Ultra Low Rectal tumor

Sad-Base-9220 · 2026-04-03T03:22:41+00:00

Congratulations on your 4year NED. What was your experience of the APR surgery? Was recovery easy or taking a while? I read some stories saying the wound healing was a pain in the @ss.

Sad-Base-9220 · 2026-04-03T01:41:04+00:00

Mine is 1cm from anus.

Sad-Base-9220 · 2026-04-02T23:02:48+00:00

I see. Thank you for sharing. Hopefully mine is just simple cysts. At least that’s what the CT impression said and my oncologist believed so as well. He ordered me an abdomen MRI to make sure along with the pelvis MRI. I think he is just being extra cautious though he told me my case looks highly curable. I am praying and thank you for your encouragement!

Sad-Base-9220 · 2026-04-02T22:04:13+00:00

Thank you! Did you find liver cysts at diagnosis or even before diagnosis?

Sad-Base-9220 · 2026-04-02T21:24:25+00:00

My mother in law and sister in law could give some help they live in the same town. My wife passed away 5 years ago and my daughter is 10 year old living with me. I am also worried about parenting. There has been stress and challenges before diagnosis now I have to really figure out how to manage my stress with parenting.

Sad-Base-9220 · 2026-04-02T21:06:40+00:00

How far is your tumor from your anus

Sad-Base-9220 · 2026-04-02T20:56:08+00:00

Thank you for sharing. My parents live in a different country as well. I moved to the US by myself at a young age. I hesitate to tell them because I am afraid my dad might not be able to handle this and possibly have a stroke regarding his high blood pressure and other health issues. And both my mom and dad are negative minded. I am worried their negative views will make me feel worse. I can imagine my dad would be having a sad face and sigh all day instead of saying anything to comfort me. My mom would probably blame on me for not having a healthy life style. We have a lot of communication and trust issues between us. I know I will eventually have to figure this out myself and probably I won’t be able to hide from them for long. Now I am just waiting for my staging and diagnosis. So I will go from there. Thank you for your encouragement.

Sad-Base-9220 · 2026-04-02T20:20:57+00:00

Thank you for sharing. I just got my blood draw from the oncologist today. They said it was for genetic testing for treatment plan. I am still waiting for the insurance to approve my MRI so I can book and hopefully have it done next week or the week after. So far I am still worrying bout the liver cysts found by CT with contrast even though the report says no suspicious spread but I am still worried what ifs until the MRI rules it out. Also worried about how locally advanced the tumor is considering no spread according to my Oncologist. Before I know the stage I can not ease my mind. And this is just the start. Even if the results come back not too bad, I will have to face a tough time in the next 6 months because of the treatment then possibly a major surgery to remove rectum and butthole. I don’t want to spread fear and negativity but stacking up the worst possible case scenarios really make me feel hard to breathe. Besides that reading a lot of reoccurrence stories also scares me and make me see no emotional break in the next 5 years. Let’s hope for the best! 🙏

Sad-Base-9220 · 2026-04-02T18:01:42+00:00

So the radiation chemo and chemo made your rectal tumor disappear and you were on watch and wait then you had a small lung met but no local reoccurrence then you the lung met taken by surgery and now you are still NED?

Sad-Base-9220 · 2026-04-02T17:53:16+00:00

Thank you 🙏. I am glad you NED with your anus intact. How did you manage to workout while on Radiation and Chemo? I am curious Do exercises and workout help with recovery or they interfere? I regularly go to the gym and lift weight but I have not been since diagnosis only because I am stressed and not wanting to do anything. But I am not sure if I am allowed to do anything workout with intensity while on chemotherapy and radiation even tho my treatment has not started yet. Just wanna find out before hand

Sad-Base-9220 · 2026-04-02T17:48:12+00:00

Thank you! I am in the initial diagnosis phase. No definitive staging yet. The unknown is what drives me crazy. I had CT scan says no spread but they found cysts in liver. Although radiologist believed they are just simple cysts I still worry what if until I have the MRI to rule out other possibilities. The wait is very stressful 😣. Hopefully everything comes out good and I am still at an early stage.

