Newly diagnosed

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 

HiSimonee0c868d 

Welcome to the club although im sorry you have found yourself here. Your feelings are totally normal. I personally didnt have surgery for my anal cancer just chemo and radiotherapy. While you are more than welcome here and everyone will suppport you i wonder as you called yours rectal cancer which is different to anal cancer if you have joined the wrong group. I have put a link for the rectal cancer group below.

 Bowel (colon and rectal) cancer forum 

Ive just seen Nikki65  has worded things much better than me. Sending hugs. Xx

Hi Simonee0c868d ,

I'm not quite the same in that I had colon cancer. However I can promise it's not as terrifying as it feels. It looks like I'll need more in the new year and I'm no where near as terrified as I was the first time.  I'm not exactly bouncing about the idea, but I'm not as scared as I was last time by a long shot.

The surgery was this enormous scary thought in my head and while it was a big ordeal as you tend to feel a bit rough afterwards, I was well looked after at all times and was never in any pain at all, in fact I was just mostly grumpy that they kept waking me up to take my obs.  

I was 51 when diagnosed and was fit and healthy without any symptoms.

I'm now back to being fit and healthy at 52.  I restarted the gym earlier this year, but I even kept walking etc through Chemo.

I didn't have to have a stoma (but may in the new year).  However, in case you need one, my granny had one and lived very happily with one for 20 odd years and one of my friends who has one says it's great as you never get 'caught short' when out for a walk.

I had a left hemicolectomy followed by six months adjuvant chemotherapy which was twice daily tablets from home with the worse side effect (for me) being fatigue which is still with me now.  In the new year I will be having a HIPEC followed by another six months of chemo if my 'something' is found to be cancer and not scar tissue (only a massive operation can tell apparently, but better safe than sorry).

My advice is to take each day as it comes, one day at a time.  

Wishing you well with the operation.

Cerysm