So, I came back from my vacation (one year older...now I am 40!), and ready to start the 5-FU treatment. I exchanged a couple of emails with the nursing staff at my doctor's office and they told me to use the cream twice a day for 8 cycles (5 days on, 9 days off). After the fourth cycle I will have to go for a recheck to see if the cream is working. If it is working, then I will finish the 8 weeks. If not, I will stop and three months later I will have a procedure called hyfrecation (where they will burn the surface that has dysplasia). I hope it does not get to that.
So I started on a Monday, that way it is easier to remember (Monday through Friday cream goes in, Sat through the following Sunday I rest). Luckily, my husband can help me out with the cream application. The index finger of each hand has to be inserted up to 1 inch inside, at the level of the first knuckle and turned around to spread the cream to each half of the internal anal canal (the space beyond the anal muscles). Trying to do this myself would have been too hard, since I am...well...generous on my back side LOL.
We went and got a box of nitrile gloves from a pharmacy and the next morning he wore them and I put just a 1/4 inch of the cream on each of the tips of his index fingers. He introduced them in my anus and turned them. I was worried it would hurt a lot, but it actually was not bad. I just felt a very mild burning sensation for a few minutes afterward. On the fifth day, I felt some pain when he introduced his fingers, but nothing unbearable.
One thing I did feel was, slight headache, dizziness and nausea an hour or two after the morning application on days 4 and 5. The doctor had warned me that some people reported that. 5-FU is, after all, a chemo drug, and some must get absorbed into the circulation from the anus.
I am writing this on my second day of the resting part of the cycle, and I only feel slight itching-burning in my anus. Luckily I did not get bleeding, severe pain or frequent urgency to stool as it is described in the literature. I hope this does not mean the treatment is not working though!!
Here is a very useful link: http://analcancerinfo.ucsf.edu/
Ok, well that is the report from the first weel. I will keep you posted! Stay healthy.
