I was just diagnosed with rectal cancer.?!

I was just diagnosed with rectal cancer.?

I am a 53 year old male. I was getting the warning signs, ie bleeding, stomach cramps, etc and went to see my doctor on June 18th 07. He put me on a fast track for ct scan mri and colonostopy. The biopsy results came back showing a 3.5 cm tumor positive for cancer. I am now getting ready for chemo therapy and radiation treatment prior to surgery. From there, who knows.
Does any one have any feed back that has experienced this? I think that some one who has had this disease would be a wonderful source of information. I would welcome any comments.

Rick

I am sorry to hear of your cancer diagnosis, but there is a positive thing about rectal cancer versus colon cancer. The symptoms are experienced quicker with rectal cancer since this part of your colon is closer to the anus. Therefore, it has less time to grow and metastasize. The further away your colon cancer is, the longer it takes to experience symptoms which means a longer time to spread and become more dangerous. I commend you for getting help quickly, this also weighs in your favor. Below is a good starting place for educational material. See below, emedicine is a valid and trusted website. Good luck with your treatment.