Radiation or not after surgery for endometrial cancer?

I had surgery for Stage 1B Grade 3 endometrial cancer a year and a half ago. My oncologist recommended radiation five days a week for 5 weeks. I didn’t feel strong enough physically or emotionally to do that so I opted for three brachytherapy treatments. So far so good! I definitely have the same recurrence anxiety everyone seems like have and wish the large teaching hospital where I was treated offered support. I’ve not regretted my treatment decision but I’m in my eighties!

@acktiv1 I'm happy to hear that you are doing so well and that you have no regrets about your treatment decision. What kind of support would you like to have had in the past or now from the large teaching hospital where you were treated?

Thanks! I looked for emotional support groups, talks and information at the large cancer department of the treating hospital. Their marketing department is way ahead of their actual support. I got no real information about my treatment choices so I depended on Google. I have just discovered your site and wish I had discovered it sooner.

@acktiv1 I'm so glad you found us and that we can offer support. Please check out any support groups that meet online through Mayo Clinic. I know there is a Gynecological Cancer support group that meets and when the next meeting is coming up you will see a notice on the right side of your screen.

Thank you! I’ll look for that information.

@acktiv1, I hope you were able to attend on Zoom the July meeting. If not, please see the info for the August meeting here:
- Gynecologic Cancer Support Meeting: Women of S-Teal https://connect.mayoclinic.org/event/gynecologic-cancer-support-group-women-of-s-teal-11/

All are welcome. You don't have to be a Mayo Clinic patient although it is hosted by Mayo Clinic social workers.

See all Events here: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/events/

Naturally, you also have the support 24/7 on this forum too. 🙂

@ihndz Irma, I did not have any symptoms associated with the recurrence of my cancer (endometroid adenocarcinoma, FIGO Grade 1, Stage 1). My nurse practitioner found a very tiny polylp on my vaginal cuff cancer surveillance appointment (there had been nothing there 6 months prior). She removed it and sent it to pathology for biopsy. It came back positive for the same cancer I was diagnosed with two years earlier. After conferring with the gynoncologists in her department (Mayo Clinic) she ordered a PET/MR from head to pelvis. It showed nothing suspicious. My nurse practitioner was surprised with this finding as were the doctors thinking that there must have been a tumor forming at, behind, or near the vaginal cuff. With the results of the pathology report on the polyp and the negative results from the PET/MR I was referred to radiation oncology. I then had both external pelvic and internal (brachytherapy). That was two years ago and since then I've been returning every four months for cancer surveillance and there has been no evidence of disease.

Like you, it has been difficult at times for me not to dwell on a recurrence or a new cancer. I try to let those thoughts go.

If you are like me and keep up your cancer surveillance appointments the likelihood is that if anything changes or shows up it will be caught very early. That's what happened with me and for that I'm very grateful.

I do what you do. Travel, enjoy family and friends and I get compliments that I don't look my age (72). I do everything I can to stay healthy but the not-looking-my-age is down to genetics. My father and his family were the same. Do you get those compliments too?

@naturegirl5 Hi Helen, YES i get that compliment often. For years I was even id at casinos because i looked 18 at 30. I'm a short lady 4"11 and a healthy weight. Like you, i think it has to do with genes, in that regards I think that we are very lucky, 😊.

Back to our Big C issue, if i was in my 80's i wouldn't be giving this so much thought but in my 60's and two young grandsons it scares me a lot to miss on their future lives too soon.

I will keep hope up, check ups and stay as healthy as possible 🙏
Thanks for your kind words, it helped me feel good and your advice helped me too. Take care of yourself and good luck to you and everyone else here looking for info or a word of comfort....i read almost all the posts. Regards, irma