Uterine serous carcinoma: What led to your treatment decision?

Hi Dmarkz,
My wife had a hysterectomy many years ago and just had a mastectomy one year ago. She did not want Chemo either, however they gave her a 1 mg pill per day of Anastrozole, which reduced the tumor by 50% prior to the mastectomy and she has been on that drug ever since. This drug targets the Estrogen in your body which is one of the main causes of cancer in women. You may wish to discuss this with your Oncologist as a less violent replacement for Chemo. Whatever you do, try to keep the faith, and good luck to you. Regards, Rick

dmarkz0101
You have really been through so much already, I can understand your reluctance to submit yourself and your family to more pain. At least the hysterectomy should not be too bad of an experience with the laparoscopic techniques they now have. I had to have a 12inch incision midsection down my abdomen due to the cancer being spread out of my uterus into my abdominal cavity. They gave me a elastic stomach binder to wear after surgery which made the incision pain really easy to deal with.

Your cancer will be staged after the hysterectomy, hopefully it was caught in an early stage.
My cancer was at Stage IV B, which means it had metastasized out of the uterus. I did the standard carboplatin/taxol/keytruda routine. I was offered a maintenance routine of keytruda every 6wks once the main treatment series was completed and declined it due to the lack of molecular/genetic markers in my cancer that keytruda works on.

-Cancer returned 10 months after the last treatment.
-During treatment the first 2 days after infusion were ok, then nausea and no appetite, took 1 hour to eat a small meal.
-First week after infusion bone pain at night, second week skin rashes.
-Did not recover from chemo side effects until day before the next infusion.
-Neuropathy in feet/hands after third infusion even with icing during infusion.
-Vertigo after 4th treatment and extreme itching on feet/hands, responded well to Gabapentin.
-Energy level has never recovered but improved 3 months after the end of treatment.
-Due to lower energy levels and brain fog from chemo I no longer have interest in most hobbies I enjoyed before chemotherapy, activities which require too much concentration/energy are not appealing. I am a different person now and am just concentrating on moving forward.

-I have a friend whose serous/clear cell cancer is HER+ , she went through the chemo series and is doing well on Herceptin maintenance with little side effects. Think her cancer was at Stage III at the start of treatment and she is now 2years out from the end of the chemo series and doing great. If you "luck" out and have an estrogen positive tumor there could be a maintenance therapy you will tolerate.

Glad you have family that is there for you, hang in there. Prayers for good surgery results!

@rdebeer
Hi Rick I really appreciate your response. Thank you for sharing. Sending prayers for you a d your wife.

@beebe Thank you for responding. Your kindness is very much appreciated. I'm doing my best to stay as positive as possible. What God has in store for me no one knows but I'll continue to pray. Sending you love and prayers.
Donna

@rdebeer
Estrogen Does NOT cause cancer. Think about this. If it did the highest cancer rates would be in women in their 20s, 30s 40s because they have the most estrogen. Estrogen may feed the cancer You Already Have though.

Yes, thank you. I stand corrected. I should have used the phrase "feeds" instead of "causes". Regards, Rick

@wildapple50
I have read that taking estrogen alone without progestin increases your risk of uterine cancer by thickening the endometrial lining. It could be that some birth control pills do not have the correct balance.

@beebe
1. No doctor in their right mind would prescribe estrogen alone to a woman who has a uterus. 2. Birth control pills are standardized and strictly regulated by the FDA.

I was diagnosed with serous endometrial cancer stage IIIb in September 2023 at age 76. I had been very healthy before then.
I had a total hysterectomy. Starting in December 2023, I had three sessions of brachytherapy, six sessions of chemotherapy, and one year of immunotherapy, completed in December 2024. I am now in remission and live normally.
I prefer to be alive and spend as many years as possible with my family.

I have serous cell endometrial cancer stage 3C. Have been on Enhertu for 1.5 years. Currently NED but treatment continues every three weeks until this therapy fails to work and the cancer returns. It's an inconvenient regime, entailing travel to the clinic (by plane) regularly. This is one of the main causes for my fatigue. Other symptoms are nausea, slight skin rash, hair loss - everywhere, peripheral neuropathy. Before this treatment was given platinum chemo but the it didn't work so well. The cancer returned 4 months later. The Enhertu works because I'm HER 3 positive 2+.