anal cancer

Hi Deb

I have been put of town and not email - oops

but I am 5 months post Chemo YEAH!! for Anal Cancer stage 3,

I went thru 3 weeks of chemo on and off , week 1 and week 5 , along with 38 rad treatments, ( i had an extra chemo treatment on week 7 as I had 2 lymd nodes involved)   it was diffcult, but I made it and I am strong and cancer free today, please note there is limited info on our diease vs other cancers - but this is a great web site  too be involved with -  new news on anal cancer was released today on this site

you can get thru this and be healthy again -- I am 46 years old and if I can do you can to!!, Where am I today- still healing as I have a lot of scar tissue and my legs hurt when I excerise ( most likely from the rad treatments) but I keep pushing and know that I am getting stronger everyday not to mention my weight is coming back FAST HA 

 - Remember on the bad days, they are only bad days and tomorrow will be better

 I hope you are off the bag and getting some what use to the routine by the time you read this e mail

I will keep u in my prayers and if you ever want to call me please feel free - respond back in private and I will give you my #

God bless and huge hugs :)  Diana

Hi Deb,

I'm wondering how you are doing (or have done) with the radiation now that it's over a month later.  I can't say enough about IMRT radiation.  I guess they don't have it everywhere yet, but having it was great because I didn't experience most of the typical radiation side effects.It's definitely worth asking your radiologist about (I know you're already into or almost done with yours, but that comment is for people who haven't started their radiation yet- look into IMRT, everyone!)  It was effective, because my rectal tumor completely disappeared (which I know can also happen with traditional radiation), but the great thing is the lessening of side effects- I did not have any burned skin until the last two days of radiation (out of 28).  I also only got the predicted diarrhea 3 or 4 days. 

Take care!

Lisa