What Kind of Radiation Did You Get for Your Gynecological Cancer?

Praying all works out for you.

I do have an achiness in my lower back, hips and legs. Ive been blaming it on lack of excercise, I do stil have vaginal burning and pain so its difficult to get things done. Other then that I am also just over one month out of treatment ending, which was 5 weekks internal radiation. 5 chemo once a week and 5 internal radiation. Except for the vaginal irritation ( I do treat with creams and pain meds) I feel good. The fatique is gone, I am eating again. I do urinate more frequently, but bowels are regular and with a softener are easy. Scans are scheduled for the 17th. So we will see whats next.

@terradean
Hang in there. For me the days went by quickly. It really is an overwhelming process and I didn't have chemo, so I can only imagine that you are exhausted and ready for this to be over I worked the entire time and drove about an hour each way so the trips were exhausting and then I would go to work each day. If the diarrhea persists my Dr also recommended a low fiber diet and as long as I followed that mine was more tolerable. I just started adding back in most fruits and veggies in the past couple of weeks. Take care and hopefully today will be a good day!

Woke up at 2:30 last night with left arm aching, so used tens unit on my neck, then went back to sleep woke up not hurting, everything came out of me quickly. So Imodium, it was that ended it for the day. Seem to be ok tonight after another treatment. Hopefully, won't have same problem in morning. And, will sleep all night. I am hoping will not have pain. I have never been that thrilled about this all this treatment, though everyone keeps telling me I need to do. After being in pain from mid-May till end of August before hysterectomy I just do not want to go back to pain. Am hoping this can go as smoothly as possible.

@terradean I was asked about pain several times also, but never had any during the treatments. I finished just about a month ago and started having achyness/pain in my low back, hips and legs about a week ago. I have been reading and that is a common side effect of pelvic radiation and for most people it says it normally subsides after a couple of weeks. Other than the headaches I felt good in the first few weeks, but as time progressed I did feel very tired, weak and had diarrhea quite a bit. I am still a bit tired but no longer feel weak and rarely have diarrhea now. Take care! I am praying for you!

Question, did you have any pain with the treatments. When meeting with Dr. yesterday he mentioned you will have pain. I am not sure why this is being mentioned. But, not the first time I have heard it. I mentioned having a headache after first radiation, and feeling off for about 4hrs., that was a 11 am appt., this week was a 8:35 appt., didn't really notice as much. However, yesterday after leaving I was feeling achy at my 3:20 appt. He asked about my stomach and whether having nausea, I am eating fine though still feels somewhat irritated since last chemo appt. or maybe both. Am using tens unit on my back right now is achy.

Yes, my workweek is tuesday thru saturday, am glad for it or think time would really drag through this. So, Monday they have me go early, but other 4 days am leaving work 2 hrs early to be able to get to appts. Drive 45 minutes from work to facility but only 15 minutes to get home. Interesting about the coffee, have read not to do coffee but hard on intestine really don't want to give my cup up in morning with milk in it. I do agree chemo makes you feel crummy, mine has been 3 weeks apart, 3rd time still wasn't back to normal from 2nd. Am glad not doing more right now. I did stay hydrated, and was home Monday so had alot of water and tea but was off for about 4 hrs after. I am not sure what to think, got home at 4:30 today no headache yet. Not feeling tired yet, but will probably go to bed early tonight if can go to sleep.
I hope I do not have any skin problems, the scar tissue from hysterectomy is enough. I will start carrying the Imodium just in case I start to have that issue. Time will tell I guess.

@terradean From what I can tell here everyone has a slightly different treatment regimen.

During radiation therapy I had a few headaches. Coffee help as did staying hydrated. Also, my treatment was in the winter months in Minnesota so I figured the bedroom was very dry from the furnace and I needed to use a humidifier. That helped. I had diarrhea off and on and as @cmb2022 wrote I carried immodium with me all the time. I also had some fatigue toward the end of the treatments. I did what my radiation oncologist recommended which was to stay active and walk a lot. I took occasional naps during the day if I felt tired in the afternoon and slept well enough at night. I did not have any skin problems. I'm not sure why some people have this and some do not. Maybe this is something to ask you radiation oncologist.

Will you be working throughout your treatments?

@terradean
I recently finished radiation at my first weekly appointment with the Radiation Oncologist I met a very kind retired doctor who was filling in and I mentioned that I was experiencing headaches daily after my treatment. He said have some coffee and I said I wasn't a fan he said have some tea then. I did each day and that helped. I always had the earliest appointment each day and worked the entire time. A nap would have been nice, but it was good to keep as active as possible. I had 28 external treatments and 3 brachytherapy ones. On the day after the final external treatment I woke up with a very small burn that quickly healed. I had plenty of fatigue and diarrhea. Immodium was definitely my friend. Take care and be kind to yourself. Rest when you can and very soon you will be all done.

It's hard for me to compare because I also had chemo during my 5 weeks of external radiation. My first 3 weeks went fine .then I got real sick diarrhea being the worst of it. Zero appetite. Severe fatigue. I still blame the chemo. The skin issues from the radiation came at the very end. I was literally peeling. The doc gave me a zinc burn ointment that worked but I still have skin discoloration that a bikini wouldnt cover. Maybe it will fade in time. I was treated for vaginal cancer and currently am recuperating from the brachytherapy I had after. I hope your symptoms are mild I do believe the more severe symptoms were from the chemo. Eat well, stay hydrated, stay as active as you can. Is probably the best advice I can give