Endometrial Stage III Cancer Diagnosis

Posted by tjperry @tjperry, Jan 21 6:12am

On November 28th my world was turned upside down! I heard those dreaded words,
" I'm sorry but your biopsy shows you have cancer so I have referred you to a gynecologic oncologist."

Three days later I met him. They couldn't tell for sure if I had cervical or endometrial cancer. A Leep procedure determined that it was not cervical.

Eleven days later I had a total hysterectomy including bilateral ovaries and fallopian tubes. They were confident that I would have the surgery and I would be cured. The tumor was a grade 1, invasion less than 50% into the myometrium, no lymph node involvement, lower uterine segment involved but nothing in my cervix. Everything was looking great until the pathologist found cancer in my left fallopian tube! Ugh They said it is unusual because the tumor wasn't near the fallopian tube so somehow some cancer cells got away from the main tumor, travelled and implanted into my tube.

Went from surgery and cured to stage III and needing radiation and chemotherapy! I start the Portec 3 treatment plan on Feb. 6th. I am getting nervous!

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Gynecologic Cancers Support Group.

sherrill2023 | @sherrill2023 | Mar 2 10:48am

I had my surgery on Tuesday. I had an abdominal anesthesia block on my abdomen and reached down to my pelvis. When I woke up in my room, no pain!!!!!!!!! I had a party with the nursing staff. NO PAIN!! I laughed and joked. It lasted for me about 50 hours. When I slept on my side I used 3 pillows. pushed 1 under my “10 months” abdomen. 2 more against my abdomen. Went home Wednesday and sitting up in lounger. My husband lost 20 pounds worrying about me. He is my nurse. This has brought us closer together. I am eating regular food. I haven’t taken any pain medicine. No pain just 8 month belly! I am very blessed that the anesthesiologist. I do get tired around 8:00 pm. I hope anyone with this malady gets to ask their Dr. about this “regional anesthesia “. Dr. Zaid in Houston has done 600 of the robotic surgery. Hang in there.

Helen, Volunteer Mentor | @naturegirl5 | Mar 2 6:37am

In reply to @sherrill2023 "Excellent! My CT’s were the same as yours. My surgery is this Tuesday. God help me!" + (show)

@sherrill2023 I'm writing to check back with you. Did you have surgery on Tuesday, this week? How did the surgery go and how are you feeling?

tjperry | @tjperry | Mar 2 4:02am

In reply to @sherrill2023 "Excellent! My CT’s were the same as yours. My surgery is this Tuesday. God help me!" + (show)

Just wondering how your surgery went? @sherrill2023
Have been thinking about you and praying for you!❤️🙏❤️

tjperry | @tjperry | Feb 25 9:40pm

In reply to @sherrill2023 "Excellent! My CT’s were the same as yours. My surgery is this Tuesday. God help me!" + (show)

You are in good hands and have lots of people flooding heaven with prayers! You've got this! God's got this! Please let us know how your surgery goes! Blessings my friend!❤️

sherrill2023 | @sherrill2023 | Feb 25 6:09pm

In reply to @sherrill2023 "I’ve got GREAT news. My CT’s of chest, abdomen and pelvis show no lymph nodes or..." + (show)

Excellent! My CT’s were the same as yours. My surgery is this Tuesday. God help me!

nblucero | @nblucero | Feb 19 6:08am

In reply to @terradean "It will be interesting to see what they come up with. I am 72, My treatment..." + (show)

Surgery will be the first option. I suspect chemo will be considered. Instead of killing every cell, a targeted approach (killing only cancer cells) makes more sense but it may not be applicable to my type of sarcoma.

tjperry | @tjperry | Feb 19 5:59am

In reply to @terradean "Oh, do I know how you feel. Monday was my last day of 5 weeks of..." + (show)

Thank you for sharing your experience! I don't feel so alone in all of this when people share so this site has been very therapeutic for me! Thank you everyone who have responded!

Last week went better with filling my bladder. The Liquid IV is really helping so they have been happy. They never tell me how full my bladder is but they have treated me everytime!

I did make a mistake the one day and forgot to eat breakfast. I figure the almond milk in my cereal also helps fill my bladder so I quickly ate breakfast in my 30 minute window of water drinking. I felt like I was going to explode during treatment and they did say my bladder was 105% full. They said any fuller and they would have had to have me go let some out. I won't make that mistake again!

The difficult part now is keeping my weight up. The first week I gained 6 pounds from chemo on Monday to my Dr. visit on Wednesday. I said it must be all the water. This week I lost 9 pounds which the nurse was upset with at first but the dietitian said because of the previous week it was just a 3 pound loss. She said she is not worried but it can't happen this week.

I eat 6 small meals and feel like I can't possibly eat any more than I am. Any tips would be great! It's also hard to eat now that my stools are softer! Soon they say it will be diarrhea. Oh joy. I do have Imodium ready when needed!

terradean | @terradean | Feb 18 8:20am

It will be interesting to see what they come up with. I am 72, My treatment plan from last year, was hysterectomy, sandwich treatment plan, 3 chemo taxol/carbo, 25 external radiation, 2 brachy both this week, and which I will start 2/27 3 more chemo taxol/carbo. Am hoping they do not make me do anything else. However, was told if this didn't work then immunology.

nblucero | @nblucero | Feb 17 4:54pm

In reply to @naturegirl5 "@nblucero Hello. My diagnosis was endometrial adenocarcinoma. The recurrence was considered "local" meaning that it occurred..." + (show)

Hi. It’s great that your recurrence is well-managed. I was told by my oncologist that radiation is out of the question for the pelvic region because I had it 12 years ago. Now, I’m having a biopsy for this pea-like stomach mass that appeared four months since my first recurrence surgery. I expect another sarcoma. I hope you’re right and more options exist for patients with adenosarcoma. So far, I’m okay because I make myself continue with yoga classes, swimming, walking, and riding my e-bike.

At 72 years, I’m not sure if I could tolerate chemo again. For sarcomas, it’s controversial. Surgery is the first-line defense. So, I’m hopeful but realistic. It’s tough.

Helen, Volunteer Mentor | @naturegirl5 | Feb 17 7:48am

@nblucero Hello. My diagnosis was endometrial adenocarcinoma. The recurrence was considered "local" meaning that it occurred close to where the original cancer was detected. It was found at the top of my vagina (vaginal cuff) and looked like a little tiny polyp. A PET/MRI showed no signs of disease anywhere else and I'm thinking that's why chemo was not recommended. The radiation oncologist said that radiation should take care of microscopic disease (not visible to the eye or in a CT or PET/MRI) in the pelvic region.

The research in cancer moves ahead very quickly and so I would imagine that the treatment for you and what is used will be different than what you experienced 12 years ago.

What is your treatment plan? How are you feeling about all of this?