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Uterine Papillary Serous Carcinoma: What treatments did you have?
Gynecologic Cancers | Last Active: Dec 9 9:36pm | Replies (122)Comment receiving replies
I had three courses of vaginal brachytherapy in late September 2018 and it was sandwiched in between chemo. My normal chemo side effects were incontinence, followed by a few days of constipation followed by a few days of diarrhea. After the brachy sandwich I had this same sequence followed by horribly painful diarrhea, 6 times in one day, then the next day it went away. I have occasional diarrhea now one month post lady chemo. My main complaint is that my body's traditional signals for elimination no longer work well. When it tells me that I need to go, I have zero time to run to the toilet. Bowels & bladder have settled down so that I am on my way back to normal but it is dicey everyday. I still have no appetite so I am no where near consuming the volume of food and liquid I used to so there is that in the equation. My team told me to wait one year after the last treatment to assess changes and that this might be the new normal for me. I can easily deal with these challenges, but if the diarrhea came back I would be housebound. Diarrhea is one of the more serious side effects from radiation for uterine cancer, USPC.
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Are you in remission?
I had 5 radiation treatments in May 2021 after a total hysterectomy. About a month later I began to have bouts of diarrhea. It has gotten better but it's been 10 months since the last brachytherapy and I still have loose stools almost every day along with the urgent need to go to the bathroom. It has gotten better but my doctor says it is very uncommon to have this long term side effect. Does anyone else still have this problem? Thanks
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Most of what you are describing sounds more like radiation side effects or I was extremely lucky as had no bladder or bowel issues with Chemo whatsoever. It’s been a month out an no sign of hair returning yet. I meet the radiation oncologist tomorrow to discuss but have pretty much decided to forego radiation aa surgery removed it and the chemo was adjuvant and my lifestyle couldn’t deal with always having to know where the nearest bathroom is. And in my case it would have to be a bush somewhere as I’m usually out on my bike or hiking. I have also found that diffentent provinces or states in your case, have different protocols for treatment so if I lived 3 h ours away in Alberta, radiation is not the protocol but surgery and 6 adjuvant chemo therapy is the protocol there. Ive done due diligence and looked at OS and prognosis for recurrance etc and feel comfortable with just getting on with life. And if it recurs then I’ll deal with it then. No one has any guarantees regardless of treatment. Each and every one of us on this connect site has chosen a course of treatment that is right for them. I very much appreciate the candour with which people share their real life experiences.