Hi all,
Just want to introduce myself. I am seeing my oncologist on Tuesday to hopefully get a treat ment plan. It's been a long time coming. I went to the Drs the start of October with a swollen lymph node in my groin. Drs are great and sent me for a scan. This was then followed up with a appointment with a haematologist. He said the scan showed a swollen lymph node and ordered biopsy, ct and mri scan. On the 19th November (my birthday ) he rang me and said that the the biopsy had shown hpv and that he had made an appointment with a gynacologist. 22nd Nov in had an internal and the my cervix was clear but they found a mass in my vagina wall. They biopsied this and I also mentioned that I also had pressure in my bum and if this was related. I had been to the Drs in April 2021 with bleeding from my bum and was diagnosed with piles. They ordered a pet scan and also sent me to the colorectal team the following week. They done an internal exam and found a mass also in my anal canal. I went back in the 6th December expecting to be given a treatment plan however they needed to do another biopsy in my anal mass to make sure it was the same cancer. This was done on the 10th December under a general. The mdt meeting was in the middle of December and was decided that they would create a stoma and I had a colostomy on the 13th jan. Can anyone tell me what to expect from my first appointment with the oncologist and what else is there to do prior to starting treatment? Thank you for reading
Hi Watto78,
Firstly welcome to the Macmillan online community although I’m really sorry that you’ve had the need to find us.
You’ve mentioned the lymph node biopsy showed up HPV? Quite a high percentage of Anal cancers are HPV related although not all, I’m still not aware whether mine was HPV related or not to be honest, nobody has offered up this information & I keep forgetting to ask!
There’ll be a lot of information to take in at your first oncology appointment, treatment options will be discussed & you’ll possibly be asked to sign consent forms to go ahead with the best course of treatment. I would think your treatment plan will be chemoradiotherapy, most of us here have been through this treatment, for this to take place you’ll need a planning scan to map where the radiotherapy should be directed as it’s a very precise science! You will possibly be given a date for your planning scan during this appointment. Once I’d had my planning scan it was around 2 weeks until I began my treatment although this was back in 2018, pre-pandemic. The chemo side of the treatment can vary a little from hospital to hospital, personally I had a short infusion of Mitomycin on day 1 of treatment then capecitabine tablets twice a day each day of radiotherapy thereafter, radiotherapy was Monday-Friday with weekends off all treatments. I had 23 days of chemoradiotherapy although the standard is usually 28. Please don’t be afraid to ask questions here there’s many of us that have gone through treatment & are through the other side & we have lots of hints, tips & support to offer.
Nicola
