How to advocate for a hysterectomy after treatment

Posted by alwaysalright @alwaysalright, Feb 11, 2023

Long story short. Was supposed to have hysterectomy . Cancelled. Now have cervical and lymph nodes cancer. 25 days radiation and 5weeks of chemo. Last chemo finished Friday and 1 more week of radiation. Then brachytherapy on Feb 21. Doctor says they don’t do 2 modalities. Help me understand this decision. I need to not have this come back again.

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@alwaysalright I'm so sorry to hear that you wanted a hysterectomy, it was scheduled, but that your doctors went with chemotherapy and radiation. May I ask the original diagnosis? Were you diagnosed with ovarian cancer? Or uterine (endometrial) cancer?

There are circumstances where the doctors try to treat (remove) as much of the cancer as possible. It's called "debulking" and is done as the first stage of treatment when the cancer is advanced . I'm going to share a link that describes this for ovarian cancer although I don't know if that was your original diagnosis.

Debulking for Ovarian Cancer (scroll down the page to find this information)

-- https://www.cancer.org/cancer/ovarian-cancer/treating/surgery.html

I do understand your fear about recurrence. I was diagnosed with endometrial cancer and that fear of it coming back is often in the back of my mind.

What is the overall treatment plan? Will you talk about your concerns with your doctor at your next appointment and ask what is next in treatment after you complete brachytherapy?

REPLY
@naturegirl5

@alwaysalright I'm so sorry to hear that you wanted a hysterectomy, it was scheduled, but that your doctors went with chemotherapy and radiation. May I ask the original diagnosis? Were you diagnosed with ovarian cancer? Or uterine (endometrial) cancer?

There are circumstances where the doctors try to treat (remove) as much of the cancer as possible. It's called "debulking" and is done as the first stage of treatment when the cancer is advanced . I'm going to share a link that describes this for ovarian cancer although I don't know if that was your original diagnosis.

Debulking for Ovarian Cancer (scroll down the page to find this information)

-- https://www.cancer.org/cancer/ovarian-cancer/treating/surgery.html

I do understand your fear about recurrence. I was diagnosed with endometrial cancer and that fear of it coming back is often in the back of my mind.

What is the overall treatment plan? Will you talk about your concerns with your doctor at your next appointment and ask what is next in treatment after you complete brachytherapy?

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Endometria.
I was in a screening program for women over 40 and did colposcopy every 6 months with no concerns. Then boom I had cancer and it went from early stage to a stage 3 in a month. I know they are not sharing all info. They cancelled the hysterectomy on December 12 and said the petscan showed it spread to lymph nodes. My treatment plan is 5 weeks everyday radiation and 5 weeks every Friday chemo. I’m on cysplatin. I’m really struggling with nausea, diarrhea and brain fog headaches and cramps. On February 21 I am going g to the hospital for 3-5 stay for the brachytherapy. A little anxious about that part of the plan. Any suggestions? Thank you so much.

REPLY
@alwaysalright

Endometria.
I was in a screening program for women over 40 and did colposcopy every 6 months with no concerns. Then boom I had cancer and it went from early stage to a stage 3 in a month. I know they are not sharing all info. They cancelled the hysterectomy on December 12 and said the petscan showed it spread to lymph nodes. My treatment plan is 5 weeks everyday radiation and 5 weeks every Friday chemo. I’m on cysplatin. I’m really struggling with nausea, diarrhea and brain fog headaches and cramps. On February 21 I am going g to the hospital for 3-5 stay for the brachytherapy. A little anxious about that part of the plan. Any suggestions? Thank you so much.

Jump to this post

I'm just making this up, but perhaps since it spread so fast they felt they should hit it with the quickest things right away.
The hysterectomy is not like cutting your fingernails; it's big surgery and can beat your body up for a long time. I had surgery for ovarian cancer first because they were not positive It was actually cancer; but then couldn't start chemo for a month, till I had somewhat recovered from the surgery.
I'm guessing they must think that the radiation is at least as good as surgery for eliminating the solid tumors.
And it appears to be compatible with starting chemo very quickly, And your body won't be beat up from surgery at least.
I know the urge to get that bad stuff right out of there is really strong, But it might actually not be the most effective if there's already cancer in the lymph nodes. Your treatment plan sounds really rough; you don't want to throw the debilitation of surgery in with that.
Have you asked about having a hysterectomy after you have recovered somewhat from the radiation and chemo?
You deserve clearer answers; keep asking.

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