u/SomebodyElse333

This is an update to my previous post 21 days ago https://www.reddit.com/r/CervicalCancer/s/vGZov0glke

My wife’s histology came back two days ago and thankfully, the cancer had not spread and her stage remains 1B3 - so that means no adjuvant chemotherapy!

She does still need radiotherapy because her tumour was so friable when they removed it, so we will get that booked in next week but we knew this would be something she would need to do.

She’s been recovering really well, she had 55 staples taken out of her incision last week which has healed so nicely. She does unfortunately have an ongoing issue with her bladder which has led to her needing to do intermittent self catheterisation. She’s able to feel the urge to go, and to void some of her bladder but not all of it - we are hoping it’s just taking a little while longer to recover and it’s not a permanent injury from the surgery, and she is passing more urine herself every day so hopefully not a forever thing, but navigating the NHS to get the catheters on prescription has been TOUGH. That’s a story for another day!

There finally feels like a distant light at the end of the tunnel, this was the good news we both needed. Fingers crossed for an uncomplicated radiation journey!

Hello, you might remember me from previous posts, I (39F) am married to my wife (39F) who is going through cervical cancer in the UK. Her initial staging was 1B3 and due to the way her tumour was growing she was offered a choice between chemoradiotherapy or a radical hysterectomy with radiotherapy and she chose the radical hysterectomy.

She had her op two days ago - it took 6 hours in total which was longer than they anticipated because when they went in, they found her 5-6cm tumour was actually more a 7-8cm tumour (!) that was very friable and did break multiple times when they tried to remove it, resulting in needing to flush her out a few times. She was due to have an open surgery anyway so I’m glad they did, and they weren’t doing this laparoscopic. They also found suspect cells on her parametrium and one of her lymph nodes was inflamed. This is all after her PET CT and MRI scans were normal (apart from the main tumour) and did not show spread.

They won’t give us a new staging until pathology comes back in 3-4 weeks time but I feel like I’ve been hit round the head with a sledgehammer by this news. So whilst she is recovering in hospital (she stood up and walked down the ward today for the first time, yay!) I am now researching what I need to get her for adjuvant chemoradiotherapy because I think this is where we are heading. I’ve already recovery-proofed the house for her surgery and I have a few weeks off work to look after her, but my goodness… I could do with reading some good news stories, because the thought of her stage changing is almost too much to bear.

It’s me again, UK (39F) with wife (39F) going through cervical cancer. If you remember my last post, my wife had a choice to make on her treatment between surgery and radiation, or chemoradiotherapy. She chose surgery and radiation, and her radical hysterectomy is booked in for 16th July.

I’m busy now futureproofing her recovery and I wanted to ask those who have either supported someone through this or who have gone through this themselves - what things did you do/buy that helped with recovery?

Hello - you might remember my previous post about being around to support my wife through her new diagnosis. Well, now we are a bit further down the line my wife has been given her stage (1B3) and her scans all show no spread which is fabulous news. But, being the delicious medical anomaly that she is, her SCC tumour has presented us with a bit of a dilemma.

Because her tumour is between 5-6cm and is growing downwards rather than upwards or sideways, her diagnosis has thrown her into the grey area of treatment here in the UK where she is on the cusp of having Chemoradiotherapy plus Brachiotherapy, instead of surgery and radiotherapy. Her MDT have given her the option to choose either:

- she has a radical hysterectomy followed by 5 weeks of radiotherapy (plus a possible 1-2 sessions of brachiotherapy) which carries the risk of potentially needing chemotherapy anyway after the surgery should they find microscopic evidence of spread when they test the pathology, and therefore running the risk of injury to other organs in her pelvis that now don’t have the cushioning of her womb, cervix, lymph nodes etc etc

OR

- she opts for longer chemoradiotherapy and brachiotherapy in the hope that her tumour shrinks so much that she no longer needs surgery and they kill any cells that might be there in her body, which runs the risk of her still needing radical hysterectomy surgery at the end if the tumour doesn’t shrink enough with a shot immune system that leaves her open to infections and a much longer recovery period post surgery, resulting in a much longer treatment period overall.

This feels to me like a pretty impossible choice as both have a physical price to pay at the end of them should things not go to plan. I think she’s leaning towards surgery first in the hopes of dodging chemo, which I would of course support her through.

I was just wondering if any other UK girlies found themselves in a similar choice situation, and what decision did you make? We are taking the weekend to mull it over, but I think whatever choice she makes, we’re looking at treatment starting in 2 weeks time.

Also a side note: we went to Maggie’s today in our local hospital (Nottingham City) and wow - what a place! We felt so seen and supported and welcomed - highly recommend to any family members supporting their family through cancer.

My wife (39F) has just today been diagnosed with cervical cancer. We don’t know staging yet, she’s having an MRI in a couple of weeks to see, but essentially this all started because of bleeding and discharge. Otherwise, she feels absolutely fine, and is fit and healthy with no other conditions. I’m (39F) trying to prepare myself for helping her throughout this journey, and I wanted to know:

- what should I be asking for or quizzing people about in these early stages?
- Is there anything I can be doing or buying to help to prepare her for whatever treatment is ahead?
- Any supplements I can get to help her health wise whilst she battles this?

I’m trying not to furiously google everything or try and memorise the MacMillan pack we were given. All I know is that whatever happens, I’m going to do whatever I can to pull her through this. Any good news stories would be super appreciated too - everything is very scary, but I know it can’t all be doom and gloom.