New Treatment

Cloud_Lover

Hi All,

I've been looking but not posting, many things have happened since my last post.

I completed 6 treatments of Carbo/Taxol in June, a scan in July came back clean. Then a few weeks afterward I started spotting blood from my vagina,rushed to my GP, she found a tumor in my vagina, biopsy show it was the same type of uterine cancer endometraial I had before.

I had Endometrial cademocancinoma 3C the first time. My Ongo DR thought I needed more surgery, but an exam with my Surgeon said no that it's radiation instead. That's a good thing as I didn't want another surgery if I could help it.

So today will be my first radiation treatment, 5 weeks 5 days a week. It will just pinpoint the vaginal area and lymph nodes. I had a PET scan last week so I'll get the results of that today as well. After the external radiation is complete I will go to UCSF for a vaginal Brachy Treatment.

So I have a lot on my plate for the next couple of months. I was wondering who has tips on radiation survival, and who had brachy treatment. I'm nervous as I was before starting my chemo, which I actually tolerated very well.

So here we go again, I'm hoping this goes as well as my Chemo

howdybooth

Rad Treatment
My sister tolerated the rad/brachy treatment very well......no bowel problems at all. Hardest part was the 5 days per week for 5 weeks....that gets to be a bit much for anyone! LOL Hopefully it will be uneventful for you too. BTW - her rad/brachy came after a reoccurrence on the vaginal cuff only 3 months after her hysterectomy. A second reoccurrence was found with a PET scan after the rad/brachy on the liver…..that was burned off and then she had chemo – she has been NED for almost 5 months now.

RGW

howdybooth said:

Rad Treatment
My sister tolerated the rad/brachy treatment very well......no bowel problems at all. Hardest part was the 5 days per week for 5 weeks....that gets to be a bit much for anyone! LOL Hopefully it will be uneventful for you too. BTW - her rad/brachy came after a reoccurrence on the vaginal cuff only 3 months after her hysterectomy. A second reoccurrence was found with a PET scan after the rad/brachy on the liver…..that was burned off and then she had chemo – she has been NED for almost 5 months now.

Radiation
I had 5 weeks of daily external pelvic radiation. The best advice I can give you is to make sure that you go with a full bladder b/c it will push the small bowel out of the way and decrease damage to the bowel. It isn't comfortable to have a full bladder, but it's better than damaging the bowel. Ask the rad/onc RN about a low-fat, low-fiber diet to help with the possible diarrhea. And ask about Imodium. I never went anywhere without a bottle of Imodium & a pair of clean underpants, just in case. Never had to use the underpants, but better safe than sorry. The thing I found most unexpected was the terrible fatigue. I don't know exactly what it was from, but it was difficult. Good luck to you.

Cloud_Lover

More news
Thanks for the info. Got the results of the PET scan, bad news is my lymph nodes lesion have enlarged and they found a small spot on my lungs. It was a kick in gut but at least they found it. The CT scan did not show anything, thank goodness the radiation Dr insisted on the PET scan or I'd be thinking we're just after the vaginal tumor.

It looks like I'll be doing chemo for the lung tumor, probably while doing the radition. The good part is they expanded the target area to now include the lymph nodes.

Darn, my hair in just starting to come in, guess I should enjoy it while it last.

I'll ask the technican about the bladder, my treatments are 45 min as it moves around. I don't know it I could hold it that long on a full bladder.

Good news is the treatment was not painful,except that torture board they make you lie on.

susafina

Cloud_Lover said:

More news
Thanks for the info. Got the results of the PET scan, bad news is my lymph nodes lesion have enlarged and they found a small spot on my lungs. It was a kick in gut but at least they found it. The CT scan did not show anything, thank goodness the radiation Dr insisted on the PET scan or I'd be thinking we're just after the vaginal tumor.

It looks like I'll be doing chemo for the lung tumor, probably while doing the radition. The good part is they expanded the target area to now include the lymph nodes.

