Latest news

Hi nightingale,

Good news, indeed.

I can understand your dilemma, but from what I have seen within my own family I think I would throw everything at it in the hopes it scotches it for good. That's my view!!   xxxxxxxx

Hi Nightingale 19,  Glad to hear that you had a positive diagnosis.  I have never been in a position to have adjuvant treatment options as I was the same Stage as you, but I was grade 1.  This will be a personal choice, but I would like to share my experience when I recurred.  Before I met the radiologist, I didn't know that the tumor had been removed by the biopsy so when I asked him how big was the tumor, he said he didn't know because my CT scan was clear.  So if there was no evidence of disease why did I need radiotherapy?The rationale was they didn't know if any more cells had been left behind and he wanted to protect my bladder and bowel.  My cancer was grade 1(slow  growing, slow spreading) but because I had recurred I had to have high level of radiation.  On the one hand I'm annoyed that I hadn't had a choice and on the other it happened and I could have treatment to cure.  No 2 cancers act the same.  What ever your decision, you know what is right for you.  If I was offered adjuvant treatment before I recurred I would have had it.  Take care xxDawn

hi nightingale im so pleased to hear that your cancer hasnt spread outside the uterus although the type has changed. regardless of the aggressiveness the important factor is that it was contained. i understand that a common place of recurrence is the vaginal cuff and that brachytherapy reduces the risk but it only treats that area. my tumour was at the top of the uterus so it wouldn't have been much use. it cuts the chance of recurrence by half and doesnt have so many side effects as pelvic radiotherapy. 

Thanks for the support everyone. Much appreciated. 

Papermoon... My original tumour started out as a polyp right at the top of my uterus, at he opposite end to my vagina. It was because it was at the top of the uterus that I was scheduled to have a hysteroscopy under GA to remove it.  Only they found it well attached and did a biopsy and here we are. But I saw the ultrasound scans so  I know it was very high up, so will discuss possibility of recurrence with the oncologist next week I think. 

its always a difficult decision. pelvic rt was an option for me which i didnt have in the end. as it turned out i did have a recurrence 3 years later but in a paraortic node not in the pelvis.

Excellent news that they are still grading you as 1a. I was grade 1 but staged as 1b so like you I was offered the choice to have brachytherapy as a "belt and braces" after surgery to reduce the chances of recurrence. Like you I was in 2 mins d's, but I discussed it in detail with the specialist oncologist from the Christie. Her advice was that although it would mean brachytherapy couldn't be used if I did have a recurrence, should that happen, brachytherapy was unlikely to be the treatment of choice anyway so she felt I wasn't really limiting my options much. With that in mind i went ahead, who knows if i was right or wrong, but I knew I'd always wonder if I could have prevented it if it did come back.

Sorry, I meant to say staging at 1a not grading.