Hi everyone,
this is just a general personal opinion & advice I am looking for.
I had a hysterectomy to remove my cancer & it was successful, but due to it being sore rare they can’t say for sure there is no cells under my vessels that can’t be seen & being advised that 4-6 rounds of preventative chemotherapy followed by 5 weeks of radiotherapy into my vaginal pelvic area.
is there anyone who’s had similar or opted to not take treatment? My cancer was stage 1A -1B
I would love to hear some advice or personal outlooks on this. Thank you
Hi Kim35
I had a hysterectomy for carcinoma sarcoma in April 2022. I also had the same follow up treatment as you. I was stage 1b with LVSI.
The treatment was not easy at times but it was doable. My decision was to follow the doctors advice as with an aggressive cancer the chance of recurrence is higher. Even though I was concerned re side effects, I felt it better to throw everything at the cancer to give myself the best chance. Recurrence can be hard to predict but if I do get a recurrence then I know I did everything I could to prevent one. If I do recur then there are still options for treatment.
With a rarer cancer it will be perhaps harder for them to predict how likely any recurrence could be.
I remember my consultant saying it was better to mop up any stray cells while they were too small to be seen on a scan, rather than wait for them to potentially travel through blood/lymphatic system and potentially get to lymph nodes or spread further and get bigger. Made sense to me.
I am now 2 years post treatment and have not had a return of the cancer. I do have some Late effects from the treatments but I manage them. I do not regret having the chemo or radiotherapy.
It is an important decision to make and if talking it through would help, then perhaps give the Support Line a call.
Jane
If you click on my name my profile and treatments will come up. I had 4 cycles of carboplatin and paclitaxel, which is quite a common treatment. It was a 21 day cycle
All cancer can spread but some is more likely to do so than others. Grade 1 is the least aggressive, Grade 3 is the most aggressive. It doesn't mean that it will definitely spread, just that it is more likely to behave aggressively.
So most grade 3 cancers are treated with follow up radiotherapy and/or chemo to help reduce the risk of recurrence and to mop up any stray cells.
