am i cured

[collie]

i have just finished my 6 weeks of radiation and the pain i have been in is unbearable as my cancer was in my bum!!!! I had squamous cell carcinoma and the burns i got from the radiation were really bad that i could hardly walk, as the radiation burnt all my girlie bits as well. I have been told i cant have radiation in the same spot again so what happens if it wasnt successful, they say an operation but i already had one of them and that was painful enough, how will an operation cure the cancer if the radiation didn't. I am sorry to off load to you people but there is no one else i can ask and no one knows or understands how i am feeling. I dont know if any of you will truly understand cancer in the bum either but surely our thoughts on the word cancer are similar, my nurse said my cancer was similar to prostate cancer men getso i feel for all those men out there that get it, because i understand how it feels and what you go through.

[Jules2]

Hiya Collie There is someone else on this site who has had rectal cancer. She pops in from time to time, so here's hoping she reads your post and you can chat to her. I think you are right regarding we all (or most) have cancer have a commonality. I hope that your radiation burns heal quickly. I put honey on my burnt skin and although it is messy it really did help and didn't interfere with anything else that was happening at the time. Julie

[benlisecca]

I do feel your pain sister!!! It's such a brutal, horrible and barbaric treatment but it's the best we have and it WILL cure you - you really have to think that. I was diagnosed with anal cancer in Nov 08 and like you I was 40. I had a T3 tumour which means it was pretty big but it has disappeared completely and I am almost coming up to my 2 year survivor party date. Radiation is the gift that keeps on giving and I have been told that it can keep working for up to 6 months after treatment has finished so even if you can still feel tumour try not to panic too much as it is possible that it will continue to shrink for a long time. And believe it or not the burns heal very quickly but I did spend a lot of time during treatment in salt baths and walking very funnily 🙂 Although the burns heal quickly the emotions and fear can take a long time to diminish but it too comes with time...very slowly.... and I'm not sure that it ever gets back to normal. There is an option if the cancer comes back.... I can talk to you about it if you need to as I too have lived in fear of it coming back and have looked at what would happen. Every itch, every pain, every odd thing that happens makes me think it has returned so please don't think you are alone... I'm sure it's the same with most cancer survivors. Enough of my prattle, I could go on for pages with little bits of info that might make the next few months easier but maybe you aren't ready for the bombardment yet. Stay strong and know that the treatment has proved to be effective for many many people. Would love to chat to you some time Best wishes Sharon xxxxx

[Sailor]

Hi Collie You do need a bit more information about your cancer and perhaps have another talk with your doctors about it. You say that it was a squamous cell carcinoma and yes that type of cancer can occur in a variety of places. It is one of the more common types of skin cancer but can occur in many different places and organs, including as you put it, 'girlie bits'. Whilst there is a squamous cell carcinoma of the prostate (it doesn't produce PSA!), it is not what we usually call prostate cancer - that is adenocarcinoma of the prostate and can be monitored with PSA. However, the nurse may well have been referring to the skin burning side effect of your treatment being similar to that men experience with radiation for prostate cancer. Most people who experience radiotherapy will get skin side effects - like a bad case of sunburn, and it can be in those parts the where 'the sun don't shine'. It is often an individual thing with some people getting it far worse than others. Talk to your nurse about ways to make life easier until everything repairs. After my last lot of radiotherapy, I didn't get burnt, but for months later you could see where they had zapped me as a result of skin tanning. Take care and take it easy. Sailor I realize that the old salt’s of tomorrow, start out as the beginners of today. John Jack

[collie]

Thank you so very much for responding to my questions and it's nice to know someone else has had the same as me, you people have put me at ease a bit and Sharon would be great to communicate with you in the future as you have been in the same situation as myself. Sailor i see my oncology dr wednesday so will get more info from him and see my speciallist end of october so will find out more then, but thanks for your feedback.Julie i have heard honey works well, dont know if im willing to put it on my bum though 🙂 I hope to chat to you all soon, Colleen

[julia.w]

I also had radiation to the pelvic area and got my girlie bits burnt. It sure does suck, doesn't it? I was put onto an anaesthetic gel the first time, last December, which I can't recall the name of but certainly helped a lot. The second dose was a couple of weeks ago and my burns have just healed, so know that it will pass, in fact you should be about over it all by now. But you may find that after enough time that they may give you more radiation in the same area as they did for me. Mine is slightly different to you, I needed my hip treated so that I could walk. Having tumours in the top of my femur were making it impossible to walk and the radiation helped enormously. Now I have a break in my pelvis and was treated in the same area but a slightly smaller field, so I didn't get the raging diarrhoea from the first time. I know everyone's case is different, but it could be that you can't have radiation in the same area for a while (my gap was nine months). Good luck with everything julia.w