internal radiation

hi, i just went to a radiation oncologist yesterday. i had a tah bso on jan 29. dx endometrial cancer stage 1 grade 2. anyway, the dr. suggested i have 3 treatments of internal radiation a week apart. she will do it starting march 14th as she wants to make sure i am healed from surgery. has anyone had this proceedure? appreciate any comments. i really found so much help and info from this site before and after surgery. thanks to all. suzanne k

I had 25 rounds of external radiation, with two boosters, and one internal radiation therapy. Is your internal radiation low dose or high dose? Because it varies. With the high dose you will probably be in hospitial like on outpatient basis. But with the low dose (which is what I had) you will spend 3 days in the hospital. Either way you will be laying flat on back with a radioactive tampon. (My little joke was that I thought with surgery I would be done with the tampons LOL)

hi mine must be different and guess low dose. i don't have to go in the hospital at all just the radiation center and she said it would take an hour. since the cancer didn't invade anywhere else she said this would be just extra insurance against it striking the vagina.

I would say that you will be having high dose, being that you will only have it in for about an hour. The Low dose is what I had and that takes 48 hrs. With the high dose it is only in for about an hour.

Don't have any info for you, but I will be starting that week also if all goes well (that sounds dumb, if all was going well, really, I wouldn't be starting radiation). Anyway, wish someone had had this done last year so I wouldn't be bothered with it now.
I had a staging CT today, but I was told by oncologist that the radiation oncologist wants to do high dose, which is done at the radiology center, not the hospital. They blast you with a high dose of radiation for a short time. That sounds like what you are having.
I was told to expect 1-2 per week for 3 weeks. After they get the CT results Tuesday, they will decide if I have to have 6 weeks of external.
I found a good site that explains how they do it, www.washington.edu, then search brachytherapy.
As for surgery, I'm supposed to have a hernia repaired (incisional from hyster, don't freak, it was from a LAVH) before we start all of this in 2 weeks and I'm just at the 6 week mark from the vaginectomy. Yeah.
PM me, we can share info on treatments or just talk if you want.

hi pam thanks for the info. i looked up brachytherapy, since she didn't give me that name. i now have a little better understanding of what i am headed for. i thought i asked good questions at the appt. but guess not enough. i get so upset when i have to go my blood pressure is always up and i have to tell them i don't have high bp. good luck to you, i read your post on your appt. sue

's Suzanne!

Welcome to Cancer Concerns!

I don't have personal experience to offer here, but it looks like Pam and Jane are giving you some good information. You can also go to our our own search feature at the top of the page and search under radiation or brachytherapy and you will find more more threads where women are sharing their personal experiences with radiation.

Good luck to you! Please let us know how you are getting along!

hi ,just comfirmed my treatment dates. i start internal radiation or brachytherapy next fri., march 14. i ended up calling today as i hadn't heard anything. good thing i did as the dr had faxed it over and the appt. schedular hadn't received it. wanted to tell everyone, maybe you know, a nurse friend suggested i start taking a protein drink right before radiation and continue it throughout. she said radiation is a burn and protein helps burns heal quicker. guess i will try anything that is not harmful. i have had such a smooth recovery from my surgery, don't want to mess it up. i talked with my gyn yesterday and i see him before i start this. he said the oncologist felt if the radiation onc said to do this he deferred to her since that is her specialty. as he said what if later they found something and i hadn't done this. talking to him helped even though i had already decided to do this.
pam did you get your appt? good luck to all.
sue