Week 6 post treatment

Hi

Nice to hear from you, sounds like you’re doing great, especially as you’re going back to work!!

Don’t worry about seeing the surgeon, something similar happened to me and I was convinced I was going to need surgery as a result. One you’ve had the results of your 3 month scans you will be put on ’surveillance’.  Once oncology have done their job they tend to pass you over to surgical outpatients for your 3 monthly checks so you will see the surgeon regularly.

Your side effects sound normal, be prepared though as they will probably hang around for a while. I don’t mean weeks, months. I still ache now, a year on. There are things you can do to ease your symptoms, exercise, supplements etc It is quite a long recovery I’m afraid but you can function and get on with your life as normal.

As for scans, its the norm to have pelvic and upper abdominal scans, I have them. I’m afraid they do this to check for any spread. 

As for HPV I’d be interested to hear more about this. Do you know if you are HPV positive? the only way of knowing is by having a swab test during a smear. Obviously if your cancer wasn’t HPV driven there would be no need to be immunised. I would like to know how vulnerable we are of developing another HPV related cancer and if an immunisation would combat this. 

Interesting that you GP thinks you’ll need a general anaesthetic to have a smear. It will depend on how severe your vaginal stenosis is. Only something you will know. My oncologist told me that as long as I used dilators and resumed a sex life, smear tests might be a tad bit more uncomfortable but do-able.

Someone recently posted about this very subject. She was concerned her smear would be painful but in the end it was fine no real difference to when she had them pre-cancer. We are all different however. Its not something I’m looking forward to I have to say!

Good luck with your return to work. I see you’ve agreed a phased return which is good and should you find things more challenging that expected, please ask for more flexibility. Make sure you’ve seen or had a conversation with occupational health as well.

Lovely to hear from you, you’ve done really well. 

Sarah x

Hi there, I am almost six years since treatment started, and so far all is well. Just wanted to say something about the MRI scan as I  also  suffer with claustrophobia. When my consultant mentioned that I would have to have a  MRI I freaked out and said that I couldn't  do it, she said it was essential that I did, so I agreed if I could enter feet first. I did this and although it wasn't pleasent certainly not as bad as head first. I had head phones on and kept my eyes tightly shut for the whole procedure.I had a second MRI after treatment and after that just CT scans which are not a problem. You could ask your GP for for some Diazepan or something similar which may help. Wish you well and try not to think about it .This is advice fro  someone who doesn't go in lifts, underground, high buildings, etc. Its a difficult thing to understand unless you suffer from it, take care

Valerie.

Hi there, I am almost six years since treatment started, and so far all is well. Just wanted to say something about the MRI scan as I  also  suffer with claustrophobia. When my consultant mentioned that I would have to have a  MRI I freaked out and said that I couldn't  do it, she said it was essential that I did, so I agreed if I could enter feet first. I did this and although it wasn't pleasent certainly not as bad as head first. I had head phones on and kept my eyes tightly shut for the whole procedure.I had a second MRI after treatment and after that just CT scans which are not a problem. You could ask your GP for for some Diazepan or something similar which may help. Wish you well and try not to think about it .This is advice fro  someone who doesn't go in lifts, underground, high buildings, etc. Its a difficult thing to understand unless you suffer from it, take care

Valerie.

Thanks eirelav this is great advise. Great to hear that you’re 6 years clear and doing well. 

Thanks Sarah

My Oncologist said my cancer was caused by HPV. I did question how he knew this without a test but he pretty much said all anal cancers are caused by HPV 16/18. 

The GP said if the vaccine was effective at our age, it could possibly protect against a different strain of HPV than the one I already have causing the current cancer. She basically said there is no evidence as to whether the vaccine works or not in people our age. She did say there was no evidence of causing a problem having the vaccine in later life so I'm guessing it's a bit of a gamble as there is a complete lack of research. The vaccine will not irradicate anything already in our bodies and there's no proof if it protects in later life. This is due to the vaccine being fairly new and no tests/trials being done for us older folk. 

I don't want to regret not having it so I am seriously considering shelling out. It's 3 vaccines total cost £300.

Is there a specific reason why you mention seeing Occupational Health Sarah? 

Xx

Thank you Valerie x 

Thanks

Thanks for that information, I’m very interested in this as I’d consider having the vaccine myself.

I’ve contacted the HPV & Anal Cancer Foundation to see if they can provide any more information about this. As soon as I hear anything I’ll share.

There’s no specific reason why I mention occupational health, its something that every company should provide for anyone that has been long-term sick. Its to protect you really. I met with occupational health when I returned to work. We had a confidential chat and it was good to talk to someone impartial. They checked in with me regularly to see if I was ok which was great because after a few weeks of returning, it felt like everyone had forgotten I’d had cancer and was till recovering.

I only mention it for your own protection really and that it can be a support to you if you feel you need it. 

Sarah x

Thanks Sarah

Work did mention Occupational Health but nothing has been arranged. 

Please do share any info from The Anal Foundation, in the meantime I shall ponder about the vaccine. My main concern is the lack of research about any adverse effects being immunized late in life. Whilst there's no evidence of this, my guess is not enough people have had it to make a judgement.

Xx