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Just diagnosed with Endometrioid Adenocarcinoma: What to expect?

Gynecologic Cancers | Last Active: Dec 12, 2022 | Replies (239)
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@esikora

I, too, have always been an anxious person, with the accompanying conscientiousness that has served me well. But cancer, of course, is a whole new level of anxiety.
Based on what I've learned, I have about a 20% chance of recurrence; so that's the number that's always in my head -not the 80% chance that I'm fine. Consider this: What if every time you got into your car, there was a 20% chance that you'd have a bad accident. Not unreasonable to be a very nervous driver...
I was hoping that after each good 3 mo. check I could put the fear aside until the next one. Nope.

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Replies to "I, too, have always been an anxious person, with the accompanying conscientiousness that has served me..."
cmb2022 | @cmb2022 | Apr 3, 2022

@esikora, Yes, that is a good way to look at it. It is just all so new and raw at this point. Something I really haven't been able to completely process and maybe never will.

I hope you are doing well

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Helen, Volunteer Mentor | @naturegirl5 | Apr 3, 2022

@esikora. Oh, yes. Anxiety with cancer is so different than the daily anxiety I live with. Like you, I have a 20% chance of recurrence and like you that's the statistic that I've focused on. I like your analogy of getting into a car. I'm not a nervous driver but maybe that's because I've had so many years of experience with driving on a daily basis. So it's "known" to me. However there is no guarantee about those other drivers on the road and why I often come back to what I learned in driver's education in high: Drive defensively.

I was able to put the fear aside for a while before I had this recurrence. I used to look forward to the 6 month checks I was having at that time and didn't expect a recurrence because the initial staging was 1a with 95% survival rate (over 5 years) Now I'm one of those 5% with the recurrence, got treated and I'm in the 80% group. So each visit for awhile will be scary for me. Maybe I just need to accept that.

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