Internal radiotherapy

Jay Lee 15 days ago

6 replies
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I was diagnosed with low rectal cancer two and a half years ago. My treatment involved a stoma then 5 weeks of chemoradiotherapy which showed a good response. I was subsequently put on watch and wait but scans and a colonoscopy showed recurrence and I went through APR surgery (Barbie Butt) followed by 6 rounds of Capecetabine. A week after chemo finished I started bleeding from my ‘front passage’. After Hysteroscopy, biopsy, CT, MRI and PET scans I’ve been told that it’s a small area of recurrence of rectal cancer.

The team are looking at radical surgery or internal radiotherapy. I’m keen to avoid the surgery as it sounds as if I may need a Urostomy and I already have a colostomy.

Has anyone else been in this position? Can anyone share their experience of Internal Radiotherapy, I’ve no idea what to expect.

Thanks for reading if you’ve got this far.

Susan13 15 days ago

I have no experience with internal radiotherapy.

However I had TPE surgery resulting in 2 permanent stomas, colostomy and urostomy. So if you end up going the surgery route, I'd be happy to share my experience. I'll just add that I am happy with the results of my surgery but my situation was different from yours.

Jay Lee 14 days ago in reply to Susan13

Thank you very much for your reply, it’s really comforting to hear that it has been positive for you.

Kareno62 14 days ago

Hi Jay Lee Is this known as brachytherapy? If so I think Lucy1382 may have had it? You could also try typing it in search box at the top of the screen to see other posts? x

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Lucy1382 14 days ago

As Karen says below, I did indeed have brachytherapy, it's also known as contact therapy or Papillon (a retty name for a very undignified procedure!- used to make me laugh as they had butterfly stickers all over the machine, played plinky plonky spa music and had lavender oils in the room... but basically it was a big tube up the bum, no getting away from that!)

That said, I didn't find it difficult or painful at all, and you only go in once every two weeks, which was like some kind of holiday after the "real" radiotherapy. But let me know if you need to know anymore. I don't have a stoma, so they might do things a little differently but happy to chat. Lots of luck x

Jay Lee 14 days ago in reply to Lucy1382

OMG! Sounds wonderful! Thanks for replying, they’ve found recurrence in my ‘front passage’ as my surgeon calls it so I expect that’s where the tube will go if that’s what they have in mind for me.

SarahH21 14 days ago in reply to Jay Lee

Hi JayLee

There are lots of positive experiences in both the womb and cervical cancer groups about brachytherapy if you’d like to take a look in either of those groups, as it is given via the vagina if that’s what you’ll be having. The types of brachytherapy are different for both these cancers but are a normal part of treatment after radiotherapy.

Sarah xx

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