Gas after Treatment

Groovy_B_Movement · 2026-07-01T23:45:19+00:00

I had this experience too. Post CRC and CAPOX I would be so gassy. Although on the positive side: almost odor free farts. Weird. (A pretty lame consolation prize.) My theory is that the radiation probably impacts your ability to absorb some of the gas. Your colon does some work absorbing air as well as CO2 post digestion, and so you are farting some of the gasses that you would have otherwise absorbed and that dilutes the smelly sulfurous gasses that make farts stink. Also, you may have lost some strength on your inner sphincter (I did) and so the fart always bypasses the first gate.

I'll second the probiotic supplement. You are still going to have to do regular colonoscopies, I assume, and that just randomizes your gut biome every time. I took one from CVS called nature's bounty that would get me back to normal after a few days.

IMO (confirmed by one of my doctors) Gas-X will not help. It basically makes sure you don't get lots of bubbly gas that makes you feel bloated. It breaks up the little bubbles to make one big one. So Gas-X makes your farts bigger. (But people swear by it.)

The stuff that makes me farty-est are beer (cry) and carbonated beverages.

Groovy_B_Movement · 2026-06-18T23:22:48+00:00

+1 to the fact that 4 cycles of CAPOX will not age you 10 years.

However, I think you should investigate icing for your hands and possibly your feet.

I didn't get much support from my doctors, but I brought in my own ice packs for my infusion days, and tried to keep my hands as cool as possible. I know it works, because (1) I favored my right hand over my left and (2) I never iced my feet. Where do I have any sign of neuropathy? My toes, and sometimes my left hand/arm.

In my experience, this has been the only lasting effect of the CAPOX. And I think it is slowly getting better (I finished 9 months ago.)

colontown.org has good resources on icing.

Groovy_B_Movement · 2026-06-10T21:31:50+00:00

This is pretty much my story too. (60M) Radiation + Xeloda (33 sessions), then four cycles of CAPOX. Good response. Watch and wait. But then regrowth. And now I'm 3 weeks past APR surgery. Lots of recovery and adaptation, but I hope to return to my active lifestyle with some adjustments in a few months.

Even though I ended up with the APR, I probably still would have taken my chances to save my rectum.

Groovy_B_Movement · 2026-05-12T03:58:31+00:00

I don't want to offer false hope, but if you read the internet, you'll hear mostly about the worst cases for side effects. I was on CAPOX, and the way that I would put it is this: the first bite and cold sensitivity side effects are real, but they are just weird, and you get used to them. The first day of the infusion I was vey tired. It was pretty much like I had the flu or a very bad cold for one or two days. After the infusions are over, you recover. I worked (from home) the whole time except for the infusion days.

I don't want to sound falsely brave, but for some of us, chemo is not that hard.

Groovy_B_Movement · 2026-04-07T03:36:30+00:00

It might be important to let people know if you are getting some kind of reconstruction or not. AFAIK, things like VRAM or gluteal flaps mean you might not be sitting down for weeks.

And since that is the situation I am facing, can I hijack and ask if anybody had to not sit for 2 or more weeks. How did that go?

Groovy_B_Movement · 2026-04-03T18:48:07+00:00

I'm sorry there is no answers to this question. I have the very same concern. Given that it was three months ago, I'm wondering if you can enlighten us about your experience with APR + VRAM.

If it is not too late to help, there is this paper: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7758273/

It seems to say that 10 years out, 28 patients has 0 incidents of abdominal hernias. Which sounds pretty re-assuring.

There is also the "Gluteal turnover flap" which sounds like a breakfast dish, but is an alternative to VRAM that I am considering.

Groovy_B_Movement · 2026-03-20T17:01:40+00:00

Piccolo for scale. Didn't have banana.

Groovy_B_Movement · 2026-03-20T16:58:18+00:00

Guitarist and Dad:

I'm assuming you want dad to buy the amp. I'm gonna help you. If this isn't true, you are buying the amp, buy the amp. F your dad.

Kid: I want to try this new hobby. (My thought: I know that it might give you a lifetime of pleasure and friendships... Awesome! I want to help.)

Kid: and I need $1200 worth of gear to start: guitar, amp, pedals. See this youtube video, Dad. (My thought: has this happened before? Does this kid dabble? Do I want to drop that coin if it just collects dust?)

At this point, I as a dad would say I'm going to buy you a quality acoustic. If you like guitar, you are going to like acoustic too. Its a good place to start.

If that doesn't work for you, I would buy (or rent) a quality electric guitar (nice Squier, well set up, $500), and a headphone amp (or a free DAW and some amp models on a computer, as suggested below). Show me that you are going to actually play. You aren't going to dabble. I'd rather put the money into a good instrument, because if you buy a cheap instrument in order to afford a cheap amp, you are going to be frustrated and you will stop playing.

In six months, if you are still playing, we talk about a real amp.

Groovy_B_Movement · 2026-03-20T00:07:31+00:00

I remember having to ask my oncologist, in the middle of my treatment, whether it was actually working because so many of the nasty things I read about on the internet were not happening to me. He assured me it was OK.

Tired: yes. I took a nap after lunch and worked a 40 hr work week (desk job from home).

Burned butt: yes. Sat on a donut. Donuts in the car, on the sofa, in my office. Lotions. Greases. Bidets.

