Hi, I was recently diagnosed with cervical cancer. My PET/CT scan is next week to determine the stage, though my doctor is pretty certain it's stage 1.
She said my options are either radical hysterectomy, or chemo/radiation. I'm leaning toward chemo as surgery scares me. I'm told they're equally effective.
Does anyone have any experiences they can share, and why you chose one over the other?
Thanks in advance!
Hi Niki,
I'm sorry you haven't had any answers yet to your difficult question. I suspect that we are all rather reluctant to give advice of this magnitude.
Speaking for myself, I was given no choice in the matter. I was diagnosed B2 with a tumour of about 75mm (as far as I can work out from my Greek notes) and underwent a radical hysterectomy nine days later. I was really crestfallen to find that following surgery it was further recommended that I also undergo 25 rounds of radiotherapy, five of Cisplatin chemotherapy and two brachytherapy. This was apparently just a 'belt-and-braces' precaution and I was told that it gave me the best possible chances for survival. That was all over three years ago now and I remain as fit and well as a Spring lamb.
It seems that in Britain sometimes a tumour as large as mine is not treated with surgery. I do not understand this but yours is smaller and so you have been given the option.
Be lucky :-)
Tivoli
Hi,
I'm in the US, so it might be treated differently here? Though it mostly seems like the same options, except I have not been told that I would have to go through brachy, just external radiation with chemo.
Of course, I need to wait for my scan to determine staging, and I might not have a choice either.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience!
You're more than welcome :-)
I hope it all goes really well for you.
Be lucky
Tivoli
I was scheduled for a radical hysterectomy 3/18/15 that was abandoned after the surgeon found lymph nodes positive. I've just finished my first week of chemo radiation. I would have preferred to not go through the pain and anguish of surgery if that had been an option. My gyn- oncologist did no other scans until after the interrupted surgery. I have the scars, and had to wait for healing before starting treatment.
Hi Northofbeyond :-)
I think your comment confirms the theory I developed over the weekend, which is that because there is a greater risk of lymph node involvement with a stage 2b and above, the doctors like to get stuck in with the chemo straight away rather than wait for recovery from major surgery. I think this suggests that my surgeon was being reckless with me because when the lab results came back after my surgery to show my lymph nodes were negative, he was surprised - pleased yes, but surprised.
Be lucky
Tivoli
I too was given a choice I had 1b1. I chose chemo/radio as I was 63 and thought I would struggle recovering from a radical hysterectomy. I also chose not to have brachytherapy, so i had 6 weeks external radio mon/fri and 4 weekly infusions of cisplatin chemo.
That was 5 years ago. Once my body recovered fully, took about a year I suppose for me to feel as though I had energy again, I had to adjust my diet for my different bowel, everything has been fine except I have radiation damage to my bladder. It will be fine for months, and then full of blood, however I hydrate like mad and it goes away. I was discharged considered cured 1 month ago.
Congratulations Katie - You must be just so chuffed!
Looking forward to the five year milestone myself but still a while before I reach it.
Be lucky
Tivoli
