dannerca's Journey:

Rectal Tumor 6 inches in diameter, had to have chemo and radiation to reduce size for surgery, Diagnosed with stage 3 cancer

I was on Xeloda, its a chemo pill. Had to take 6 a day, M-F. You have the same side effects as IV chemo. I was nauseated all the time. I never got sick from it but couldn't eat because I always felt sick. Lost alot of weight from it

Radiation in that area was awful after about the 5th week. I was very sore, very tired and my spirit to beat this was starting to dwindle away. My family kept me going. Radiation did do its job in reducing the tumor to 4 inches so I could have surgery

I went in for tumor removal June 2nd, 2011. All went well, surgery lasted 8 hrs. Makes for a long day for family. I also had an ileostomy which was reversable. I had nerve blocks in my back for the surgery, they do help alot for the pain. I hardly ever used the pain pump after surgery. I was up walking the next day. Having the ileostomy was a hard thing for me to adjust to, mentally as well as physically. I had alot of issues with the bag, even when visiting nurses put them on they would leak. My skin around the stoma was very irriatated. The leakage caused a whole in my skin about the size of your pinky finger around and as deep as your fingernail. This was the most painful part of the whole surgery. I had the ileostmy for 4 months. after tumor and 20 lymph nodes removed was down graded to stage 2C , my lymph nodes were cancer free, just a few were abnormal.

Oct 20th 2011 I had the ileostomy reversal done. The surgery was only 3 hrs, the hospital stay was 4 days. The reversal has alot of effects on you mentally. You don't realize how much damage was done by radiation, till you actually try using your plumbing system again. At first alot of diarreha,of course from being disconnected so long you have to try make it to bathroom but rarely ever do. This gets a little better in time.

My incontinence isnt my bladder, it's my bowel movements. If its diarreha or soft stool I can't hold it to make it to the bathroom, even if the bathrooms close. If it's solid I can hold it for a few minutes to make it. I refuse to wear depends, I have the mindset if I have to wear them then cancer beat me, I refuse to let that happen. I do wear a pad at most all times just in case. I'm still trying to work even with these issues. I do warehouse work, so I do alot of lifting. I'm not sure if I should be doing this or not, but it keeps me feeling somewhat normal.

This is the most awful side effect. You have no control over this, mostly happens at night when you sleep, but occasionally happens during the day. I think the most upsetting thing is none of my Doctors told me any of this could happen.

Even though its been over a year since my last surgery, I still feel tired alot of the time.

I feel bad for my husband, the sexual drive is about gone. It actually hurts to have sex at first then gets a little better. Going from an active sex life to "I dont want to do this" is very stressful on me. My husband has been a trooper and he understands, but it still bothers me that I could careless about this aspect of our marriage.

now, after 1 year 9 months since original surgery, I was just told I have an incisional hernia. Will need surgery again

After 6 years a tumor has returned this time in bladder. Removed 6/26/17 tested positive for cancer.