I was diagnosed with Stage 4b incurable aggressive womb cancer in October. The plan is 6 sessions of chemo at 3 week intervals and I’ve just had the second session. The aim is to improve my quality of life and hopefully extend it. Any messages of hope out there?
I am very sorry to hear that Sioned.
Hopefully some one on here can help.
Are you attending a major cancer centre?
Mimizan
Hi Sioned
Welcome to the Womb group.
I am sorry to hear of your diagnosis of womb cancer.
I had chemo for my womb cancer- carboplatin and paclitaxel. How are you finding the chemo? I found it manageable and when I did have side effects, most could be managed by medication. I found also that the 24 hour number they give you was really helpful- so do contact them if you do struggle with anything. For me it was the first week after chemo that I felt most rough. By the 2nd week I felt a bit better and by the 3rd week I could get out and about and do more. I did find that the fatigue did build up with each cycle so I did have to pace myself a bit.
It must have been tough to be given an incurable diagnosis but I think the thing to remember is that although it may not be able to be cured, chemo can be successful at treating the cancer, holding it back and improving how you are feeling day to day. There have been other ladies on here who have had a similar diagnosis who have no evidence of disease. So although the cancer may well return at some point- the chemo has dealt with it for the time being.
You are very welcome to post in the Womb group but we also have a group that may also be of support to you. I will pop a link in case you feel it may help.
(+) Living with incurable cancer forum | Macmillan Online Community
Support from others can be very important. I will pop a link to some of the ways Macmillan can help.
Emotional, financial and physical help for people with cancer | Macmillan Cancer Support
The Support Line is available from 8am to 8pm daily if you feel like chatting things through would help. They can also have a look for you to see if there is any other support in your local area. A lot of people find Maggies centres helpful.
I hope that this helps a bit. If there is anything you want to ask, please do so.
Jane
Dear Jane, Thank you so much for your encouraging reply. I am on the same chemo as you and had a very similar response to it. First week was pretty rough, but things gradually improved and the last week I felt really well. The first session was 80% strength, but this second session was the full 100%, so I anticipated that things might feel worse. I’ve learnt that drinking plenty of water is one key to lessening the side effects. I have a CT scan arranged for after the third chemo to see what effect it’s having. I shall remain hopeful that the cancer can be kept at bay. Thank you so much again for your reply. I’m deeply grateful.
I wish you well in your healing journey. Best wishes, Sioned
I found keeping my fluids up helped as well. Also little and often with eating. I ate my main meal earlier in the day as often as the day went on I could feel more nauseous. With the nausea I found it better for the first week to take the meds regularly before the nausea took hold. The other big thing that helped was when they put me on a tapering dose of steroids. So for most people there are steroids in hospital and then for 2 days at home and then stop. The sudden drop made me feel really unwell. From the second cycle my oncologist dropped the steroid doses over a further couple of days so there was a gradual decline- made a big difference.
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