Vaginal progression

Progression or reoccurrence or metastasis

I was told that a symptom of my cancer returning would likely be bloody discharge. The challenge we face is that if we have had radiation it is NOT  uncommon to have blood on toilet paper because our tissues (skin) in our vagina are so thin that sometimes just wiping after urination can cause bleeding . Another symptom could be pain of course. I had see my GYN/ONC every 3 months for 2 or 3 years and then every 6 months until I was 5 years post treatment. 

I was told that if my cancer returned it would likely come back on my vaginal cuff. I am almost 10 years survival and am very blessed to be living one day at a time. Your surveillance with your doctor seems pretty similar to my experience. 

Lori

I blelieve it is not unusual

I blelieve it is not unusual to still have bleeding a month after surgery. I have a friend who experienced this. I, too, had some bleeding that started around 4 months after surgery. In both cases, it was simply that the inside of the vagina is dark and moist, not very conducive to healing of the cuff, so it can take a while. My doc used silver nitrate to cauterize the cuff and that was that. 

pato58 said:

Thank you

Lisa ans Mrs Berry.
So I read about silver nitrate, but my Doc never mentioned it. Is that what is called hysterectomy granulation?
The gyn-onc is very good but it seems that words are not part of his bedside manner
So Lisa, does a vag cuff progression change your stage and/or prognosis, or not?
Appreciate your answers, as always

Strictly speaking, a

Strictly speaking, a recurrence doesn't change your stage. You will always be, for example, a stage 1, even if it goes to your lungs. You'd become a stage 1 with a distant recurrence. It's  a little hard to wrap your brain around. Your original stage does still influence your prognosis even after a distant recurrence. 

 

Recurrences are described as local, regional, and distant. The more localized, the better, in terms of prognosis. Although a local vaginal recurrence can indeed be cured, it's not guaranteed. So yes, it's a worse prognosis than no recurrence, but better than regional or distant recurrences. A distant recurrence is not considered curable, although results are widely variable.

 

Strictly speaking, restaging refers to correcting the original staging when it was wrong. But in practical terms, people will go ahead and speak of their cancer in terms of their new stage (for example, if they started as stage 1, but develop mets to the lung, they will say they are stage 4). It may not be strictly correct, but it makes so much more sense to most of us.

 

I wanted to add that I did have some bleeding (not heavy) for 6 weeks after surgery. It eventually did stop, all on it's own.