Diagnosed with Squarmous Cell Carcinoma 4/5cm lump.

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Im 43yrs old and sadly have been diagnosed with Squarmois Cell Carcinoma just inside my bottom.

I am awaiting my PET mri scan before starting chemo/radiotherapy. 

I am struggling with the feeling of always wanting thr toilet, often straining for almost nothing to come out.

My GP seems rubbish as to what to prescribe me for pain relief. I have been taking Paracetemol and then a Co-codamol along with Laxitives to help with constipation. This sometimes barely takes the edge off of it.

Has anyone had similar struggles and what were they prescribed? 

Hopefully my treatment goes well once it starts.

Thank you for any help...

  • That's a real dilemma, if they can't give you a date for surgery.

    I was also concerned about delays, as my diagnosis did not include lymph nodes originally. But felt I had no choice due to weight loss.

    Is it possible to contact your Doctor and push for a early surgery date. Maybe another hospital can do this sooner?

    Keeping my fingers crossed that you get offered timely surgery and then can make the best choice for you.

    Ally 

  • Hello Chiefee,

    Im so sorry that you have this dilemma to contend with on top of everything else. That’s a tough one. 
    I don’t have any personal experience of a stoma but it seems like for some, hearing about their experiences, it’s been really helpful.

    It seems that this was sprung on you and that you feel that you have to make a very quick decision as you understandably don’t want to delay your treatment. 
    Could you have another conversation with your team today and further explain that it’s the unknown timescale that’s causing you so much stress?

     I would hope that they could perhaps give you some clearer indication of when you could expect to have the procedure and go through potential risks/ benefits again. 

    I really feel for you being in this position just when you are due to start and I hope that you get further support from your team in making the decision.

    Gentle hug to you xx

  • Hello  

    A stoma would undoubtedly help if you go on to have the chemo/radiotherapy -  but you are starting with systemic chemo as I did.  I do know that tissue healing is adversely affected by chemo which is probably why they want to do it first.  It really is a difficult decision and I don't envy you.  However, I had delays during treatments and it didn't affect the outcome.  They do say that anal cancer is very slow growing (but I am certainly not an expert).  They sound as if they are worried that your tumour may eventually cause a blockage as the main treatment that targets the tumour is the radiotherapy and that may not happen for another six - eight months.

    What I can say is that I recovered very quickly after having the stoma formation and haven't had any problems since.  Could you push very hard for the surgery to be done quickly?  Is there another hospital near you who could do the stoma op?

    I really do hope they speed things up for you.  Big hug.

    Irene xx

  • Hi   

    I have a partial obstruction due to a large tumour coming from my spine pressing on my bowel as well as the AC, the lower part of one is about the same place as the upper part of the other so it was a bit of a squeeze for anything that wasn’t quite soft and if it didn’t move it dried out very quickly and required strong stool softeners as a matter of urgency, because of that I initially thought a temp stoma may be suggested but because I was having chemoradiotherapy and not chemo alone it wasn’t offered, I did have about 3 days in the 1st week of treatment after the IV chemo where I took 3 sachets of Movicol per day and that was fine, the rest of the time I didn’t need anything either way.

    So, I did consider the impact of a temp stoma before treatment and would have probably gone along with it unless it meant another delay and as I’d had plenty of those already, I would have probably refused it in that case.

    I think you have a really difficult decision here especially if they won’t provide a more firm date for surgery so I agree you really need to push for that and get more support.

    I really hope you can make the best choice.

    Gentle hug

    Monty x

  • Thank you all for your replies..

    So... I had a call this morning to book a surgery date for 15/08 to have the stoma. I thought 2 weeks, I can handle that.

    Update family etc.

    Then I get a call from the Colorectal Nurse who has spoke to the Dr and now they think the delay in Chemo is too long to wait as it would be 2/3 weeks after surgery. They now recommend I have Chemo tomorrow as originally planned.

    Im not sure why they couldnt have discussed this beforehand. It has caused a bit of unnecessary stress.

  • OMG talk about messing you around. Least its sorted now. Good luck for tomorrow. Xx

  • I’ve been following your journey so far and just want to say that a friend of mine has just had a stoma reversal after treatment for colon cancer and she’s absolutely fine! 
    Hope all goes well for you and that once the treatment starts you will be well on your way to recovery.

    Hugs from Happyflower 

  • Gosh, Chiefee, I am not surprised you are stressed but at least there is some communication going on.  So will you still have the stoma formation in August?

    Irene xx

  • Oh Chiefee, 

    I can’t imagine where your head must be at after all this. How stressful and really feel for you. So much conflicting information at the last moment.


    Wishing you well for the chemo tomorrow and hope all goes well from now on. X

  • No it was only as a precaution as they were worried of a potential blockage during chemo.

    I am now down for 1 session a week for 5/6 weeks with a week break in the middle.

    If the chemo works its magic and my original lump inside my rectum is revisited a stoma may be required if radiotherapy does not work.