My daughter who has been recently diagnosed with colorectal cancer will be undergoing chemo and radiation soon to shrink the tumor, follow by surgery.... two questions here.

1. Her tumor is right down around and partially blocking her anus... it extends upward and is 11 centimeters, which I am told is 7 inches in size. So far it has not entered her colon or other areas... Is there a chance she will NOT need a colostomy after it's removal???

2. She was told that her lymph nodes in her abdomen are "enlarged" so they will be targeting radiation there, as well.... do enlarged lymph nodes necessarily mean they have cancer cells present? Or could this be a physical reaction to cancer being present in the body?

#1 You won't know for sure until after the surgery to remove the tumor. Any predictions at this point are speculation. 11 centimeters is about 4.25 inches.

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#2 Possibly some cancer cells but not enough to show up clearly on scans yet. Really no way to be 100% sure at this time. A PET scan won't show very small cancers - under 1 cm. Your daughter is receiving standard (and the best possible) treatment option for enlarged lymph nodes in the stomach of a person with colorectal cancer. The lymph nodes produce your white blood cells which fight off infection. They are basically your immune system.

I don't know much about this type of cancer, but I know a PET scan can pick up cancerous cells. What tests have they done? Galium scans pick up soft tissue cancer cells. CT scans have a roll as do MRIs but a PET scan is best.