Hi everyone im new to this and a complete wus as far as computer skills go. To be honest im not even sure if its my thing at all, iv never used web forums or chat sites for any reason whatsoever. I have come thru anal cancer chemoradiotherapy however and think I have some advise to pass on. I believe its aparticularly tough treatment and the skin effects of radio are more intense. I had extensive skin breakdown in the undercarriage area inthe latter stage of radio and following on.I think everyone will have been advised on saline soaks and the gell dressings once the skin breaks down but I guess most patients like me found passing urine over an open wound excruciatingly painful.To get to the point I discovered a technique which gave massive pain relief.I obtained some 60ml irrigation syringes and loaded with sterile saline. I found gently depressing the plunger to aim the flow of saline against the urine stream washed it off before it reacted with the raw tissue.Usually I used one but sometimes two, and had two redy filled for the next time. This regime made such a huge difference and of course saline is a healing agent with burns. Im convinced it shortened this stage in recovery.Anyone going through this treatment do make sure you get syringes and saline in advance (district nurse prescribed for me) and have a practice. Anyone reading this please pass on to patients and health professionals, I cant bear to think of people suffering terrible pain when this might help. Good luck to everyone i might even blunder on for another chat in the future. Karen
Hya N thanks for the friendly welcome, I'm still blundering in and out of the site (maybe aol to blame) but think I'm slowly getting the hang of it. I looked up your postings , seems you had a rough time last weekend hope this ones happier.Ifind cappocino therapy (or wine) helps. Hope you're not an english teacher my spelling looks dodgy. Thanks again, karen.
Hi Karen, your blog inspired me to attempt a reply. I've never replied to a blog before but there again, I've never been diagnosed with anal cancer before so I reckon I need to get brave and make some contacts. I start a five week treatment plan tomorrow - chemo + radio on wks 1 & 5 as an inpatient, and radiotherapy only for weeks 2, 3 & 4 as a daily outpatient. Thanks for your saline tip, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me yet but I'm sure it will - all the information I've been given so far mentions the burns and the skin breaking down. I don't know if it's usual to be admitted during weeks 1 & 5 but having read some of the blogs and references to picc lines I'm more relaxed about going in because I'm sure my runaway head would invent allsorts of problems. Hopefully they will show me some methods of dealing with various problems. My diagnosis is stage 2/3 T4 - thankfully no spread so far. It was discovered because I went for an operation to remove haemorrhoids 5th June but they did a biopsy instead because they suspected cancer. The waiting has been difficult but so far I've managed to keep a fairly steady head on it (no tantrums - yet!). Its really reassuring Karen to know that people like yourself have come through the treatment and I hope everything is going well for you. Tina
Hi Tina, I guess you're reading this at home(unless you've a laptop in the ozzi) so congratulations on completing your first week of treatment! If you're anything like me you'l be feeling better for starting to do something to fight back,the c-monster will be crying for mercy, tell it you're taking no prisoners! I believe the treatment is standardised, so the routine you stated is the usual one Tina. Hope you dont have to travel far for radio. I found one of those v shaped soft pillows made the going easier in the car as I had at least a 90min journey. My husband did all the organising and made up a rota of friends to drive me on the days he wasnt but in the event I ended up as an in patient for extra weeks as I developed neutropaenia (low white cells) and had iv antibiotics to prevent infection. I had a large primary and some infiltration to glands so had a wide irradiation but thankfully the treatment has put me in remission so hopefully in a few weeks you'll be in the same position. Good luck Tina You'll soon be giving others your tips too!
