Radiotherapy starting

Hi Jane,

I saw your message earlier but did not reply since radiotherapy is one treatment Janice has not had so hoped perhaps someone with some experience might reply. Perhaps just giving a nudge will bring it to the top of the list and someone might see but it might also help to post in Radiotherapy - Discussion Forum as that might cover a wider range of friends on here.

<<hugs>>

Steve

Hi Jane, glad to hear that you are getting some treatment. Take care, Deb

Thank you Steve. 
Did your wife’s leiomyosarcoma ever have a recurrence in her pelvis, as mine has? 
Will do thank you  

Thank you Deb. Very nervous x 

Hi Jane,

By the time Janice's cancer was diagnosed it was already spread throughout her lungs and was considered incurable so we did not get to the point of even considering recurrance. The main feature they concentrate on is her lungs though there is also a possibility she has sarcoidosis and it is very difficult to distinguish bone effects between the two.

A couple of rounds of chemotherapy seems to have rendered her cancer stable and that is a state we have come to live with - for six years now and she is doing so well the oncologist is even suggesting that next year she might be discharged to the care of our GP.

<<hugs>>

Steve

Hi Steve 

Ah, ok. I knew mine was spread to lung, and I had a full hysterectomy, to remove huge tumour, but it has grown back now, and 7cm already, so needing radiotherapy to hopefully shrink it. 
I guess your wife’s never returned in her pelvis? I can’t find anyone in my situation or similar. 
Great that she’s been stable fir 6 years. 

Thank you 

Jane 

Hi Jane,

I hope the radiotherapy is going well. I’m a little cautious in replying to you, I just want to send you a positive message and some support.

I had extended field radiotherapy x 30 sessions to pelvic and abdominal area so different to what your having and also different cell type (see my profile).

I was never expected to reach 2 year survival due to the extent and spread of my disease hence the aggressive extended field radiotherapy and brachytherapy x3, chemotherapy and surgeries.

I was always treated by a Sarcoma specialist.

I am now at year 10 so exceeded all survival expectations and remain under the care of an Oncologist.

All cancer treatment plans and disease progression are individual to each person.

However if I hadn’t had such aggressive treatment the outcome and survival would have been very different. I suffered severe long term side effects due to the treatment. I was told at the time of my treatment I would never have radiotherapy again in the future due to the doses I would be receiving.

Extended field radiotherapy is now only given with great caution due to the damage it is known to can cause.

Since your treatment programme will be very different in that it is local targeted radiotherapy to the pelvic area there would hopefully be minimal side effects and hopefully you achieve  the desired outcome in shrinking the tumour.

Cancer treatment has advanced a lot in the last 10-15 years due to the much improved survival rates with newer treatments and many more people who “ live with cancer”. It has also allowed for better individually tailored treatment programmes so as to avoid/ reduce the unwanted side effects of treatment especially where there has been recurrence of the disease.

I wish you well with your radiotherapy treatment and hope you get a very positive outcome from your individual tailored treatment plan with minimal side effects.

sending you a virtual hug and the message to try to stay positive,

Isabella 

Good luck with it Jane. I'm currently having treatment at notts but I'm having chemo first before radiotherapy....also for pelvis. Hope you get on well and will be good to hear how things go xx

Hi Jane just saw your reply above so wanted to add I have read a case study online with similar situation. The tumour was surgically removed...first scan it had grown back and they radiotherapied it and it was not able to be seen on ct when they reported it 8 months later xx

Thank you Isabella. Yours done sound quite scary but I appreciate the honestly, and glad that you have come through it all. 
I’ll keep updating 

Thank you 

jane x