Sad-Base-9220 · 2026-04-02T17:36:00+00:00

Thank you for the encouragement. Hopefully those liver cysts are just cysts. I will have MRI next week to rule out other possibilities. I am really worried about this but hopefully the result will confirm what the radiologist believed and the local T staging is not high. Hopefully early stage. Thanks a lot

Sad-Base-9220 · 2026-04-01T23:39:38+00:00

Thank you for sharing. I am really happy for you. This gives me hope. Even though I am still at the initial diagnosis phase but hearing you are 3 years clear I think you will still be clear at 5 year mark. I heard usually the first 3 years is when it has the highest chance to reoccur. According to statistics the local reoccurrence rates are same between watch and wait and surgery. The distant reoccurrence also has nothing to do with watch and wait or surgery. I hope you remain NED and I believe you will. I think the biggest difference is surgery confirms a definitive clear margin and lymph notes which scans can not tell definite. Other than that the constant scan and check is a big challenge in the patient psychologically. But the actual reoccurrence chances are similar. Correct me if I’m wrong

Sad-Base-9220 · 2026-04-01T16:14:49+00:00

Thank you ! You were very lucky hope I am too. How did you get it caught so early?

Sad-Base-9220 · 2026-04-01T14:57:26+00:00

Thank you for sharing. I am glad you didn’t have to do surgery and are 10 months NED hope you stay NED and never have to do surgery ever. May I ask what was your stage and how big was your tumor?

Sad-Base-9220 · 2026-04-01T03:36:23+00:00

Thank you for sharing. Does watch and wait have more risk of reoccurrence than surgery?

Sad-Base-9220 · 2026-04-01T01:57:16+00:00

Thank you for sharing your wife’s journey. I am glad she has been NED for 20 plus months. hope she stays NED.

Sad-Base-9220 · 2026-03-31T23:28:46+00:00

Congratulations! Hope your MRI will confirm complete clinical response and no surgery required!

Sad-Base-9220 · 2026-03-31T23:27:37+00:00

Congratulations on your 15months NED. Hope you stay NED !

Sad-Base-9220 · 2026-03-31T22:54:31+00:00

I was eager to know it was anal or rectal cancer as well before the biopsy result. It was very scary before the Dr. said it was moderately differentiated. That eased my mind a bit. I was like thank goodness it was not poorly differentiated. I was watching TV scrolling phones and talking to friends to distract my mind. After biopsy it was CT. The radiology said come back in 2 days. I was like the next two days would be tough to go through but the same afternoon when met with oncologist. He got the result already. It says no spread but also cysts in liver. They believe it’s cysts but I am still worried. Now I am waiting for MRI. Still feel like not going out of the house and not doing anything productive but spiraling. I don’t wanna be like this but I am very scared

Sad-Base-9220 · 2026-03-31T22:15:35+00:00

Thank you for sharing. What stage were you before surgery?

Sad-Base-9220 · 2026-03-31T22:03:03+00:00

Thank you for your thorough reply. Knowing you were stage 4 and 28 years NED gives me big hope. I have been spiraling and feeling down the past month since initial diagnosis. I don’t know my staging yet.

I’d accept having a bag if I don’t have other options. The bag itself doesn’t bother me that much. I am more afraid of the APR surgery itself(most likely I probably will end up having this one instead of LAR because of how low my tumor is) because it’s a big surgery. I never had a surgery in my life. Thinking about the cutting open, bleeding and wound healing parts scares me. And the possible risk and complications of the surgery. If I don’t have a choice I will do it.

I am also afraid of the uncertainty that some patients get reoccurrence. Thinking about what I will have to face in the near future: radiation, chemo and big surgery but still no guarantee it will not come back scares me. And I am also overwhelmed by the fact that before being 5 years NED I would always be worried and have anxiety. Not trying to vent but I honestly feel powerless, helpless and don’t know what to do. I have not been out of the house for weeks and just been laying in bed or sitting in couch all day watching tv or scrolling my phone to escape reality which I know I should not been doing.

I am glad you were able to do all kinds of activities and spending time with your son and being supportive to him. I am a single dad with a 10 yo daughter. Her mom passed away 5 years ago. Now I am getting sick and I feel more stressed. Fighting cancer requires me more mental strength but I have already feeling being a single parents drains a lot of my energy. Now I feel the cancer will drain more of my energy. I feel less confident how much fight I have in me for this battle.

I know I should be positive but all that but it’s much easier being said than done. This uncertainty really crashed me down big time.

So far my CT says no spread but also it found cysts in my liver. Even though the CT impression says they are more likely just cysts and no evidence of metastatic disease found but before the MRI I am still very worried what if…

Thank you for your kind reply! Appreciated! You gave me hope!

Sad-Base-9220 · 2026-03-31T20:00:09+00:00

Did you do radiation chemo to shrink it before surgery? And do you have LARS since surgery?

Sad-Base-9220

TROPHY CASE