I am so thankful & blessed to have found this community and that you allow us from across the pond! Any place I looked at on this side was only horror stories (purely negative) and only during treatment. I did not see ones where people were responding to others that had been thru it that had months or years after treatment under their belt. This community is so truthful, helpful, uplifting & encouraging!!
For me, I have to thank my wonkey head for my diagnosis. I do not have symptoms from my anal cancer. I have had what I call a wonkey head since July/Aug 2024. Dizziness/foggy headed maybe best describes it. I feel really off in my head with everyday at some point feeling like I am going to fall forward or backwards with a few really bad episodes. Anyhow, my doctor ordered blood work among a bunch of other tests. My iron came back on the low end, 13 with the low of 11. I have had a history of bleeding hemorrhoids and stomach ulcers so she had me follow up with my gastro guy - took 4 months to get that appointment. Of course the word blood leads to a colonoscopy, took another month to get it. Well, they found an area that did not look right, close to bumpy looking skin & biopsied it. It came back not good and lead to a CT scan and an unhappy groin lymph node, then a biopsy of it.
So here I am. Learning...
Learning patience, with all the doctors appointments (18 in 3 weeks) and waiting to hear back; waiting to hear the start of treatment date -medical oncologist's first goal was to start 7/7, radiation oncologist said that was too soon for them 7/14 would be the earliest because it takes them time to do the radiation plan. Which is OK because I want them to pin point that beam as much as possible. That got completed finally so I start Mon. 7/28.
Learning about treatments- my medical oncologist specializes in anal cancer. It's rare, only about 10,000 people in US will be diagnosed with it this year and most of them are women in their 60's. But it is highly curable and the treatment that is highly effective is the same one they have been doing since the 70's, 5-1/2 to 6 weeks of radiation with week 1 and week 4 including chemo.
Learning about side effects. The dr's have told me about them however, I think I have learned more from the people on here as to what they really went thru. I so appreciate what everyone posts about this side of life. And not just the effects during treatment but afterwards as well! My dr. said that recovery will be 1 week for every week of treatment and that I will feel a lot worse before I get better. Thank you all for giving me insight as to what that may look like!
Oh yeah, she also said this has nothing to do with my wonkey head. Neurologist thinks it is spine/nerve related. But if I would not have had it, it would be another 5 years before I had a colonoscopy.
Thank you all for being you!
Crissy
Hi Crissy (Chris From Across The Pond ),
Firstly welcome to the MacMillan Online Community although I’m so sorry to learn of your recent diagnosis. I’m also pleased you’ve found the posts here beneficial & informative. Me personally I’m a little over 7 years post treatment & enjoying life.
It’s really good that the investigations for your ‘wonky head’ found this anal cancer before you began experiencing any symptoms, this has obviously lead to a much earlier diagnosis. Anal cancer is so often misdiagnosed for months leading to later diagnosis & therefore higher levels of radiation needed & sometimes radical surgery to achieve cure.
I'm really pleased you’ve a start date, not long to wait now, most people find it passes really quickly once you’re in the routine of daily hospital visits.
Remember we’re here to support you however we can do please ask if you’ve any questions you think we may be able to help with.
Nicola
