How long to recover from vaginal brachytherapy? (Recap of Lost Posts, Topic Created by zsazsa1 on Ja

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This recap includes posts that were lost during CSN's data outage from 10/29/18 to 1/30/19.

 

zsazsa1

Jan 08, 2019 - 5:23 pm

I just had round 4/6 of carbo/taxol/herceptin, and I'm beginning to see the possibility of a vacation after chemo is over.  Even if I were to have to extend chemo to every 4 weeks for the last two rounds, I would hopefully be done by early March, and able to travel a month later.  But I also need to do brachytherapy.  I dont need to be done with chemo to do brachytherapy, IF the vaginal cuff is healed, so I was kind of hoping to add it in February or so, and be ready to travel in the second week of April.

I just had to wait 4 weeks between rounds of chemo, and the 4th week I was feeling quite a bit better.  But I have no idea how much exhaustion, nausea, whatever the brachytherapy will cause.  Can anyone who has been through it already give me an idea of how long the brachytherapy will make me feel extremely tired or sick? 

 

Tamlen

Jan 08, 2019 - 5:30 pm

Brachy was a breeze compared to chemo

Congrats for getting through round 4 of chemo! You're almost there.

I was only mildly fatigued during brachy this past summer. I had 5 rounds over a two-week period halfway through chemo, so it's a bit hard to know which treatment was most responsible for the fatigue. But the fatigue passed pretty quickly.

I also had some burning on urination for about two weeks after brachy, and that gradually went away over the period of a month. It wasn't much of a problem. I had no other side effects and don't believe brachy is typically associted with nausea. I'm sure other ladies will correct me on that if I'm wrong!

 

Northwoodsgirl

Jan 08, 2019 - 8:34 pm

Recovery from brachytherapy

I had external radiation- about 25 times and then had 3 brachytherapy.  I had 3 rounds of chemo Taxol/Carboplatin prior to radiation. Then after radiation finished the other 3 rounds of chemo right after radiation. I didn’t get nauseated as I recall after brachytherapy but do recall experiencing extreme fatigue. I recall thinking that there was no way I could tolerate anymore radiation due to fatigue. I actually think that I fatigue much faster than before having had radiation.

On the upside I think it didn’t take long to get some of my energy level back. I was reminded by others to listen to my body and give myself permission to rest as needed. No nausea and even if there had been my oncologist made sure I had a couple types of meds to resolve any nausea. Thank goodness most of us get good nausea control over time. 

 

janaes

Jan 08, 2019 - 9:49 pm

Bracytherapy was a peice of

Bracytherapy was a peice of cake for me. When i say that i dont mean that the accual prodesure was a peice of cake. That was owkward and a bit painful. But i will tell you when the procedure was done it was done. I felt no effects after. Some people get some side effects but not me. I went back to work shortly after bracytherapy was all over. It was hard a needed breaks a work at first but it wasnt because of bracytherapy. It was chemo i was still recovering from. Id say try it. You might have to have some accomidations and thats okay.