Hello everyone and thank you for letting me join.
I'm a very fit and healthy 54 year old mother and grandmother so I am in total shock over my rectal cancer diagnosis and cannot believe how quickly things have moved on as I am booked in for surgery next week and I am so terrified about it all. Hoping there may be someone on here who has been through it all and can give me some words of reassurance
Hi there Simonee0c868d ,
Firstly welcome to the MacMillan Online Community although I’m really sorry to hear of your recent diagnosis.
I was 52 at the time of my diagnosis which was 7 years & 9 months ago now & otherwise fit & well, cancer really was the last thing on my agenda!
I hope you don’t mind me asking but is it rectal or anal cancer that you’ve been diagnosed with? I’m only asking as both tend to have slightly different treatment pathways. Anal cancer is generally treated with chemo-radiotherapy with only early diagnosis’s being treated with surgery first whereas rectal cancer is usually treated surgically first with follow up treatments of chemotherapy & or radiotherapy if needed. If it is rectal cancer opposed to anal cancer you may also like to post on the Bowel (colon and rectal) cancer forum to connect with others there with a similar diagnosis but remember we’re happy to support you here too.
Regardless of your diagnosis we can all appreciate the feelings you have right now, it’s a really scary place to be. It’s a whirlwind of emotions isn’t it? Although it’s shocking at the time it’s good that things are moving quickly for you.
If you’ve any questions at all please just ask we’re an open minded bunch here (the nature of this diagnosis!) & nothing is too personal.
I hope your surgery goes well next week.
Nicola
