Uterine Papillary Serous Carcinoma: What treatments did you have?

I am curious - you indicated you went to Mayo for a 2nd opinion. Did the 2nd opinion differ from the 1st opinion and in what way ?

@colleenyoung Thank you, I am glad you did and I send a wave back. Merry Christmas!

@polkagal, good to hear from you again and to hear that you're doing well. Just thought I'd stop in to wave hello.

Hi @speck634,
I am doing well, thank you. I am 6 years NED, as of this past Nov. and I feel really good. I do not have any major long term side effects from treatment, other than some neuropathy in my feet - and by neuropathy, I mean some tingling and numbness, no pain. Staying on a regimen of B vitamins seems to help me some with that. I am still working - teaching - and lead an active life. Life is good. I am sorry about your diagnosis. How are you doing? Strange, I have not been on the Mayo site for quite some time, but your post stood out and I happened to see it. I'm glad I did.

@speck634 Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect and to our Gynecological Cancers Support Group. We are very supportive group here. We support one another by sharing our own medical histories and worries and provide one another with compassion.

How are you feeling today? Would you like to share more about your own journey so that we can support you?

Hi there,
How are you doing now? I just found this message for tonight. I was diagnosed a little over a year ago with stage one a grade 3. I had a hysterectomy and chemo. No brachytherapy.

Hi @gormie. I was diagnosed with high-grade papillary serous uterine carcinoma Stage1a, Grade 3, Type 2 in the summer of 2018 at age 58. Well really 59, because I had surgery a day after my 59th birthday - total robotic abdominal hysterectomy with bilateral saplingo-oophorectomy, removal of omentum, & 19 lymph nodes. My lymph nodes all looked good, but I did have some "trace" amounts in my pelvic washings. One month after surgery, I had a port put in, then the day after that I began chemotherapy - Carboplatin & Taxol every 3 weeks for 6 treatments. One week after my 1st chemo treatment, I began Brachytherapy - I had 5 of these, every other day for 2 weeks, directed at my vaginal cuff. These were completed before I had my 2nd round of chemo. I really had no side effects from the Brachytherapy, other than minimal spotting after the 1st treatment. I did not have issues with nausea or diarrhea however, at the time I was also on a lot of anti-nausea meds for the chemo. Maybe that had something to do with it? I have been NED 3 years now and have not noticed any long-term side effects. It is hard not to worry "why me" when you are hearing that this is unusual or typically does not happen. But just because it IS happening to you does not necessarily mean you should worry more. We are all different! What is important is to listen to your doctors, try to figure out what you can do about it, and advocate for yourself - and it sounds like you are doing all of these. I am sorry this is happening to you. This whole cancer thing is a different level of scary and some moments it feels like you are all alone, no matter how many may be around you. But you are not alone, everyone here gets it and is willing to listen and offer support and suggestions. So lean on us, we are here 🙂

@gormie I was diagnosed with endometroid adenocarcinoma Grade 1, Stage 1a in 2019. My cancer care team is at Mayo Clinic in Rochester and in 2021 a recurrence was found in a physical exam. I had 25 external beam radiation treatments followed by 2 high intensity brachytherapy treatments. I did have a few bouts of diarrhea during the treatment but not afterward. The radiation oncology team told me that I could have lasting symptoms including diarrhea for many months after the treatment ended as that sometimes happens.

Did you have external beam radiation to the pelvic area or were all 5 of your treatments brachytherapy? My cancer care team told me I might have some mild discomfort and bleeding for a day or two. I had neither of those but I did have a puzzling itchy skin rash on my forearms and legs that lasted for about a month. The radiation oncology nurse said that the rash was unrelated but since I'd never had anything like that before (although I do have allergies) I wonder about that. I'm going to bring it up again at my next visit in April.

I can imagine how distressing it would be this many months out from your treatment to still have diarrhea so it's good you've been in touch with your care team and will have a CT scan today (or tomorrow?). I'm sending you positive thoughts that the CT scan is negative and your team helps you to figure out the next step. They sound very responsive and thorough.

I think what you're saying is it's not uncommon even 10 months out to still deal with loose stools and strong urge. I'm lucky as I had grade 2 stage 1A cancer with no involvement anywhere else. It was caught very early I think. Only 13% involvement burrowing into the uterus. I'm being treated at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and think the radiologist and whole department are wonderful. But it's still worrisome when they are surprised I'm still having the stool issues. Off for a CT scan tomorrow just to take a look.
Cheers,
Bev

Many thanks, I'll be very interested to connect with them.
Bev