My mother was diagnosed with clear cell adenos CC back in May 2018 with a tumour of 4cm, staged Ib2. She powered through 6 weeks of extensive chemo + radiation + 4 rounds of brachy. She is a very strong woman!
Our radiation doctor was concerned in between the brachy sessions that the tumour hadn't shrunk as much as he hoped it would be, so he scheduled a CT scan at 7 weeks after the treatment finished, which is actually very early because normally patients will have to wait for at least 3 months for the first scan.
We just got the CT scan result today stating that there's a stable 2.8cm cervical mass. Our doctor said that he's unsure if the mass contains dead cells or they're still active, so we are having another PET scan in 1 month.
Anybody else here with an inconclusive scan after treatment? especially with such an early scan? We're obviously very upset with the result but I'm still trying to be positive about the whole thing.
all the way through my treatment my tumour never changed size and at my 3 month scan it was still there and had only changed by a few mm, it was when I had a second scan 3 months after that I was then told there was no evidence of disease. Keep positive I waited 6 months after finishing treatment before I got the news I hoped for. wishing you all the best
Thank you so much for your reply! I know that being positive is crucial for cancer treatment. It's just that both me and my mother wanted the mass to be gone ASAP...
The doctor also mentioned the possibility of having surgery if the PET CT scan next month showed an active mass still... Has anyone else gone through surgery after a definitive CCRT treatment?
I was diagnosed may 15 (2b andeocarcinoma) finish treatment aug 15- didn't get all clear until may 16. All sorts of confusion in-between - unsure of scan results, microscopic cells remaining, many eua's, talk of major surgery then changed to possible hysterectomy.
No surgery required in the end, decided they'd scanned too early and came to the wrong conclusions.
Seems radiotherapy was still working and shrinking / killing cells - just took longer on me for some reason.
Don't give up hope - apparently it very difficult to distinguish between active cells and scar tissue - hence the pet scan.
Thank you so much for your encouragement. I guess anxiously waiting for the result is actually the worst part of cancer treatment. I really do hope that my mother won't need to go through surgery...
