We met with Dr. Anderson this morning, the surgeon who will perform the surgery on me on June 20th. He asked how I’ve been feeling and I said I felt pretty good and that I turned the corner with the rectal pain I’ve been having. He then said that after surgery, the rectal pain will get worse, and instead of coming and going, it will be fairly constant for 4 to 6 weeks. Ouch. He said it was because once he removes part of the colon, there will be exposed nerve endings in the region where the radiation was applied and that those side effects will start all over again.
But he did say that once I get past this set of side effects, the rectal pain will go away permanently. Can’t wait. Even though I haven’t taken any prescription pain medication so far, he said that will change because I’ll need to manage the pain so that I can heal better. Oh well, it’s part and parcel of what this trip is about and I need to look at where I’m going to be by the end of the year, and that’s cancer free!
