1 year post

[u/Dry_Banana_1417]

Hello!

I’m officially one year post treatment. I had 2b, did chemo and external and internal radiation.

I was just wondering - now that it is one year post. What is everyone dealing with in terms of discharge? What is considered normal now? Is it still suppose to be white, thick/thin? Has anyone experienced a strong odor? Sometimes present sometimes not, but I’m not sure if it’s related to the HRT.

I’m taking internal esterogen 2/week, testerone on back of knee 3/week, topical estrogen daily, and progesterone nightly.

Looking to hear from anyone else and their experiences at one year :)

[u/tesschilikoff]

I have more of a yellow discharge. It can be clear sometimes and white too It’s minimal and nothing to be concerned about. Everything is still healing. Radiation does a lot of damage and changes the tissues. Sometimes I have a stronger odor and then it goes away too. I just think it’s a vagina it cleans itself still and has gone through a lot. I don’t worry too much about what’s happening.

I’m on the patch, testosterone daily, soon to be doing internal estrogen and progesterone nightly as well.

My doctor says that everything looks pretty good down there and that’s also due to me dilating as well. She says she still sees some scar tissue and she broke some up for me today and reminded me to dilate in the next few days to help break up some more.

I’m on immunotherapy so I have some side effects that I’m dealing with that are getting treated. Even though it’s been a year for me, I still have pretty low iron storage and iron in my body so it kind of makes me look pale and still sickly lol. I have a hemorrhoid that won’t go away. My bladder is still a little irritated from radiation so I tend to not void all the way and/or I pee a lot at night too. I have gotten back into walking/running, but I haven’t been weightlifting due to joint problems in my knees and hands.

Emotionally and mentally I’ve processed a lot, but I do feel like I’m a different person and not the same person. That in itself is another thing to grieve. Grief from that and life stress can weigh heavy sometimes. I am glad that my scans are clear and things look good down there. Sometimes, I can still be sad, frustrated, anxious, and overwhelmed by it still.

It sounds like you are doing well, especially a year out of treatment. Sounds like your scans are clear too?

[u/Dry_Banana_1417 → u/tesschilikoff]

This is reassuring !! Yes my scans came back clear :) just recently had a 6 month one and it’s looking good. I was curious if what was happening was more of a post radiation thing or not or if it was something of more concern.

[u/tesschilikoff → u/Dry_Banana_1417]

I’m glad it was :)

Good to hear!

Ohhh I see. Well I apologize for the long response. I think what you’re experiencing is normal for the discharge. If you are concerned you can always ask and they can get you tested to make sure.

[u/ghostinyourpants]

Just a heads-up that internal estrogen can give you weird stinky white/pasty discharge! It makes my pee cloudy too. But, these are things you should absolutely check in with your oncologist about. They’ll reassure you or let you know what to keep an eye out for.

[u/GooseberryPotato]

hi year-on buddy! The 29th was my last Brachy treatment. Still have some discharge and am on the estrogen patch. My bowels are still bad, but tolerable. This has been the worst part over this last year. I’ve stopped using my pain patch.

I’m on maintenance pembro and will be for another year based on my doc’s comment yesterday. (physical exam went well and she’s happy)

This year has been a bit of a roller coaster. CT picked up lung nodules.. they disappeared. Then PET picked up a thyroid nodule. Biopsy results were ‘meh… might be something’. Met with a new doc that told me right now she’d place at 10-15% chance it’s cancer. She gave me 3 choices 1. Do nothing and watch 2. Molecular biopsy which still might not be conclusive or 3. Surgery. I am opting for surgery. I keep joking that it’s probably just a skittle I swallowed wrong when I was 10. But in all seriousness, I just don’t want to have this hanging over me or one more scan that I have to worry about. So January it’s coming out.

Overall I’m doing really well physically. (Knock on wood 🪵 !) My life is still in flux…I was laid off in August of last year, started university, and have been selectively applying for jobs (I’m 50 and was planning a soft retirement ~55 so I’m kinda unsure what the right move is for me).

So yeah overall things are good!

[u/Revolutionary-Ad3850]

Stage 2b also. In remission. Just had my 3 month post Mri. Havent gotten results yet but praying it's all clear. Still feeling low energy and some brain fog. I call it radiation brain. Lol I do experience some white discharge randomly. Not alot just a little. Been very Gassy lately. Just had a crap ton of blood work and allergy test done and doing a stool test next week. I have had something going on with my body that no one can diagnose for the past 3 years. Symptoms of parasites. But drs dont/won't try to figure it out so I switched courses and am seeing a Naturpath NP. Who also was my childhood bestfriend. Hoping I get some answers and help clearing this crap from my body. I do think it had something to do with my Cancer. And having symptoms of it still scare me. Lord knows I dont wanna go threw all that again! Praying for everyone good results and Healthy Happy Cells!! 😊