Counting down the days to the start of my planned chemotherapy (6 sessions over 18 weeks of Carboplatin & Paclitaxel) and reading endlessly trying to keep focused and see this as hopefully the successful end of my treatment with maybe some radiotherapy too. Went armed with questions to my 6 week post op check and finally got a correct staging of my cervical cancer, grade2 stage3. Now that I’ve had my full hysterectomy to remove cervical and womb cancer I asked my consultant ‘am I sat here still with cancer as we speak’ she said ‘nobody could answer that as I might have microscopic cancer cells’. So then im thinking if I might have or I might not have these microscopic cells am I going through this course of chemotherapy unnecessarily and putting my body through more endless side effects to cope with?
Then this is where the confusion really sets in as I have my sister bombarding me with info from the internet trying to persuade me not to have chemotherapy as she says it is poison and not to have radiotherapy as it frazzles your insides. She is convinced the Fenbenzadole and Ivermectin with an alkaline diet and things like sour sop, lions mane, apricot seeds to list just a few are the safer way to beat cancer. Has anyone else or know of anyone else that has tried this avenue of self curing and if it is successful or not?
Am in just in denial of not wanting more treatment and trying to talk myself out of it. I am so not looking forward to the next 18 weeks, the thought of it really stresses me out, it’s the first thing I think of when I wake up and the last thing I think of when i fall asleep.
Hi KeswickC
I remember you had quite a lot of confusion over aspects of your diagnosis which must be difficult for you. The most important thing is the staging of your cancer, which is now established at stage 3. Standard conventional treatment would be chemotherapy and radiation, and those who had a stage known at diagnosis would not have had a hysterectomy performed at stage 3 for cervical cancer.
Chemotherapy is a systemic treatment so goes throughout your whole body. After surgery, or indeed any treatment, microscopic cancer cells can remain which cannot be picked up on scans. For me after chemoradiation I had a post treatment mri scan which showed “no evidence of disease” and I was considered to have had a complete response to the treatment. This is typically the best result you can achieve, but my doctors always advised that microscopic cancer cells could still be there but not seen. This happened to me and my cancer came back.
If you chose not to have chemotherapy at all, then there is a risk that all the cells haven’t been destroyed in the surgery and will come back. Having chemotherapy should give you the best chance of getting rid of any cells potentially lurking in your body.
There is no scientific evidence that the alternative therapies your sister is talking about can cure cancer. There are plenty of stories on the internet about miraculous cures, but if they were true, would we not all be taking them and curing ourselves? Many vulnerable people are conned into spending large amounts of money taking unproven remedies because they choose not to follow conventional treatment paths which are proven to work but of course it’s a very personal choice. Some of these “cures” are actually dangerous and would not be recommended by oncologists. You can choose to listen to your sister reading stories on the internet which cannot be verified by science, or believe your mainstream medical staff who can back up their claims of success with medical research, peer reviewed and proven results.
If you choose an alternative path you would be discharged from care by your current doctors, because they would no longer be treating you, and you would have no scans to monitor how you’re doing and no proof that any alternative therapies you chose were working in any way. You could become more ill.
I don’t know anyone personally who has tried the alternative treatment route, and would never have chosen it myself, but have been a part of many cancer groups in the past where others did. Every single woman I read about in these groups passed away-it didn’t work for any of them and they had spent a lot of money on different remedies, many of which you mentioned in your post, Would you be prepared to take that risk? it sounds harsh but that was the reality. All of the groups I was in related specifically to cervical cancer.
As I’ve probably said before, I’ve been through cervical cancer twice, had chemotherapy, radiation and extensive surgery. I am now considered cured as I am more than 5 years out from my last surgery. The cancer could still come back in the future, as there are never any absolute guarantees, but I am well, and I concentrate on having my life back because I chose mainstream medicine and trusted my doctors.
It’s tough to go through the regime you are facing, but it would give you the best treatment plan possible to make sure you come through with no evidence of disease. Personally, I would have taken any mainstream treatment which gave me a good chance of success, and even underwent massive and extreme surgery. All I can say is that I have no regrets, even though it was hard going, and I’m alive.
Your sister doesn’t have your cancer, you do…so please try not to be persuaded by quackery. I’ll have look for what reputable sites such as Macmillan and Cancer Research say about alternative treatment and link you to that information so you can read from valid sites.
Sarah xx
