Hi Everyone,
First time posting, so bear with me if I do something wrong.
Firstly I want to say thank you to you all for posting you stories, tips, advice etc… Although I haven’t posted, I have followed this forum almost daily since my diagnosis of stage 2b cc in July 2016. I has been a huge source comfort, support and knowledge… So thanks ladies!!
So now I need knowledge of a specific type and hope I can make it make sense, cos my head is spinning. My treatment plan was 28 radiotherapy sessions over 5.5 weeks boosted with 5 sessions of cisplatin (once a week) and finishing with three brachytherapy sessions. Surgery was ruled out at the beginning due to tissue involvement.
Having had time to digest everything I had planned to ask for the surgery anyway after treatment had finished. I spoken to the nurse at my GP’s yesterday who completely back my theory that My family is finished and I’ll be menopausal anyway I might as well reduce the risk of recurrance by having the surgery??
Now the dilemma… Nurse called me back in the afternoon and said she’d spoken to doc about the situation and he said if I go ahead with the brachytherapy I might rule myself out as a candidate for surgery afterwards because of issues like scar tissue etc??
I’m under pressure for time because the brachytherapy is scheduled to start on October 12th but will ring for appointment with gynae in Monday (hope I can get on in time!).
So im just wondering if any of you lovely ladies have had any experience or can share any knowledge with me, please and thanks!!
Apologies for the long post, am just anxious to give u as much info as I can… Thanks for taking the time to read xxx
Hi. I've just started my chemorads and I'm scheduled for the same regime as you. When I was first diagnosed, and before I knew which route I'd be doing, I asked why they don't follow chemorads/brachy with surgery. My understanding is that after the rads and brachy there's really not much left - it's kind of like having everything removed, but by frying it rather than cutting it out. Surgery is a possibility if necessary, but because of scar tissue is trickier and harder to recover from hence only done if deemed necessary. What does your consultant or oncologist think?
In most cases the treatment is either surgical or chemo-rads/brachy. One or t'other. Rarely both. I happened to have radical hysterectomy followed by chemo-rads/brachy. To be perfectly honest with you, had I known I was going to get the chemo-rads/brachy treatments anyway I would have skipped the surgery - totally unnecessary! As Annelouise says, it's been fried, no need to cut it out. I don't think that having surgery at this stage is going to make recurrence any less likely, but do check with your team.
thanks so much for the replies. I did try to re sooner but when I went to post i kept getting an error.
I spoke with consultant yesterday who went through everything and long story short things haven't been done that way for over 20 years(I'm in ireland) because there's no benefit to it and it won't reduce the risk of recurrence. My consultant is renowned for being ultra safe so I'm happy to go ahead as he suggests.
Anne, just wanted to wish oh the best of luck on your journey, I'm almost finished and have tolerated everything well and i hope it will be the same for you xx
tivoli, thanks so much for the great work you do on this forum, it's an absolute godsend xx
Hi Kerry I had a hyster after chemo because of copious watery discharge and PET showed growing tumur. It was really horrible. A very difficult surgery oainful and a super long recovery. I'm not surprised they stopped this. I went from very fit to an infirmed person. I already had the recurrence so I suppose they were treating the symptoms. Jayne
