New to this discussion board.

Dear It Happened to Me:

Sadly, Linda is no longer with us, but she has left us quite a journal to view if you can read her previous posts.   She was always positive person and wanted to give us all the information that she could gather to help everyone.  You will find that many women on this site do the same. 

I bet Debrajo and Ro will respond to this post.   It takes awhile to get used to how to use this site but once you are on, it will become easy for you.  Sometimes when women are NED, they will go away from the site for awhile to get a break from thinking of cancer and then they will pop back in and say hi and check in.

Anyway, I want to welcome you to this site.   You already found the first step of not looking on the internet because it is full of outdated information.   As you will see, there are many women with your type of cancer.   For me, I was diagnosed with Endometrial Adenocarcinoma Grade 2, Stage 3 at age 45.   I was treated as ovarian because they were unable to determine the origin and they found it both in my uterus and my ovary.  They thought it might be MMM but that was ruled out.

I am so glad that you are NED.  It does take some time getting your stamina and energy back.   But as you can see, changing your diet and getting exercise adn thinking positive is the best thing to do if you can.   Sometimes after treatment, you can get rouge pains here and there.   I would get a funny vibration through my body at night and realized that I was cold.   It was my body regenerating.

Again, welcome and sorry you had to go through this journey.  Thanks for sharing your story.

Kathy

ConnieSW said:

Welcome and come often

So glad you found us.  Being alone is hard.  You don't have to fret about that anymore.  We're here to help, support and educate each other.  Like you,I was led here by Linda.  She is my hero and I think of her often.

Welcome to the board........the place nobody wants to be but we're all glad we found each other. I'm a fellow UPSC warrior, diagnosed in 2011 and doing fine so far. 

We all go through the initial shock of finding we have cancer. Mine was also found due to atypical cells on my pap smears........and 58 years old at the time. I took it hard, and my doctor later told me that she felt like she was hitting me over the head with a 2X4 as she discussed my pathology report. I told her that was a pretty accurate description. But after the news begins to sink in you move forward one day at a time, and before you know it treatment is behind you. Good for you being NED!  

I remember being quite fatigued after chemo, but it won't take you too long to build your strength back up. I agree that a healthy diet, exercise and positive thinking are the key factors to life after chemo. I'm a teacher and continued teaching through my treatments, taking 5 days off for treatment weeks but for the last two treatments I took off a full seven days each. 

We're all different, but I believe I was back to full steam @ 3-4 months post treatments. But don't know if that's the norm or not. 

Good luck in your journey and glad you found us!

Hello and welcome,

Sorry you have to be here, but glad you found this discussion board.  Hurray for NED.

I was also diagnosed with UPSC, Nov 2012, stage 4 due to spread to paraortic lymph nodes and a tumor on the bladder. I had surgery, chemo, and radiation, and am NED.

It does take time for your body to recover. You will.  

I hope you have someone who can nurture you with massages also.  They certainly are healing.

Sara

Dear It Happened to Me,

Although it is terribly unfortunate that you had to find us here, it is a great place to come to for information and support.  The women here are extraordinary!  I, too, was diagnosed in November, 2013, with stage 3A UPSC. I am 61-years-old.  I had slight vaginal bleeding one day only and went immediately to a gynecologist.  Oddly, my PAP test showed that I had cancer because it captured some of the residual blood. As you know this usually doesn't happen with UPSC.  My ultrasound came back as being normal!  My cancer had spread to a fallopian tube, an ovary, to the outside of the ovary and I had positive washes.  Were your washes positive for cancer?  I finished 6 rounds of Carboplatin/Taxol in March, 2013 and my treatment ended there.  My gyn/onc doctor did not recommend radiation (a type called brachytherapy).  I sought a second opinion at Moffitt in Tampa, Florida, and this gyn/onc basically agreed with my other doctor.  I had no evidence of malignancy in my cervix and all my margins were clean. So, I decided that I would seek brachytherapy radiation only if cancer should show up on my vaginal cuff area.  A PET/CAT Scan done in November, 2013 and a CAT Scan done in April, 2014, showed no evidence of disease.  I too have neuropathy- in my feet only.  I swam long distance throughout much of my chemo treatment, although I lacked energy and my breathing was somewhat affected.  My feet still have neuropathy and I am taking L-Glutamine, vitamin B complex and Zinc to treat it.  I am almost three months out since my last chemo and I am slowly regaining my stamina.  The worse thing I experienced while on chemo was severe lower back pain that was crippling.  After two epidural shots and now three months out from chemo, my back feels great!   My hair started growing in a month after chemo and is now about 1/2 inch long.  I hope this information is helpful.  Have you had a CA-125 done and if so, what were the results?  My numbers have been in the normal range so I am not sure this is a good marker for me. 

I wish you the very best in your continued recovery from treatment.  We are here if you need us!

Cathy

Welcome, Jeanette.  Linda brought many of us together via online searches and I am forever grateful to her. 

I would agree with the 6 months to a year 'recovery', although for me I think there are some residual effects that may be around for the long haul.

It is a great group of women here and there are many more you will run across in your readings.