Uterine papillary serous carcinoma

leeleec

I was diagnosed with USPC in August 2024. Had total hysterectomy (stage 1b, no metastasis or lymph node involvement). I have had 3 rounds of taxol/carboplatin and should be starting external radiation after first of year. Other than neuropathy and some short term muscle pains, I handled the first three rounds of chemo ok. I am a bit more worried about radiation and its effects, especially the fatigue and diarrhea. I try to stay active by bicycling alot. Can someone share their radiation side effects, and how they managed? How long did the side effects last post radiation? I restart 3 more rounds of chemo after radiation. How will the radiation side effects affect me on the spring rounds of chemo? Anyone have thoughts on this.

Forherself

Welcome leeleec. This board has been very quiet lately. I have not had chemo and radiation, but others have and hopefully they will respond. You can search for advice for radiation. The one thing I remember are advice to use probiotics during radiation and how it prevents diarrhea. Nothing is ever 100 but it has helped lots of women. Zsazsa1 is a member that comes to mind.

NoTimeForCancer

hey leelee,

sounds like you are getting the 'sandwich' treatment. I had all that and can talk a little bit about it.

Regarding the radiation, I was completely freaked about the potential side effects. I had a dietician share a study with cervical cancer patients and radiation therapy. Those who TOOK probiotcs and those who DID NOT TAKE probiotics. Those who took the probiotics had less side effects - drastically different - so I would suggest you look in to that.

Fatigue is a different matter. The external pelvic radiation fatigued me like I had never experienced. When you think about it, they are radiating your pelvis and that is such a massive amount of red cell generating marrow. I worked a desk job and was just tired days. I usually got home and fell over around 7 pm asleep. My advice is to give in to the sleep like that. When radiation stops, the effects begin to lessen immediately.

It was when I was going to go for radiation that I met with a dietician, so if possible, see if anyone is available for you and "push the protein". I didn't know what that meant. But you was 7 -9 proteins a day. Sounds like a lot, but 1 egg is 1 protein. A chicken breast can be 3-4, cheese, nuts, yogurt…you see how it can add up.

leeleec

That is helpful. I have taken probiotics for a long time. I will try to up the protein as well. I can not imagine being that tired, so it will be foreign to me. Thank you for your input. Much appreciated.

NoTimeForCancer

leelee, ask anything. I liked to ride my bike at the time, but I had to give into the fatigue. Remember, REST is RESTorative - I promise you, it gets better.

I wanted to add, since you have experienced some neuropathy, and have three chemos to go, you might want to look into icing your fingers or toes (whatever is affected). I was very fortunate not to experience that but then I didn't know about it until after it had all ended. Lots of posts on icing.

leeleec

The neuropathy seems to be worse after chemo for a week or so, then improves. All in all I feel like I handled the symptoms after chemo pretty well. I hope you are well past all this and have remained cancer free.