no more surgery please

melbas2
melbas2 Member Posts: 108
in Anal Cancer #1
Okay, this is where I'm at. Either my bottom is so painful that I can't sit on it, or this itching drives me absolutely crazy. I bleed off and on, I can't wipe without crying...there has to be any easier way. I continue to take sitz baths, tho probably not as often as I should. I try to pretend my my life is normal, and even tho it takes me 4 hours to dust and vacuum, I do it. I just got a mirror and looked at my ****, and it still looks like something a fire victim would look like. What, if anything can I do about this? My arms and stomach have developed lesions that break open, then my skin clears up for a day or two, then they reappear. I bleed thru my pant legs, thru my shirts...no amount of lotion seems to help. I don't even know if I want to know the answers to my questions, but if anyone have any info.......thanks, Melodie.

Comments

  • mp327
    mp327 Member Posts: 4,440 Member
    #2
    Melodie!
    Melodie! You poor dear--I'm so sorry you are still suffering so much. Perhaps you have continued to see your doctors about this, but if not, you need to. If they are not helping you, then you need to find another doctor who will. Do you have any silver sulfadiazine cream? That's what I was given for my burns and it helped a lot. It's used on burn victims, so I would think it could help you too. Please, ask your doctors for some if you haven't tried it. Also, as often as you can, go without bottoms around the house and let things air out. Friction from clothing is not going to help in the healing. Please keep us posted. I hope you feel better soon.
  • z
    z Member Posts: 1,414 Member
    #3
    Melbas
    So sorry for all your discomfort. Like Martha said the silverdyne cream should help. Do not wipe pat. I would use the water bottle to clean then pat dry. It would take me a while to acomplish chores as I would get out breath. Eventually it will get better. Your drs should have some answers for you, and if they don't you need a second opinon. I hope this will get better soon, it just takes time for our bodies to heal. Lori
  • Donna M
    Donna M Member Posts: 25
    #4
    You are not alone. I too had the lesions that broke out all over my body. I found that Lotrimin got rid of them in 2 days or less. Sitz baths using tea (tannic acid) Reduce the itch and the pain. Also tronolane mixed with cortisone 10 and liberally applied help the itch (they are both over the counter and what my oncologist said worked best. I was so tender at one point that I couldn't even THINK of wiping or blotting or what ever. I found 2 solutions for that. One was an inflatable sitz bath that sits inside the toilet seat (in the down position) which I let warm water run over my bar of Dove, then took out the soap. That cleaned the area, then I would do a green tea sitz bath. On days when I wasn't screaming, I used Cottonelle moistened with warm water to dab the area. I found the cottonelle held up to water unlike (name any other brand here). Also an INCREDIBLY soothing combination is A&D mixed with CREAMY Desitin....just soak in the tub or in a soapy sitz before radiation. You don't have to wipe this stuff, it just dissolves off in the water. Was a LIFE saver for me.
    To keep up with the lesions, you will need to do complete skin checks in the morning and again in the evening. They usually appear as darkened rough spots before they open. If you can get to them with what ever your physician prescribes at this stage they don't open and go away by day 2 or 3.
    I hope this helps in some way.
  • Donna M
    Donna M Member Posts: 25
    #5
    JUST FIGURED OUT
    I just figured out that you are post treatment. Careful with lidocaine as it can cause arrythmia. Tea sizt bath followed by creamy desitin and A&D and tronolane. Mix it in your hand, slather it on. It really soothes the itch and the pain. If your oncologists can't or won't help, then talk to you GI doc. You could have proctitis, and the treatment for that is simple and works FAST!
    My skin lesions quit coming back after about a month (knock on wood). Tea sitz baths offer IMMEDIATE (but not long lasting) relief.
    I live on towels, but unless I am having a proctitis flare up, I am comfortable 90% of the time.
  • melbas2
    melbas2 Member Posts: 108
    #6
    Donna M said:

    JUST FIGURED OUT
    I just figured out that you are post treatment. Careful with lidocaine as it can cause arrythmia. Tea sizt bath followed by creamy desitin and A&D and tronolane. Mix it in your hand, slather it on. It really soothes the itch and the pain. If your oncologists can't or won't help, then talk to you GI doc. You could have proctitis, and the treatment for that is simple and works FAST!
    My skin lesions quit coming back after about a month (knock on wood). Tea sitz baths offer IMMEDIATE (but not long lasting) relief.
    I live on towels, but unless I am having a proctitis flare up, I am comfortable 90% of the time.

    if this works...
    OMG, I thought I was the only one going thru this. I keep thinking...I'm almost 6 months post treatment, maybe I'm just being a baby. But the pain and the itching are real. My husband has finally noticed how much pain I'm in and after each bath he checks me and puts either the Lidocane or Neosprin on my area. I just never knew a person could hurt this much. I try to do "normal" things, but as I said, it takes me forever to do them. I get so out of breath, or I have a burning desire to go to the bathroom, and then the pain starts again. And the sores on my arms and legs drive me crazy. How can my skin be clear one day and then covered with this the next? My 2 yr old grandson likes to pretend he's the "big scwary monster" and his little fingers cause me sores. I see my oncologist again in 3 weeks, and I don't know if she's gonna schedule another transfusion or not, but that seems to be what helped me for almost a month. Does it ever end? Melodie

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