Hi Annealise,

Firstly I hope you're getting on OK - I can understand this must have been a shock. It sounds like it is early days in terms of this new discovery, so I hope you're able to find out more soon and that the next steps regarding the treatment go well.

Meanwhile if anyone here has any similar experience with this then hopefully they'll be along soon.

Wishing you all the best, and we're always here for support if you need it.

Ben
Cancer Chat Moderator

Hi! How is it going?

I stumbled at your post and yea, my husband was also diagnosed with rectal cancer and his pelvic nodes were affected as well. 

How is it going for you guys? 

We are doing chemo and radiation before surgery as my husband's was stage 3. 

Good to hear, he finished his radiation and chemo, We are about 1/3 done. It's going ok so far but no idea if the treatment is working or how effective it is. 

When are you getting your scans done? Usually they wait for few more weeks after radiation as it is supposed ti still work even after you stop it. 

I have heard of cases where chemo and radiation did the trick and people were cured. I hope it's the case with your husband too, 

What treatment did he have?

Mine has just capecitabine tablets and radiation to shrink the tumor, then surgery and afterward more chemo. 

Hi there,

How is your husband doing now? Has the Oncologist told you how effective the treatment has been? So, your husband didn't  also have  intravenous Chemo?

My husband is now having  all his  repeated scans next week, so fingers crossed the 6 month treatment has shrunk everything.  The treatment he had was Chemo tablets (75 a week) along with the hospital Chemo. Then 6 weeks of daily Chemoradiation. At the end of the Chemo he  had lost sensation of his taste buds. They are gradually coming back now though. The next proposed treatment is surgery, followed  by Chemo. It really is a long horrible arduous journey isn't it....

I haven't heard of patients 'cured' by the pre op treatment? Have they told you that can be the case? We were told  if all the cancer in the tumour and nodes have now shrunk right down,  they can watch and see.....  I guess they mean that it could start growing again. The op is so invasive in addition to going through all the treatment.  Due to the  removal of lymph nodes  my husband is really concerned about the chances of ending up with Lymphadema  afterwards. I guess we will have to make a decision in September when we see the Oncologist.

Hi! 

Wenare done with chemo radiation (27 sessions) and with 1 round of CAPOX chemo. We have one more round of that on 16.8. and then surgery about 3-4 weeks after that. 

We had a CT scan about half way through radiation and the tumor srunk from 8.7 cm to 4.2 cm. 

Next we have full body PET scan on 12.8. which I presume will already be used to inform the surgeon about what he will be dealing with. 

They told us that after surgery he will have another 6 months of chemo - not yet sure if CAPOX or something else. 

My hubby has lots of ups and downs and he said just yesterday that he feels he still didn't accept it fully that he has cancer. He frequently dreams that he is cancer free :( which break my heart. 

Hi, 

That's great news that halfway through your husbands treatment he was told how much the tumour had shrunk. We were told it had shrunk but not by how much. How are his tastebuds? Can he eat normally?

Sounds like our husbands have had a bit of a difference in treatment but I think there's no size fits all' solution in these situations. Which hospital is your husband attending? We are in Warwickshire and have to attend two different hospitals. However,  we have a second opinion surgeon from a specialist unit in London assisting us as they are unable to do the op up here as it's not straight forward with the nodes being infected.

Gosh the op is 3 weeks after  the chemo session!  Perhaps after the PET scan results they may decide they don't need to operate just yet?  They have told us my  husband has to recover now after his 6 month treatment and they won't be thinking of anything more until next year!

Good luck for the PET scan. My husband's is on Tuesday. Awh that's sad  about the difficulty in your husband's acceptance of the cance and dreaming he is cancer free. My husband is  just too stoic and accepts everything which I don't feel is normal. He doesn't want to talk about his illness what so ever . He is going on a retreat soon to help with his future decisions re the op. I feel a bit redundant in trying to  support him but I guess it's his way.

Hi, My partner had colorectal cancer that was presumed to have spread to the pelvic lymph nodes as one was larger on the scans. He had surgery to remove them with a Pelvic Lymphadenectomy with a robotic assisted surgery.

They tested it and could not find trace of cancer in the pelvic lymph nodes.

He received radiotherapy with chemo tablets before surgery.

I wish your husband a successful treatment.

Hi,

Thank you, that's very helpful. 

Did your husband  have a biopsy before hand? Mine did but it came back inconclusive.  He has just finished 6 months of Chemo & Radiotheraphy. I think they will see if the lymph nodes are cancerous when they do the rectal tumour op and remove them if so.

How is your husband doing now?  That was great news no cancer was found in the lymph nodes.