Radiation To Sacrum And Primary Tumor

Hello everyone,

You may remember that my friend Paul's oncologist initially dismissed radiation, then reconsidered and eventually prescribed it.

He is currently receiving radiation to his lower back and also to the rectal tumor. Today was his eighth day of treatment out of -- the doctor was a bit vague on this -- 14 or 15 days.

Before beginning radiation Paul was in quite bad pain and his ability to walk, stand and even sit was sharply impaired. I'm sorry to report that now -- mid-treatment -- there's been no improvement.

Can anyone who has been through this give us some idea of what to expect in terms of restoration of mobility and what kind of time line might apply?

Another concern : Has anyone experienced increased burning or pain in the rectum as a result of the radiation? If so, when can we expect this extra pain to diminish?

Happy New Year to you all.

Judy 

Pain and burning in the rectal area is a common side effect of radiation to the pelvic area.  Unfortunately it will not go away for several weeks after the radiation ends.  Sitz baths can help a little.  Ask your radiologist if there is some sort of cream that can be used.  I tried using a recommended cream that only helped a little bit.  Pain meds might also be useful. This was the most troubling side effect of my 5 weeks of radiation and I was lucky enough to have an ileostomy bag when I had the radiation so I was not passing stool through my rectum.

I did not have any symptoms or pain at the time that I had radiation so I cannot comment on when pain might subside or mobility improve.  I did find that I became more and more fatigued as time went on.  After about a month of treatment, it was all I could do to stay awake for a couple of hours.  All of that passed relatively quickly after treatment ended.

Best of luck!

Sally

On 1/15/2008 Sallyw48 wrote:

Pain and burning in the rectal area is a common side effect of radiation to the pelvic area.  Unfortunately it will not go away for several weeks after the radiation ends.  Sitz baths can help a little.  Ask your radiologist if there is some sort of cream that can be used.  I tried using a recommended cream that only helped a little bit.  Pain meds might also be useful. This was the most troubling side effect of my 5 weeks of radiation and I was lucky enough to have an ileostomy bag when I had the radiation so I was not passing stool through my rectum.

I did not have any symptoms or pain at the time that I had radiation so I cannot comment on when pain might subside or mobility improve.  I did find that I became more and more fatigued as time went on.  After about a month of treatment, it was all I could do to stay awake for a couple of hours.  All of that passed relatively quickly after treatment ended.

Best of luck!

Sally

Everyone is different.I'm sorry to hear you are having such a hard time.  I had six weeks of radiation (before surgery) and never had a minute of pain from it, except for mild skin irritation on the surface at one of the three sites where the radiation entered my body (to converge on the tumor in the rectal area).  I worked full time during my entire treatment, and except for being tired early in the evening around mid treatment, had no side effects at all except that I lost my appetite and food tasted very unappealing after two weeks of treatment.  Stay positive, and try to be involved in activities that you enjoy to distract yourself from the pain. (I also took Xeloda for the entire time I was having radiation therapy prior to my surgery and for five months AFTER my surgery. No too many side effects from that, either, just a little hand-foot syndrome with some redness (level 1 side effects, not 2 or 3).  Guess I'm just lucky... but then again, I try to always stay positive and walked several miles everyday religiously.  This generates endorphins in the brain and they are natural pain killers.  I STILL walk everyday I can for at least two miles.  It's sometimes hard to force myself out the door, but the emotional benefit from exercise is enormous and I know I need it.  If you can't walk outdoors, you might want to get a little bike pedal like portable piece of  equipment that allows you to sit in a chair and rotate your feet.  Or some small weights that you can use to exercise with your hand/arms. Any kind of exercise will make you feel somewhat better as it gets those endorphins into your system.  (My treatment was almost three years ago, and I eventually retired so I can get adequate exercise EVERYDAY... something that was difficult while working full time, and my job couldn't be done on a part-time basis. I'm 63 years old and a happy survivor.) BTW I hate pain meds as I think they add a burden to the body in addition to the cancer medication... an added burden on the kidneys to filter out all the meds from one's system, so I always consider non medication remedies first (exercise, medication, distraction by doing something else, acupuncture, a glass of wine as a last resort before trying a pain killer...). In fact, I had neurontin and Lyrica prescribed to me, but never took a single pill.  (I now have intermittent POST surgery pain from radiation proctitis.) Frankly, a heating pad works better than any medication and doesn't mess with my mind making me dizzy or sleepy. I'm not willing to take pain meds every day for intermittent pain (once or twice a week, sometimes 3x's a week). I'd rather have the pain because it's only a small part of the time.).  So my suggestion is to try exercise!!