Anyone with Stage 1a UPSC?

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Comments

  • Rewriter
    Rewriter Member Posts: 493 Member
    Diet and exercise

    Cheerful and everyone else who posted--

     

    Adopting an anti-cancer diet and getting regular exercise are the two most important reasons why I am feeling so good now. I avoid sugar; eat lots of vegetables and fruit; substitute grains like quinoa, spelt, and kasha for white rice, wheat, and white pasta; eat fish and a bit of chicken; have yogurt every day but avoid all other dairy; drink almond milk; and walk at least 15 miles a week. The additional benefit is that I've lost 35 pounds, which I've kept off; lowered my total cholesterol by 40 points; and got off all meds (I was on medication for hypertension but got my BP into normal range). Of course, I cheat every once in a while. I live in NYC and am a major foodie.

    So, I wish everyone a long and happy life.

     

    Hugs,

     

    Jill

  • Ro10
    Ro10 Member Posts: 1,561 Member
    Rewriter said:

    Diet and exercise

    Cheerful and everyone else who posted--

     

    Adopting an anti-cancer diet and getting regular exercise are the two most important reasons why I am feeling so good now. I avoid sugar; eat lots of vegetables and fruit; substitute grains like quinoa, spelt, and kasha for white rice, wheat, and white pasta; eat fish and a bit of chicken; have yogurt every day but avoid all other dairy; drink almond milk; and walk at least 15 miles a week. The additional benefit is that I've lost 35 pounds, which I've kept off; lowered my total cholesterol by 40 points; and got off all meds (I was on medication for hypertension but got my BP into normal range). Of course, I cheat every once in a while. I live in NYC and am a major foodie.

    So, I wish everyone a long and happy life.

     

    Hugs,

     

    Jill

    Jill Congratulations

    5 years since surgery is wonderful.  You have worked very hard to reach that milestone.  Keep up the good work.

  • Rewriter
    Rewriter Member Posts: 493 Member
    Ro10 said:

    Jill Congratulations

    5 years since surgery is wonderful.  You have worked very hard to reach that milestone.  Keep up the good work.

    Thank you, Ro

    You've been an inspiration to me for all of these years. I hope you are doing well.

     

     

    Jill

  • culka
    culka Member Posts: 149 Member
    Rewriter said:

    Thank you, Ro

    You've been an inspiration to me for all of these years. I hope you are doing well.

     

     

    Jill

    Looks like

    aniversary time. As of yesterday I`m 5 (in words five) years from diagnosise. I didn`t see any kind of oncologist for almost 3 years and I`ll continue with that. Since radiation "treatment" I have problems with hips and tailbone, but according radiaologist oncologist this is not from radiation and even if my GP asked him to see me, his majesty radiologist/oncologist refused to see me.

    In other words if you are looking for helping hand you can find it at the end of your arm.

    But otherwise I`m find, no drugs, no glasses, all 32 teeths. 

    Wish you all same outcome.

  • Rewriter
    Rewriter Member Posts: 493 Member
    culka said:

    Looks like

    aniversary time. As of yesterday I`m 5 (in words five) years from diagnosise. I didn`t see any kind of oncologist for almost 3 years and I`ll continue with that. Since radiation "treatment" I have problems with hips and tailbone, but according radiaologist oncologist this is not from radiation and even if my GP asked him to see me, his majesty radiologist/oncologist refused to see me.

    In other words if you are looking for helping hand you can find it at the end of your arm.

    But otherwise I`m find, no drugs, no glasses, all 32 teeths. 

    Wish you all same outcome.

    Congratulations, Culka!

    Happy five-year anniversary to YOU.

     

    xo

     

    Jill

  • Rewriter
    Rewriter Member Posts: 493 Member
    debrajo said:

    upsc

    yep, me too. 1a grade c(111) upsc, dx july 26, 2009.  Six rounds taxol/carboplatin and five brachytherapy.  Finished May 8, 2010 and NED ever since.  I'm at M.D. Anderson, also.  If I had of found this site IN THE BEGINNING i would have done much better.  I didn't land here til four months after joining my main squeeze, NED!  Best, debrajo

    Debrajo

    May you have a LONG and happy life with your main squeeze, NED.