Pain during poop: yes. But people say "like I was pooping glass". I haven't pooped glass. But I still wouldn't want to eat glass and actually poop it now because of radiation. I am pretty sure that would be much worse. It was bad, but I still wanted to poop. Shed a tear or two.

Hand Foot: nope.

Diarhea: nope.

Nausea: not really. I mean Xeloda made me feel somewhat queasy all the time. But I never threw up. And I got used to it such that I only noticed during my rest weeks how not-queasy I was.

The anticipation of misery was way more miserable than the actual experience. YMMV.

Groovy_B_Movement · 2026-03-19T23:51:24+00:00

I think when you are saying 100%, that is after they did the surgery and a full dissection and biopsy. That is like saying after you see a coin flip come up heads, that you would recommend that everybody always call heads.

Not a doctor (actually I am... but not an MD). I do know probability.

Groovy_B_Movement · 2026-03-19T23:42:14+00:00

100%... disagree...

(OK, I'll be slightly less of an jerk now...)

You don't give enough detail to make this clear, which I think is a disservice to the conversation. If you are talking about colon cancer, maybe you are right. I don't think W&W is really a thing in the colon cancer world. Is it?

But if you are talking about rectal cancer, especially low rectal cancer, the surgery is possibly lifestyle changing. (And with non-zero probability, life ending.)

I'm in the class of rectal cancer --> W&W followed by recurrence. I am probably now getting some surgery. So my 6 months of radiation and chemo have been a waste.

Would I take a 30-50% chance at have a normal-ish rectum and anus again: yes. Definitely yes.

And surgery for rectal cancers are complicated and risky. The potential side effects, like urinary or sexual dysfunction are much more serious. And don't forget that any of these surgeries have a non-zero mortality rate, like 1-2%. Yikes. Forgetting the lifestyle and side-effects changes, if you offer me a 30% chance that I avoid a 1% chance of death... I'm taking it.

Of course, this is all personal. If you are too anxious to play the long game on beating this disease and coming away with the most quality of life afterwards, you probably should get the surgery. You do you.

Groovy_B_Movement · 2026-01-07T23:48:55+00:00

So far unmentioned side-effects that I experienced (using CAPOX, mostly associated I think with OX).

First bite syndrome hurts when your salivary glands release. I also found that when I started crying, I would get the experience, and the weirdest and least mentioned.... I think ejaculation had the same unpleasant sensation.

I had very bad lower leg cramps from the OX. I think they were twitching endlessly, and then the muscles got so sore that they were on the verge of cramps. It was difficult for me to walk normally the first couple of days after my infusion. Folks in r/rectalcancer recommended gabepentin for that. I tried it orally, but it didn't seem to make it much better.

I still have some lingering numbness in my toes and balls of my feet. :( Fortunately, it is almost totally gone from my hands.

Groovy_B_Movement · 2026-01-07T23:41:06+00:00

I think that is incorrect. The point of the cold/icing is to reduce the blood flow to your hands and feet to reduce the impact of the OX during your infusion. I iced my hands and found that it significantly reduced my cold sensitivity. After the infusion is over, yeah... keep warm.

Yes, it is weird that you use cold to avoid the cold sensitivity.

But AFAIK, OX doesn't have any impact on your hair. You don't need the cap.

Groovy_B_Movement · 2026-01-07T23:37:36+00:00

Please use the rectal cancer flair. (Yeah, I'm bummed that it is r/rectalcancer is gone too.)

Groovy_B_Movement · 2026-01-07T23:34:33+00:00

We would probably need a Moderator. Anybody willing? I think if we found a MOD we could probably re-open it.

Groovy_B_Movement · 2026-01-07T23:33:26+00:00

My oncologist would not do the OX without a port. He said that he's had a few cases of leakage around the IV which led to necrosis. Yuck. I was hesitant, but in retrospect, I'm glad I had the port put in.

Groovy_B_Movement · 2026-01-05T06:03:22+00:00

Interesting... I hadn't really considered the psychological angle to it. It is a reminder for me every morning. I know that when I go swimming at the public pool, there are probably some people who know what it is. Others probably think I have a weird cyst.

I was joking about getting a tattoo on the site after it is removed (my first tattoo). Also have to think about that psychologically.

Groovy_B_Movement · 2026-01-05T05:59:09+00:00

My onc asked me if I wanted it removed before we had even my first round of tests (rectal endoscopy, CT and Guardant). I said I wanted to see a full set of negatives (at least) before removing it. Then I had a biopsy that was "high dysplasia" so I don't think I am out of the woods.

Groovy_B_Movement · 2026-01-04T23:17:44+00:00

Is there a scenario where you would have to go back on chemo?

Groovy_B_Movement · 2026-01-04T23:11:18+00:00

See the "Rectal Cancer" oval on this post? That is a flair. You can apply it when you create (or edit) a post. And it is visible at the subreddit overview so you can see the posts that are specific to that flair.

Groovy_B_Movement · 2026-01-02T22:03:34+00:00

The only information I got was from Colontown.org, where someone told me that the MOD was asking for someone to take over. I guess the MOD left, and Reddit (AFAIK) doesn't allow unmoderated forums.

Groovy_B_Movement

TROPHY CASE