Darn, my hair in just starting to come in, guess I should enjoy it while it last.

I'll ask the technican about the bladder, my treatments are 45 min as it moves around. I don't know it I could hold it that long on a full bladder.

Good news is the treatment was not painful,except that torture board they make you lie on.

RADIATION
So sorry to hear about your reoccurence. I too am a Stage IIIC. I finished treatment 3 months ago. I had external beam RT also for 5 weeks. At first the time seemed insurmontable but you will get through it. The first few weeks were OK the fatigue is rough. You feel tired but can't really sleep. I continued to work through out it but the last week and the two weeks after is when I had the most side effects. The diarrhea can be a little rough,but a low fiber, low fat diet helped. Avoid fresh salads and vegetables. this really helped. Immodium also helped me a lot and then I also needed lomotil for about a week. Small frequent meals worked best for me. But above all remember. YOU WILL GET THROUGH THIS.
I know I am still new to all of this but, during RT treatments I went from prqying, making believe the RT was like pac man(OK I am dating myself)killing the bad cells to singing aliong with the music I made the techs play real loud. Good luck and keep us informed.
SUE

Cloud_Lover

susafina said:

RADIATION
So sorry to hear about your reoccurence. I too am a Stage IIIC. I finished treatment 3 months ago. I had external beam RT also for 5 weeks. At first the time seemed insurmontable but you will get through it. The first few weeks were OK the fatigue is rough. You feel tired but can't really sleep. I continued to work through out it but the last week and the two weeks after is when I had the most side effects. The diarrhea can be a little rough,but a low fiber, low fat diet helped. Avoid fresh salads and vegetables. this really helped. Immodium also helped me a lot and then I also needed lomotil for about a week. Small frequent meals worked best for me. But above all remember. YOU WILL GET THROUGH THIS.
I know I am still new to all of this but, during RT treatments I went from prqying, making believe the RT was like pac man(OK I am dating myself)killing the bad cells to singing aliong with the music I made the techs play real loud. Good luck and keep us informed.
SUE

It is Ok so far
Sue, It's good to hear from another Stage IIIC survior. The radiation is not bad no pain except for that torturous table. I have to hobble a little when I get up.

Everyone at the radiation center is so nice, it's nice to have smiling faces during treatment.

Monday I have an appt with my ongo Dr, to decide what to do about the spot on my lung. It would be nice if I could do some kind of clinical trial instead of the chemo again.

I know I thought the chemo would never end before so the radiation should be the same. I put the schedule on my calendar yesterday, it was quite a shock to see all those dates. It was nice to hear you got those yours OK.

Thanks for the tips. I'm a vegetarian so I'll have to talk diet over with my Dr.

jmnye

Cloud_Lover said:

It is Ok so far
Sue, It's good to hear from another Stage IIIC survior. The radiation is not bad no pain except for that torturous table. I have to hobble a little when I get up.

Everyone at the radiation center is so nice, it's nice to have smiling faces during treatment.

Monday I have an appt with my ongo Dr, to decide what to do about the spot on my lung. It would be nice if I could do some kind of clinical trial instead of the chemo again.

I know I thought the chemo would never end before so the radiation should be the same. I put the schedule on my calendar yesterday, it was quite a shock to see all those dates. It was nice to hear you got those yours OK.

Thanks for the tips. I'm a vegetarian so I'll have to talk diet over with my Dr.

Another IIIC survivor
Hi -

When were you diagnosed? I am so sorry to hear that your cancer has returned.

I was diagnosed in March 2009. I had surgery, chemo, and radiation, too.

Jane

susafina

jmnye said:

Another IIIC survivor
Hi -

When were you diagnosed? I am so sorry to hear that your cancer has returned.

I was diagnosed in March 2009. I had surgery, chemo, and radiation, too.

