Radiation or not after surgery for endometrial cancer?

I’ll throw in my 2 cents as well about the robotic surgery. It went surprisingly well and I was home the same night. All I had to deal with was constipation from the anesthesia and some days of sore abdominal muscles that made getting up from bed uncomfortable.

I had 5......three upper, on in navel and 2 lower

@greatgrandma2025 - just to say I am a great grandma since 9/24 and never realized how fun it could be! He’s the cutest little guy! 🤗

It is one of the best blessings to have. Wait for that first time when he walks in the door. You won't forget it! For me it was Grammy!!

I had a robotic hysterectomy in 2009, no issues really.
In 2017 I had recurrence in my vaginal cuff many radiation treatments a 5 brachytherapy. I was told that unless you have an active sex life one needs to use a dilator, I have been using one ever since my brachytherapy although I am now down to 2 times a week much better than every day when I first had it. Just make sure you have a doctor that always uses a speculum as that was one of the issues I faced it appears when some doctors feel after many years cancer free that the risk is so low they don’t need to use one, which is fine if they could guarantee your cancer will never return?

I cannot imagine a gynecologic oncologist NOT doing a vaginal exam on a patient who had a gynecological cancer!!
Re dilator use: After 3 years I cut back to once a week (my decision) and have never been told that I cannot be examined.
True confession: Sometimes I forget and miss a week.

Hi, I had a hysterectomy last summer 2025 and have had four of six chemo. I went to see the Radiation doctor today but am unsure if I need radiation after all the chemo. My cancer was in the lining of the uterus and they did a total hysterectomy so the chemo was given to get the rest. Radiation is to be centered on where the cancer was. I am so uncertain about radiation. It said one radiation but now I am told it is three Mondays for most of a day. Any help on side effects from radiation would be great. Thank you.

Only 3 radiation sessions? External beam or brachytherapy?
(I had 28 external beam and then 2 brachy sessions.) Have you considered a second opinion?

@mom1955 I have same cancer and had a hysterectomy last summer just like you. I saw 3 oncologist at 3 major cancer centers to determine whether chemo and radiation were warranted. From that, I learned that the biggest determination for chemo and radiaton is whether any of the stage 1 cancer cells had broken through the lining into the muscular layer. If it did, spread through the lymphatic and/or blood is more likely. The more it has penetrated that layer, the more treatment is warranted.

@mom1955 May I ask the kind of cancer that was diagnosed and the Stage? There are different kinds of endometrial cancers and some are more aggressive than others.

I had a recurrence of endometrioid adenocarcinoma two years after my hysterectomy. This is not an aggressive cancer and scanning (PET/MRI) determined that that no cancer was present in other parts of my body. My recurrence was local (vaginal cuff). The recommendation that I followed was radiation therapy. I had external beam radiation to the pelvic area (25 treatments) and 2 internal (brachytherapy) to the vaginal cuff where the recurrence was found. The external beam treatment were scheduled daily during the weekdays.

The radiation oncologist and nurses spent considerable time with me going through any and all side effects I might expect. I had some fatigue but it wasn't debilitating. I had some diarrhea. I had no side effects from the brachytherapy.

Because the radiation therapy causes lasting changes I use a vaginal lubricant (non-estrogen) and a dilator to keep the tissue healthy.

When do you next see the radiation oncologist? If you do not already know you can ask the kind of radiation treatment (internal? external?).