Hi there,
I was hoping I might be able to get any thoughts and advice on my situation if anyone has been through anything similar.
I had Stage 3C cancer and was treated by radical chemoradiotherapy, however unfortunately this didn’t fully work. My team has now recommended putting me on Palliative Immunotherapy+Chemo which is just devastating news as I’m in my twenties and just always assumed I’d manage to pull through. It feels just bitterly unfair that I haven’t even been given the option to have some more radical treatment as a last ditch attempt although I know it is extreme surgery and there’s no guarantees. I don’t really understand why they have said they can’t offer me anything more. I am in incredible health and fitness, so it just seems completely unimaginable that this is the start of the end and there’s no more options..
Has anyone received further treatment after unsuccessful chemoradiotherapy for stage 3 cancer? Were you offered only palliative chemo+immunotherapy, or salvage surgery too?
If anyone has received salvage surgery such as a pelvic exenteration and has any recommendations for hospitals or specific surgeons who are equipped to deal with this I would be so grateful to hear, as one of my concerns is that my specific hospital isn’t really able to offer this maybe for expertise / resourcing reasons as opposed to it being entirely medically impossible.
Thank you so much in advance
Jo x
Hi there,
Thank you so much for your response, and I’m so sorry to hear about your recurrence and hoping and praying for good results from your surgery 
Would you be happy to share where your hospital is based and who the surgeon was? I’m struggling to work out who I can ask to do a second opinion for me, I’m just trying to make sure I’ve exhausted all options before resigning to the palliative treatment.
Thank you so much,
J x
Hi Joey987 Jo, and welcome to our group.
I’m glad you’ve joined us here and hope we can help support you. If you click on my name you will be able to read my story-but basically I was stage 2b, had a recurrence and then a failed salvage hysterectomy followed by a total pelvic exenteration. ironically my chemoradiation gave me a NED result, but I still had a recurrence.
It’s difficult to know in your case if surgery is not being offered due to the expertise of the surgeons or the situation with your cancer, because for a pelvic exenteration there are very specific conditions for it to be a possibility. If the cancer has spread outside the pelvis, the exenteration isn’t an option. It’s a very expensive surgery due to the number of staff involved, and will only be done if there is realistic expectation of a cure. My other option at the time would have been palliative treatment.
My surgery was carried out at the Royal Hallamshire hospital in Sheffield, and was carried out by 3 separate surgeons working together but all based within the nhs in Sheffield-2 from the Northern General, and my gynaecological surgeon at the Hallamshire who co cordinated the whole process and led the team. I’m aware of the surgery being done at many other hospitals in the UK from speaking to others who have been through it. Do you mind saying where you are located in the UK?
You are so young to be facing any of this, and it must be devastating. You might need to be conscious of the fact that a second opinion may have the same result, but you at least by seeking one you will be assured you have explored all other avenues. I’m putting a link here to give you the information you need to seek a second opinion and hope you can pursue this.
Please stick with us and keep posting to let us know how you get on. It can be helpful to complete your own profile information too, so that others can see where you are. I’m so sad you find yourself in such a difficult situation.
Sarah xx
