So I have Stage II rectal cancer that is very curable!!

Day 5:

I had a CT Scan this morning (Thanks Tony at Hendrick Imaging Center) and it showed no lymph node involvement! YEY! Dr. Dumas (Radiologist) mentioned some lymph nodes in the abdomen but no one is worried about those and even if they were a problem the chemo will take care of it. I met with Dr. Vega today and we are going to do pill chemo. I will start that and radiation(XRT) on Wednesday. The chemo I will take twice a day M-F and radiation will be daily M-F. Dr. Vega will be my main doctor for now and he said for 5 years after the cancer is gone. He will evaluate me at 3 weeks then again at 6 weeks to determine when we will do surgery. I need to get baseline labs and a chest Xray tomorrow. I went to radiation therapy this afternoon and got my tattoo, I'll post a pic of that later cause right now it's covered up with stuff for radiation therapy. Today at XRT was simulation which means I got on the table and got comfortable because every time I do XRT I will be in that position. Dr Singh was also able to evaluate where my vital organs were in that area to make sure nothing's getting radiation that doesn't need it. Unfortunately (Stop reading if you are squeamish) but my anus will get radiated so my asshole maybe sore about 2 weeks into this :(. Tomorrow we do trial run at XRT, then I pick up my chemo from Walgreen's and start everything Wednesday. I have an appt with Dr. Kendrick on Thursday. He wont tell me anything new but I might as well throw him a bone since he will be doing my surgery. That's about it for today.

Possible Side Effects:
Chemo:
*nausea/ vomiting (he gave me Compazine)
*fatigue
*Hand and Foot syndrome (Where my hands and feet get dry, they gave me some utter cream and they said the lotion "Working hands" at Bath & Body is good. They said to just moisture every time I wash my hands)
*I am NOT expected to lose my hair

Radiation:
*Diarrhea
*Bladder irritation (Which Dr. Singh didn't think would be a problem)
*Skin irritation at my anus

That's about it. I will blog again when something interesting actually happens. See y'all later.