Treatment Choices/Dilema

My mom was just diagnosed with Stage 2 rectal cancer.The tumor was removed; however, the pathology came back as undifferentiated adnocarcinoma. The oncologist says she falls in the " gray area" for treatment. That is, there is no definitive course of treatment. He says she can either do chemo and radiation to get any other wandering cells or just continue to be vigilant with her follow up and wellness checks and get no further treatment. I think she should try to be the most aggressive as possible, however, she feels she can not withstand chemo and the side effects. My mom is 60 and in great health. Has anyone else been in this boat? And if so, what course of treatment did they pursue? Thanks very much, Holly

Hi,

I just read your note. I just had rectal surgery to remove a tumour and have a temporary ileostomy. My pathology came back Stage 1, lymph nodes were clear. The doctors suggest I take Xeloda pills eventhough I am in that grey area just in case there are cancer cells still running around. I just turned 43 yrs. old. I hope I make it to 60 someday. I would have to agree with you to treat aggressively. Please tell me what treatment they have planned for your mom and the dosages if possible.
Thanks.

GG

I, too, am in the gray area. I had a Transanal Endoscopic Microsurgery in December for a 5-cm. neoplasm, and an MRI post-op was totally clean. Although I am T1/N0/M0, the surgeon feels that I need to have radiation and Xeloda. Although I feel extremely fortunate not to have had a colostomy and to be Stage 1, I echo what others have said here and wonder why I have to had adjuvant treatment. My surgeon originally said that cancer "has no ego" and encouraged me to have a second opinion. In a follow-up conversation yesterday, though, he said that it didn't warrant a second opinion, there was no question as to what I needed next. Any thoughts or comments from anyone out there would be appreciated. 

Thanks for your response. I wish the best for you. My mom chose to sort of "watch and wait". She scheduled a 3 month CT scan and they saw a small lymph node enlargement. She is now going to get the radiation and chemo. I urge you to do the same. I am so happy my mom is moving forward with it all. I feel it is better to take every treatment possible to make sure that there are no other nasty cells floating around out there. Best of luck to you.

Tell your mom she is doing the right thing.  The CHEMO is NOT that bad.  And remember, there are as many different types of CHEMO as their are antibiotics.

So refuse to listen to anyone's horror stories of chemo.  I had no problems.  Never lost my hair with oxyplatin and lukevorin (sp) and my only side effects were frequent trips to the bathroom and fatigue.  Not a big price to pay to see another birthday in my opinion. 

Best of luck to her and you.  Keep a positive attitude and get on the band wagon to have all friends/family have that colonoscopy EARLY.

Hugs