Hello . I have a family member that recently had a pelvic exenteration which removed the cancer but recently came back. It is now in the place where her bladder would have been. She has lost a tremendous amount of weight & is too weak for chemo. What other options does she have ?
Hi, Thanks for writing in. Cancer is a challenging condition but must be treated till the end. If your family member had a cancer near bladder mouth then she must have had locally infiltrate disease requiring exoneration. This is a surgical procedure by which most of the tumor and its adjacent structures are removed. Even after surgery, seeding of cancer cells might take place and has happened in her case. If there is recurrent growth of cancer then she must take combination treatment with chemotherapy and radiation. As you have mentioned that she is too weak for chemotherapy therefore focused radiation remains the most tolerable treatment at the moment, but this depends on the general condition and local recurrence of the disease. Please have a discussion with the cancer surgeon and radiation oncologist and proceed with treatment as per the outcome of discussion. Please do not worry.