On 10/16/2007
jammerboat wrote:
Hi Jaynee
guess I start from the beginning
- I went to a general surgeon to have Hemmhorids removed and that's when they found the cancer -Squamous Cell Carcinoma measuring 3 cm X 5 cm on the right side of my anus yes they did remove about 1/2 of the tumor as it was on the outside of my anus ( they did not remive any lymphnodes etc
- other than that they have not mentioned any additional surgies, only the 6 week rad/ Chemo treatements, they feel they can kill the tumnors along with the lymph nopdes during that time, they did say if they were not happy with my lab work I may have to go on the bag and rad for addtional 2 weeks for a ttl of 8 weeks in treatments
- I am very thank ful if this is the right course of action, but at this point I am not 100% sure as I am reading everyone has surgery either prior to chemo Rad or after
any insight would be a great help
God Bless
Diana
Diana,
Most of the people that you read here (again I am making VAST assumptions) have rectal adenocarcinoma. That is an entirely different type of tumor than the one you have. I am guessing that from what you have said, that you actually have squamous cell anal cancer. I made the exact same mistake when I was first hunting around for one of these boards. There is actually a forum on yahoo specifically desinged for this type of cancer. The only reason that I know about it is when I first was looking for one of these groups, I went to a group for anal and rectal cancer, not realizing that there was any difference- difference between the locations or difference in the type of tumor. Anyway, while reading all of their posts, I got confused because, like you, I was having a different type of treatment. While most of their treatments were comprised of chemoradiation, my surgeon had talked about the necessity of surgery. I was confused. Anyway, here is the link to that group. I think if would be beneficial to you to go there and read their posts, and post questions there. What chemo are you on?
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/anal-cancer/
I certainly don't know that much about squamous cell carcinoma, only that it is treated differently, has a different prognosis and is related to other cancers. I would highly recommend you go to that website. There are wonderful people there who have battled this cancer-Diane, KD, Aurora to name a few. I still keep up with that group as they are all such wonderful people.
Sorry I couldn't be of more help. Good luck and I would seriously suggest taking a look at them.
Jaynee