting out on this journey know that each case is different, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

-Dawn