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FormerMember
FormerMember
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Hi 

I'm Nicci, I'm 45 and I've received my diagnosis of anal cancer 2 weeks ago. I've got a partial staging, just need 1 more CT scan and a PET scan and then treatment can begin. I'm having 5 weeks of radio/chemo combined.

Hope you're all doing well x

  • Hi Niccisam welcome to the site. I remember being where you are before my treatment started and it was a very scary place to be. It’s surprising when you start your treatment at how time flies. I would tick of the days and before I knew it, it was done. You will find lots of tips on what others felt helped them with side effects. Mine was a sitz bath which helped with soreness. I had a excellent Macmillan nurse on my team who I felt was always there for me. Many a time I wanted to give her a big hug for helping me through this journey but of course I couldn’t because of covid. Good luck

  • Hi   welcome to the group although I'm sorry to hear of your diagnosis. As has said, there's lots of tips on here for dealing with side effects and other issues. We have people at all different stages of treatment. If you click on people's user names you can read more detail about their diagnoses and treatment.   Like you, I had 5 weeks of chemoradiotherapy (actually it was 5 weeks 3 days). I had a one off short infusion of Mitomycin administered intravenously on day one of treatment, this only took about 15 minutes. I also had 8 tablets of Capecitabine a day for 5.3 weeks, Monday to Friday. The chemotherapy was fine, the only side effect I had was feeing nauseous from day 2 to 7 of chemo. I took anti-nausea tablets from day one which helped enormously. The side effects of radiotherapy build up, I felt the effects from about week 4, which were diarrhoea and tiredness.  However, some people go the other way and become constipated.  I took Loperamide for the diarrhoea. For pain I took ibuprofen.  It is important to make the nurses/radiographers  aware of any side effects as there are lots of ways they can be treated, eg anti-sickness, anti-diarrhoea medications etc. It will also help if you moisturise your skin from day one of treatment, 100% aloe vera gel (alcohol free) is excellent, other people use aqueous creams but take care not to apply creams right before your radiotherapy session. The radiographers are very helpful with providing specialist creams should you need them.   As has just been said on another thread, there are lots of potential side effects of treatment but you won't necessarily suffer from them all. I hope you receive a start date for your treatment soon. Bev 

  • Hi ,

    I’d also like to welcome you to the group although also I’m sorry that you’ve had the need to find us. I don’t have much to add as  &  have given you quite a lot of information already but just wanted to say hi & we’re always here if you need some tips & support. 

    Nicola