Hi DorothyT,

Thanks for posting on the forum. The moderators have asked us to answer this question.

It is difficult to say what the double dose actually means. When radiotherapy is given there is a total dose worked out for an individual patient. This is then divided up into doses which are given over several days or weeks. There is a limit to the amount of radiotherapy you can receive to an area of the body. They won’t give her more than she can tolerate and will review her regularly.

Before the first dose is given there will be a planning session where much more will be explained to your sister. She will also have the chance to ask questions about the treatment and what the side effects are likely to be. There are different ways of giving radiotherapy for cervical cancer so I can’t say exactly which one your sister will have. You can read more about radiotherapy  here.

If your sister has a specialist nurse who works with the medical team she could contact them and ask for more information about the planned radiotherapy.

Kind regards

Deborah