Jane

glad to hear RT is going ok
I am glad to hear that RT is going OK. My co- workers made me a sticker chart so I could track each day that RT was done. I got a big kick out of it and when I was done we had a little celebration. I could see that being a vegetarian might present a challenge, but as long as you avoid a lot of raw foods you should be good.
I agree with you that RT table was so uncomfortable especially when they put that mold over to keep you in place. Where are you going anyway? It really helps that everyone is so nice at your center. Mine were great too but when they close that door.... you know shat I mean. Stay strong and keep posting.
Hugs
SUE

lindaprocopio

susafina said:

glad to hear RT is going ok
I am glad to hear that RT is going OK. My co- workers made me a sticker chart so I could track each day that RT was done. I got a big kick out of it and when I was done we had a little celebration. I could see that being a vegetarian might present a challenge, but as long as you avoid a lot of raw foods you should be good.
I agree with you that RT table was so uncomfortable especially when they put that mold over to keep you in place. Where are you going anyway? It really helps that everyone is so nice at your center. Mine were great too but when they close that door.... you know shat I mean. Stay strong and keep posting.
Hugs
SUE

BRAT diet for pelvic radiation, & 2nd line chemo
My problem after pelvic radiation (and a celebration trip to Greece and Turkey where I ate crazy stuff!) was 'non-absorption'; I had bowel CONTROL but I had loose bowels almost immediately after I ate each meal. I saw a nutritionist to get my bowels healed up from the pelvic radiation, and as contrary as it was from the high fiber/fresh veggies diet I've always eaten, the low residue diet really helped me get my bowels back to normal. She told me to eat at least a tablespoon of Greek or natural yogurt each day to re-introduce bacteria into my digestive system. I was also to initially limit my food intake to the B.R.A.T. diet of Bananas, Rice (white!), Applesauce, and Toast (white!) I hadn't eaten WHITE rice or WHITE bread for years/decades but I followed her advice and after a couple of weeks my bowels settled down. I also drank cup after cup of unsweetened green tea and worked at staying very hydrated. Then I gradually added in higher fiber foods over the next 2 weeks, and by a month I was down to 1 loose BM after my morning coffee and was okay the rest of the day. (Still unwilling to give up that coffee, though!) That seems to be my 'new normal' a year after radiation.

I'm wondering if your 2nd line chemo will be weekly dense dose taxol instead of more carbo/taxol every 3 weeks. I found the weekly fractionated single agent taxol to be a very easy chemo to take with no side effects other than baldness and manageable fatigue. (I took 17 rounds of weekly taxol after my recurrence before it stopped shrinking my malignant lymph nodes.) The Clinical Trial I hope to go on next won't allow you to get simultaneous radiation and chemo, but maybe you can join it when all of your radiation is over?? But if I were you, and given the option, I would take the single dose weekly taxol. After 10 rounds my CT/PET showed No Evidence of Disease, although after 3 months of remission the nodes lit up again and I went back on the weekly taxol.

If you have IMRT pelvic radiation, you will not need to have a full bladder as the CT-guided computer adjusts the beam up and down over organs and bones to help reduce 'friendly fire'.

Cloud_Lover

I had surgery Oct 29, 2009
I had surgery Oct 29, 2009 after diagonosis in Oct same year. I was supposed to start Chemo in Decemeber 09 but problems with insurance delayed it until Feb 10. My 6 rounds of Taxol/Carbo ended June 2010.

Monday I have an appt for a blood draw and Dr visit at Redwood Regional Medical Center in Santa Rosa, CA. They are a local to Sonoma County Ca with 4 locations, my surgery at UCSF recommended them and the Oncol Dr after the surgery. I could have had the Chemo at UCSF but it's a 2 hour drive. I have been treated well at RRMC, and it would have been very expensive with some of the frequent drive to SF.

Linda, Thanks for the tips on diet. I'm wondering if I do both at the same time how I manage side effects of diahhrea and conspitation at the same time.