     

    Hugs,

     

    Jill

  • daisy366
    daisy366 Member Posts: 1,458 Member
    Rewriter said:

    Congratulations, Culka!

    Happy five-year anniversary to YOU.

     

    xo

     

    Jill

    Jill and all

    What a wonderful thread to read. So happy for all of you. Jill your positive and healthily lifestyle
    Is paying big dividends.

    Big hugs. Keep dancing! Mary Ann

  • Rewriter
    Rewriter Member Posts: 493 Member
    daisy366 said:

    Jill and all

    What a wonderful thread to read. So happy for all of you. Jill your positive and healthily lifestyle
    Is paying big dividends.

    Big hugs. Keep dancing! Mary Ann

    Mary Ann

    When I first joined this board, I read lots of the information you shared about an integrative approach to treatment. I considered everything that you and your doctors had to say, and I began reading about visualization, qi gong (sp?), diet...and so on. You are one of the major reasons why I was determined to do my own research.

    I am sorry for the bad times you have been through lately and hope that you are going to feel better, stronger, and more positive every day.

     

    Fondly,

     

    Jill

  • pinky104
    pinky104 Member Posts: 574 Member
    Survivorship

    I'm someone who is a UPSC survivor, checking in.  I was 61 at diagnosis.  I had surgery in Albany , NY in May of 2010 for stage IVB UPSC. I had a hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, omentectomy, and removal of a small amount of cancer in my ilium.  I also had an appendectomy and cholecystectomy in the same operation.  I had been told that I was to have robotic surgery, but the day of the procedure, the doctor had just looked at my CT scan (done at another hospital), and said he couldn't do it that way.  I was originally told by my OB/GYN (a different physician from the surgeon) that I just had a "Big Ole Polyp" that would be benign, but after D&C, he changed his tune.  Anyway, all my lymph nodes that were sampled were found to be benign.  I was told that I had stage IVB because the cancer had spread out of the pelvis.  I was never told a grade as far as I can remember.

    I had chemo at another hospital where I worked, 6 rounds of carboplatin and taxol, and that's all I've had to have.  I heard somewhere that they don't do radiation for stage IV as it would be too big an area.  So far, I've been NED.  My last CA 125 was 8.  At diagnosis, it was only 94.  So many people on this site have had much higher CA 125's but they had a lower stage of cancer.  Weird, isn't it?

    I had a couple of CT scans the first year and a half which were negative.  I had to have surgery for an incisional hernia this past August.  I thought that would be a much easier surgery than the first, but it was just as painful.  I was told that's because they pump you full of gas for the laparoscopy.  I was hurting more on the side opposite where the surgery was done.

    I'm getting 6 month check-ups.  First, I get one from my surgeon, then I get one from my oncologist three months later.  So I'm really getting checked every 3 months by one or the other.  I still wouldn't be surprised to have a recurrence, but I haven't yet, knock on wood.  My mother had breast cancer in two different spots in the same breast ten years apart, her mother had breast cancer, and my father had prostate cancer, so I guess the tendency toward cancer definitely runs in the family.  But there is also a lot of heart disease, so I have my choice of what I'm going to die from, ha, ha.  My husband had a melanoma two years before I had my cancer, so we both see the same oncologist. 

    I read on here about all the women who were taking care of family members around the time they were diagnosed.  I, too, was stressed with dealing with my mother, who was in a nursing home for 4 years, and I was stressed by my job.  My mother died two years before I was diagnosed.   I'm sure my mother's breast cancer was caused from stress, too, as she'd had a lot of issues with my little brother.  I retired from my job a month after chemo ended, so that helped my stress level.  My little brother, five years younger than I, died of a heart attack while I was still going through chemo.  He thought I was going to die, and I never thought he would die first. Such is life (or death).

