Rectal cancer and Capecitabine

Hi Sbee Do you know why you’re having the chemo then we may be able to give you an idea? Did you have lymph nodes affected or were you EMVI positive for example? x

Hi 

I'll tell you what I was told when I got the diagnosis and that was that I had enlarged lymph nodes but they weren't sure if it was actually in the lymph nodes but it was classed as stage 3, about 3 weeks later I was asked to have another MRI scan as something has been spotted my Liver so I had that done the same week but the day after that second MRI I had my first appointment at the Christie and I spoke with a I'm going to say doctor as I'm not 100% sure what her job title was but she certainly knew a lot and she said that she'd seen the original scan and she doesn't think it was anything to worry about and she also said after looking at all my results she also didn't think that the Cancer was in my lymph nodes either, that was the 12th March it was her that said she'd like me to do one or two chemotherapy treatments but my last appointment with a doctor which was last Wednesday I was told that it could be 6 weeks and I've found a letter that I recieved through the Christie website that says it will be 12 weeks so I have no idea how long it will be for.i don't know if this helps but the the staging code I saw last was 

T3 NO MO which Google tells me is stage 2.

its one of those illnesses that I'm completely lost as I know nothing about it other than what I've learnt since my diagnosis.

In general, stages 1-4 don't seem very reliable to me. I think the TNM tells more. I was "stage 2" but T4b N0 M0. I had 8 cycles of infusion chemo to help shrink my tumor to make it operable. That was 16 weeks because my chemo was every 2 weeks. 

I'd expect you to have less given the T3 status. Most people seem to be getting chemo every 2 weeks so 2 cycles would be 4 weeks and 3 cycles would be 6 weeks. So the consultant and the letter are not that different. Is there someone you can call to get a clarification? 

Hi I'm actually back at the Christie tomorrow and again on Tuesday which is my last radiotherapy session and I was told on Friday that I will be seeing (at some point, I'm not to sure when) someone to discuss the next stage so hopefully I can find out for sure what I should be expecting, I just wanted to ask here just to see if anyone's been in the same kind of situation.

Hi Sbee  my OH was diagnosed with rectal Cancer

We were told they were unable to operate until after Radiotherapy and chemo. So he’s had 5 weeks of radiotherapy and capecitabine- 3 weeks gap - is now on 4 sessions of CAPOX  3 weeks apart  so 12 weeks in total. 
Currently completed 2 rounds so far but having a weeks break at the mo as his platelets count was below their acceptable level. 
After he completes the chemo he will have a scan then surgery if he needs it .  Stage 3. T4 N1M0

Everyone seems to be different so take it a day at a time and don’t get ahead of yourself. Just concentrate on the here and now. 

Best of luck with your treatment  take a look at CAPOX JOURNEY thread that has a few people’s experiences on there 

Sbee

Hi, I was diagnosed with stage 3 rectal cancer, a 3 cm tumor 11 cm from the anus. The pelvic lymph nodes were enlarged. I was given chemotherapy using the FolFox system. During this, I walked for 48 hours with a pump that continuously supplied the solution to my port under the collarbone. My condition was 3 out of 10, vomiting and nausea. I recommend walking a lot in the fresh air during this time. My friend and I in the ward walked around the hospital building all our free tim

In a week, this 48-hour course will be repeated, and so on for 6 courses. It helped me.

Hi Thankyou for the reply.

im literally just going to see what im told and hopefully everything will go to plan. 
I can only hope I guess, I hope your other half is doing good and I hope all is going well.

Thankyou for the reply 

I've seen chemo through a pump before I saw someone on YouTube doing the same kind of thing, as for walking I'm literally refusing to stop walking I walk absolutely everywhere I leave my house and my earphones go in the music comes on and the world goes off even it's only for a short time I'm happy, 

I hope everything is going good for you and I wish you the very best.

 Sbee  how you getting on? I went straight to theatre for my rectal but did get adjuvant or mop up chemo for vascular invasion 

At the moment I'm just waiting for my next appointment at the Christie which is 22nd May I have 3 appointments on the same day so I should find out quite a bit more with what's going on and what to expect.

when I first got the diagnosis the doctor I spoke to did say to me that I could go straight to surgery and they would take it out but he also told me with the size of the tumour that I should really consider first a stoma bag and also the chem radiotherapy to hopefully shrink it to make it easier to remove. I am kind of thinking would I of been better just going straight in and getting it done but it's to late now so I'll just wait and see what happens.

how is everything with you? I'm assuming everything went well, hope you don't mind me asking.