Husband newly diagnosed rectal cancer

Hi Woofs and a warm welcome to the board. My tumour was also 4cm although a bit further in at 9cm. Size does not matter really - the scans will check how far the tumour has grown into the bowel wall and if it’s gone through and spread to other organs. I’ve attached a link to a booklet that I was given at my first meeting which talks about staging and things you might want to ask at your first meeting.

https://bowelcancerorguk.s3.amazonaws.com/Publications/Bowel_Cancer_UK_Your_Pathway_V10.1.pdf

The low fibre diet is to ensure that the bowel has as easy a time as possible - things like nuts and seeds can aggravate the tumour when passing over it and increase the risk of it swelling and, in the worse case scenario, blocking the bowel.

Treatment for rectal cancer is often chemoradiotherapy to shrink the tumour as much as possible before surgery. There may also be a stoma involved which may be temporary or permanent but this is maybe something you could ask about at your first appointment?

The waiting for scan results and meetings is very stressful but please take strength from some of the positive posts on here. Stay away from google as it can be scary and out of date - if you click on peoples names then their profile page may show their treatment to date.

The next few months will be tough but we’ll be happy to help and support you both through this. Please make sure you look after yourself too? It’s easy to let a cancer diagnosis take over your lives so try to make time for yourself even if it’s just a walk or coffee with friends.

Take care

Karen x

Thank you so much Karen, 

I hope you're okay now, We heard today that we have a meeting Tuesday Morning, So will no doubt find out then, Really grateful for your reply, And the link to the booklet

I will update here after Tuesday with hopefully a plan of action 

Much love 

Woofs

Size really doesn't matter. My tumor was considered huge at 12.5 cm. But I was only Stage 2 because it did not spread to lymph nodes or other parts of the body. 

The large tumor made surgery very difficult but I was considered cancer free 13 months after diagnosis. 

Hopefully this relieves some of your (and his) anxiety 

Thank you so much x

Hello Woofs,

I had a large rectal tumour, low down. If you click on my name you will see a summary of diagnosis, treatments and recovery together with a sense of timescale. Any questions - just ask.

Best,

Dulac

Hey All, We had a meeting today with consultant for the results of CT and MRI,,  The CT was fine and shows no spread elsewhere, The MRI shows ha the tumour has grown into the levator? muscle left side.waiting now for oncology meeting but it looks like chemo/radio and then surgery. 

So mixed emotions today, Happy it is local but not so good that it has advanced. Treatment should start after Xmas and the nurses said it'll be around 6 months of treatment before surgery, Did I hear her right? it seems a long stretch 

Feel pretty useless, He looked so scared and lost, I'm guessing we are in for a rough road ahead but at least we have that road ahead of us to recovery 

Hi Woofs and no spread is good but I guess the ‘6 months of treatment’ comment will have taken the edge off that?

From previous recent posts the general treatment seems to be 3 months chemo, then 5 weeks chemoradiotherapy then a break before surgery. If you let us know which chemo he’ll be having then we can link you into some help/top tips - it may be Capox also known as xelox? Chemo can be tough but sometimes the reputation is worse than the actual experience so take it as it comes?

The Chemoradiotherapy is usually every day (mon-fri) and the chemo part is a mild dose in tablet form which enhances the effect of the radiotherapy. It carries on working for several weeks after the actual treatment finishes and can be very effective at shrinking the tumour.

Please keep posting and ask if there’s anything we can reassure you about? Yes it’s tough but we’ll help and support you both through it

Take care

Karen x

Thank you so much, And I definitely will let you know when we find out what the plan is x

I understand the mixed emotions.  On the one hand, it's good it hasn't spread, on the other hand, the reality of what you're facing just hit you. 

6 months of treatment sounds normal. I did 30 chemoradiation (6 weeks) and 8 infusion chemo treatments (every 2 weeks) and it took about that long. Typically they do infusion chemo first, mine was reverse order. 

Try to relax and enjoy the holidays. (Easier said than done.) You will quickly settle into a new routine was treatment starts. 

Assuming he will get the folfox, I'd tell him to eat all the ice cream and cold foods he loves now, he will likely be unable to eat them once infusion chemo starts due to increased cold sensitivity. (That side effect is very very common.)