I wanted to diarise my journeys, which i'm yet to travel most of, in some ways to remind myself and allow me to reflect on my experiences, good and bad as they happen and in other ways to help my friends and family (and anyone else out there thats interested) understand without having to ask awkward questions what happens and how it feels.
Rule No. 1 - Don't lose your sense of humour!
I've got a great start as i have anal cancer (no i havent done or had any of the things they suggest you may have done to get it i'm just darn unlucky i guess) so i can tell lots of bum jokes. Apparently less than 800 people a year get diagnosed in the UK, so i'm obviously very special. Always wanted to have something in common with Farrah, she started with anal cancer apparently.
Rule No. 2 - Never take your friends for granted !
I have awesome friends, i mean if any of you read this, you are truly truly awesome, and i know your love and support and my fighting spirit are going to get us through this!
If you dont know me though and are just in that waiting stage (oh yeah i know about that, I've been surfing the web since 23rd of Goddamn February trying to find answers) you probably want to know how this started and how it feels once you get diagnosed (sorry to say the waiting carries on) so here goes:
The Boring Bit
Tuesday Feb 23rd - bupa health assessment at reading. I took out the advanced one, thank you work for that option, for sure its going to have saved my life so please please if you can afford it or its provided through work go get one of those.
One MRI Scan, a CT scan, blood tests, a couple of biopsies under general, quite a few meetings with a consultant and a lot of distraught waiting later and finally i got the diagnosis.
Monday 12th April - met with consultant. He says its early and its very treatable which is positive, next stop referral to an oncologist, get used to it, everything is a few days in this game. Even under private healthcare it still takes weeks.
Thursday April 15th - met with Oncologist. Shes the specialist for the area, very matter of fact, its going to be horrid but at least only 5 weeks of treatment. It wont start for up to 28 days though (yes there we go again with another wait!) They need to do some stuff before we can start:
Operation to move my ovaries - otherwise i'll definitely go through the menopause, still might but they might be able to miss it with radiotherapy
Have a cap fitted to main vein in chest so they can hook up the chemo.
Radiotherapy CT scan - this is a special CT scan so they can plan where to target the treatment apparently.
Then we start with:
Week 1 - Chemo 24x7 but you are at home, you carry the bag around with you apparently. They are giving me fluorouracil otherwise known as 5FU and Mitomycin C, nice little combo but hopefully wont loose hair. Plus you have radiotherapy each day. Only takes 10 mins but the getting there and faffing around probably mean its a two hour round trip.
Week 2-4 - Radiotherapy each day
Week 5 - Same as week 1
Bobs your uncle, the little beauty should be all gone by then, heres hoping. In the past this would be guaranteed colostomy so i'm lucky really.
Gory BitRadiotherapy down there is like getting sunburnt til you blister and then going out burning some more, expect pus and raw raw bits, the thought of doing a number two makes me want to pass out but i'll tell you what its really like when i start ;-) Anyway she said it will be awful but they will give me cream and strong painkillers.
Bonus Bit
* free sterilisation
* free hollywood (well apparently wherever you have radiotherapy the hair never grows back)
So there you have it the first installment, i'll let you know how i progress but not a lot to report for a while now.
Nutella (T)
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Posts
This is fab T, love you x
ReplyDeleteReading this I'm reliving my experience. It was exactly the same! I am right now about 2 months post radiation. Kelly
ReplyDeleteMy partner was diagnosed with anal cancer and some complicated gastrointestinal tract infections Luckily he had an encounter with Dr Jose, a renowned Italian doctor that helped him overcome his cancer and other infections in less than two and a half months, just with the use of herbal medicine and spiritual help, i can now boldly say He is cancer free and a proud living testimony,Dr Jose is known to be able to tackle any type of cancer found in the human body, God forbids any one should suffer here on earth, thats why I believe he created all these herbs, if you also want to clear your doubts and fight cancer to the barest minimum, take the bull by the horn and avoid death, you can contact our Doctor, by his email joseherbals28@gmail.com
ReplyDeletehi Tania
ReplyDeleteIm due to have exploratory procedure in Jan 2019 to assess what might be the cause of my anal pain. I wondered what your symptoms of anus cancer were? Many thanks David
What happened at your procedure? I have anal cancer, and I can tell you symptoms I experienced. At first, symptoms were a lot like hemorrhoids. As a matter of fact before I was diagnosed, the hospital emergency room kept telling me thats what it was..but nothing helped. It hurts to poop, and when I did there was a lot of blood. Visibly, there were no signs at first.. eventually I did notice something that looked like a hemorrhoid, but it kept growing
DeleteHi Tania
ReplyDeleteThank you from the bottom of my heart for this blog. My mum has recently been diagnosed so its all still very new. I tried researching it but like u I found naff all, then woohoo I stumbled across this beauty. Your a very brave lady and u have given us so much hope so thank you again u amazing woman. Not my first choice of bed time reading but hey its better than 50 shades of grey lol
Thank you again and take care.
Xxx
I just found this blog..not sure if anyone still follows it or not, but I'm a 33 year old mother of a 4 year old daughter and I was recently diagnosed with anal cancer. I had a colostomy done to help with the pain I'm in now, and to help when I start radiation. It's temporary and will be reversed after treatments. I too was told how rare this form of cancer is, and especially in a woman my age. That certainly didn't make me feel any better. Nurses told me I hit the cancer lottery..yay me! I'm really nervous because I've been in a lot of pain for a long time..close to a year. It took months of making trips to the ER trying to convince them it was NOT hemorrhoids, because that's what they kept telling me, before I finally scheduled an appointment with a colon and rectal surgeon. He found the cancer when I went in for hemorrhoid surgery. I was in shock for weeks.. I finally came to terms with it, even the colostomy bag didn't take a second thought with the amount of pain I was in, and the fact I couldn't poop. Now I know it's because the tumor became so large it is literally blocking the lower part of my rectum and anus. I spent a week in hospital having the ostomy surgery and also had a port placed in my chest for chemotherapy. I'm still waiting to start treatment because of insurance.. which is ridiculous. I was diagnosed in March aand wont start treatment until May 15th. Anyways, it's nice to be able to relate to someone...thank goodness for the internet because I've found others with stories like mine..so thank you! All the way from the Florida!❤️
ReplyDeleteoh my goodness i just went back to this page after all this tiime to see if it wasstill live so i could send it to someone and i saw all these comments from amazing people that had stumbled across it. Firstly let me say i am really really sorry I dont look at this email account like i should i use my other account so if anyone else stumbles across this and wants to chat to someone then please contact me on wrighttania@me.com anyway the good news is that i am still cancer free, i think someone asked what my symptoms were, the scary thing was i really didn't have any apart from some bleeding now and again, so if you have anything at all go and see someone, worst case they tell you its nothing! I do have some rather annoying left over bowel and waterworks problems but to be honest anything is better than having the cancer so i have learnt over time to deal with them and am still trying to find someone that can help me relieve them somewhat. I wish you all speedy recovery and lots of love. Tania
ReplyDelete