Hello,
In October 2020 I had an emergency anterior resection to remove a 5cm sigmoid tumour, followed by 4 cycles of oxaliplatin and capecitabine as cancer was present in 3/22 lymph nodes. I recovered well and was back at work a month after finishing the chemo. I had a temporary ileostomy which was reversed in July 2021, after a clear scan the previous month.
Then in December 2021 a follow up colonoscopy revealed a tumour of around 3cm at the bowel join. I was then sent for scans which showed involvement of a couple of pelvic lymph nodes. I had 5 weeks of daily radiotherapy and capecitabine tablets and scans showed a good response, but not a complete response. Then about 8 weeks ago I had APR surgery and full hysterectomy. Everything was removed with clear margins but there was still cancer cells present in both tumour and lymph nodes removed.
My question relates to adjuvant chemotherapy - at my follow up appointment with the oncologist I was told that there is no evidence for any benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy in my situation, ie after there has already been a recurrence. I don't feel I came away with a satisfactory explanation for this despite asking many questions. While I am happy in the short term to recover and hopefully get back to work, since I tolerated the chemo well last time and am relatively young (late 40s), why would they not recommend more cycles in case of microscopic disease? I was told that I have a 50% chance of a further recurrence - is it that chemo becomes less effective so they are "saving" it for later?
If anyone has experience of surgery for recurrence I would love more information. Many thanks!
