Anal Cancer

Hello Kazaboo,

Oh, you are right at the sharp end of this now. I can only offer you some thoughts that you should soon be over the worst bits, and things will start to settle as your body's healing catches up.

I am several years post treatment now, but there are several on this forum who will be much closer to you time-wise and they may be able to give you some better guidance. I just wanted to give you some glimpse of the light which should be appearing at the end of this tunnel soon.

It sounds like you have been given lots of advice and supplies to help get you through, so I can only say hang in there; perhaps you could start thinking about some plans for what you will do when you get past this stage - it should not be long now, and by the time summer is here properly you should be feeling much more on top of things.

xx

Hello lovely, I'm on my 16th day today. Starting with pain,itching . I bought a sit bath , it just sits on the loo and has a hand pump , so soothing

 Every time I put cream on it stings, I'm doing a dance round the kitchen,and deep breathing. I'm a few weeks behind you,  so can't offer any advice, but your not on your own, and soon this will be over . Sending healing thoughts Anne

Hi Kazaboo,

I'm so sorry you're experiencing such discomfort! I am 9 weeks post-treatment and remember being in the stage you're in. I too felt terrible at week 3 and was really discouraged because somehow in my head I thought there would be this miraculous turning point at week 2, and I would suddenly start to feel better, but I wasn't experiencing that at all. More than once, I dissolved in tears.

The good news is that you will feel better. For me, the turning point was somewhere between week 3 and 4, and although it wasn't sudden roses and unicorns, just feeling a little more energy and less pain buoyed my spirits a lot. Getting to the point where I could tolerate wearing underwear felt like a major achievement.

I can't really comment about the discharge because I didn't experience it, but I've read that a lot of people experience it. Maybe check in with your treatment team just to be certain?

Most of all, I just want to say hang in there. It really does get better, and it feels like a miracle when it finally happens. Xx

thanks for your positive words xx

Mrs V. 

Thanks for your encouragement. I’m feeling more positive about my journey now. xx

pThank you so much. Hearing positive words from someone who is only 6 weeks ahead of me is massively encouraging. xx

Just wanted to add I did also have discharge for a few weeks afterwards; I'm pretty sure it's quite common but perhaps you should mention it whenever you next see someone medical, just to make sure you haven't got some sort of infection.xx

Hi Kazaboo sorry you are having a rough time. Im sure things will start getting better for you soon. I had the mucous discharge aswell, mine started the last week of treatment and was like a bloody avalanche for about 2/3 weeks can't remember exact timescale. You will get there and this will soon all be a distant memory xx

Kazaboo

You will get there - honestly.  It must seem at the moment that there is no end to this but the change can be quite dramatic.  The only thing I would say is take all the rest you need; your body has had a course of really toxic treatment and is trying to recover and this in itself takes a huge amount of energy, hence the fatigue.  Three weeks after treatment I wasn't awake six hours in the day!

Big healing hug

Irene xx