    I still had shortness of breath a few months after chemo (I'd been anemic), so I was tested.  My blood levels weren't low enough to be causing my shortness of breath, so my family doctor tested my ferritin levels.  He found they were very high.  It turned out I had an unusual form of hemochromatosis, a genetic defect where the body stores too much iron in its organs.  I had one gene defect not the normal two.  Hemochromatosis was just discovered in the late 90's, so a lot of research still has to be done on it.  They don't know why some people with the one gene defect get it and others don't.  Now, I have to have blood removed from me occasionally, where after surgery and during chemo, they were putting it back into me (I had several transfusions). 

    I'll turn 65 later this year.  I wonder if I'd even be alive now if I hadn't complained about a small amount of bleeding three years ago.  I just hope it doesn't come back because I'm not sure I ever want to have another abdominal surgery! 

  • HellieC
    HellieC Member Posts: 524 Member
    Lovely, positive thread

    This has been such a great thread to read.  Hearing stories of those who have survived and continue to thrive is uplifting.  Jill - you were one of the first people I "encountered" when I joined this forum and your research and information has been such a help to me.  I am delighted that you are nearly at your 5 year anniversary and will be released back into the wild! 

    We all need to continue to be vigilant against the return of this beast and to never let our guard down - it came back to attack me 7 years after my hysterectomy!  It is sneaky and we need to use all our wiles to defeat it. I am sure that an anti cancer lifestyle (healthy eating, excercise etc) plays a major role in keeping this desease at bay.  I am on my third recurrence, but it is being kept stable with hormone therapy (letrozole) and the latest scan shows that it has not changed since last November.  I attribute this both to the hormone treatment and the lifestyle/dietary changes I have made. Without the ladies on this forum, I would not have had the knowledge and information to make those changes.

    Love to everyone
    Helen

  • Rewriter
    Rewriter Member Posts: 493 Member
    HellieC said:

    Lovely, positive thread

    This has been such a great thread to read.  Hearing stories of those who have survived and continue to thrive is uplifting.  Jill - you were one of the first people I "encountered" when I joined this forum and your research and information has been such a help to me.  I am delighted that you are nearly at your 5 year anniversary and will be released back into the wild! 

    We all need to continue to be vigilant against the return of this beast and to never let our guard down - it came back to attack me 7 years after my hysterectomy!  It is sneaky and we need to use all our wiles to defeat it. I am sure that an anti cancer lifestyle (healthy eating, excercise etc) plays a major role in keeping this desease at bay.  I am on my third recurrence, but it is being kept stable with hormone therapy (letrozole) and the latest scan shows that it has not changed since last November.  I attribute this both to the hormone treatment and the lifestyle/dietary changes I have made. Without the ladies on this forum, I would not have had the knowledge and information to make those changes.

    Love to everyone
    Helen

    Vigilance!

    Together, we have learned about the importance of eating well, reducing stress (not easy!), and getting exercise. We've shared what has been helpful for each of us, and we have gained so much from our combined contributions to this forum.

    Through the encouragement of other women here, I have been able to be vigilant. I'm human, though, and do the "wrong" things at times. However, if we follow the anti-cancer/anti-inflammatory dietary guidelines MOST of the time, I think we are doing far better than most people.

    I'm praying that my 5-year checkup goes well and that all of the women here continue to do WELL. My heart is with you all, and I am forever grateful for all of the love, support, and information you have given me.

     

    Jill

     

     

     

  • susangr
    susangr Member Posts: 64
    Rewriter said:

    Congratulations, Culka!

    Happy five-year anniversary to YOU.

     

    xo

     

    Jill

    UPSC Stage 1 Grade 3 Too

    I am 2 years 2 months out from treatment for UPSC with lymph vascular space involvement.  So far still NED!  I appreciate all the great information from all the women past and present who have this cancer and have contributed to providing current information on treating this disease. This idea of role call is excellent as it helps to give hope to an otherwise seemingly bleak prognosis. Thanks Jill  sincerely Susan