pain management

Hello DeeDeeR 

A warm welcome to the forum although I am sorry to hear of your diagnosis.  You are in that stage of great apprehension that can come before treatment starts.  What is important to remember is that the side effects don't all come at once and the pain is a very gradual thing starting sometime around week three.  Not everyone has exactly the same experience, some have an adverse reaction to the chemo but many do not.  You will probably feel fatigued which can increase at treatment progresses, the body is trying very hard to repair itself after each treatment so be kind to yourself and have lots of rest.

I am sorry I can't help with your questions regarding Proton Therapy and pain; I had MRT radiotherapy which aims to protect as much of healthy tissue as possible.  Occasionally in some European countries a stoma is offered to spare using the anal canal during treatment but I haven't heard of nerve blocks used here on the forum.  What I can tell you is that my treating team were very proactive in helping with the pain; if something didn't work, they would prescribe something else the same day.  Nothing totally eradicated the pain, but the doctor gave very clear instructions how to keep a good level of drugs in my body and to regularly dose to prevent 'break through' pain.  They also prescribed local anaesthetic creams to use around the anal area.

I completely understand your fear and I am sorry if I have done little to reassure you.  What I can stress is that everyone on here will help in whatever way they can with lots of tips and coping strategies.  I hope you get some more information from others in answer to your questions too.

Big hug

Irene xx