What if treatment hasn’t worked

Hi Dus.

Welcome to the group, I don't have any information for you as I'm pretty much at the same stage as you, although I've had my MRI then received a letter telling me I had "satisfactory appearances" I've since spoke to my CNS and she assures me this is positive news! We have a lot of very experienced ladies on here who will no doubt have the answers for you and will be along soon with replies. Were you given any indication of how treatment was going? My scan before starting brachytherapy showed I'd had a good response so far. 

Hope you get answers soon but try to stay positive (I know how hard this can be).

Angela xx

Hu Dusand welcome to the group!

Well done on finishing treatment, but we know it’s stressful waiting for the scan and treatment results.

To be honest, if the scan shows that there is still something there, they may wait to scan again in 3 months as treatment does keep on working in your body after you finish.

I was also stage 2b, and my treatment did work in the sense that I got a “Ned” result after my mri, but unfortunately there must have been residual cells left behind and the cancer came back within months.

The options depend on whether the cancer is contained within the pelvis or has spread to lymphnodes or other organs. For me it hadn’t spread so I was eligible for a total pelvic exenteration-details are in my profile if you click on my name.

The other option is chemotherapy-generally a mix of chemo drugs and we do have some ladies in the group who are on this so I hope they can add some experiences.

Hopefully your treatment will work of course and you will just be monitored and regularly checked, so try and think positively if you can and not look too far ahead at this point.

Good luck with your results! 

Sarah xx

Hi Dus,

Well done on finishing your treatment. You must have had some response to the external radiotherapy or they wouldn't have done the brachytherapy so that's positive. I don't know what type of cancer you have squashamous cell or adenocarcinoma. I had stage 2b adenocarcinoma and this type can take a bit longer to respond. I have just had my third post treatment scan 11 months since finishing treatment and I have only just been told that there is no sign of cancer from.the scans. So don't be too disappointed if you don't get a full response at first post treatment scan. My oncologist said only around 50% get a total response at first scan. 

Take care xx

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