Papillary serous adenocarcinoma (HELP! I'm new)

Welcome to the club no one wants to belong to.  This is a good place to come for information, support, and advice.  I am so sorry to hear of your mother's recurrence, and I certainly understand how she feels about chemo.  I had a recurrence after seven month almost 3 years go.  I chose the traditional route of chemo and have had many rounds of various types of chemo.  Not pleasant, but I am still here.  I have had many more good days than bad. I have gotten to see and cuddle four great grand babies, and I don't regret going this route at all.  Everyone is different and we all have to chose a path that we feel comfortable with. Sending hugs and prayers for your mother and you.

Lou Ann

Thanks, Tethys41.  I think you said it beautifully.

KTMay said:

Question from a newbie

What are "integrative therapies" exactly?  What treatments/activities does this term encompass in our types of cancers? 

Hi KTMay,

There are many, many integrative therapies for cancer.  The main idea is to help make the body healthy while increasing the effectiveness of the conventional treatments.  Some pracitioners seem to have a cookie cutter approach to integrative treatments, prescribing the same collection of treatments to every patient, while others take a more personalized approach and identify what would best support that particlular patient.  Depending on the practitioner, he or she might recommend anything from supplements, diet, IV vitamin C, ozone therapy, nutritional IVs, Mistletoe injections or IVs, leatrile, accupuncture, coffee enemas, the list goes on and on.  

Welcome to our group, Ariel!!  I hope it's ok to call you that?

This is a great group of ladies who are very knowledgeable.  I'm very interested that your doctor only recommended three rounds of chemo.  I have Stage II, UPSC and mine recommended six (but I only made it through three).  Chemo was horrible for me and a year later I'm still having some problems from it although....they're better now than they were a year ago.

I don't know about uterine cancer being caused by bad relationships with family but maybe the stress of family could lower your immunity to it??  I'm glad this has brought your family closer together, though!!

Let us know how you're doing - we all care!

Love,

Eldri

Hi everyone, I'm new here, joined because I wanted some kind of online support group of women going through the same thing that I am. I'm going through chemo right now, just had my second round a week ago. Today was the first time I woke up feeling normal, and am finally having a good day.

When I got diagnosed with cancer mid-September, it wasn't clear whether I simply had a uterine carcinoma, or whether I also had serous cancer. Once they did the hysterectomy, signs indicated that there was serous papillary cancer, but it still wasn't completely clear from the way the lab report was written, so my oncologist got a second opinion from a Harvard-associated professional. Having read the literature (as much as I could take), I agreed to stage 2 of treatment, 3 rounds of chemo, and stage 3, radiation following chemo.

Chemo has been rough; it's been quite a saga. I knew that I probably wouldn't be one of those that sail through it. How anyone is able to keep working while going through chemo is beyond me. I have been able to care for myself, as I live alone, but thank the Goddess that my son and his wife are coming to care for me during the third round that is the last week of December.

I'm going through some intense identity issues, as I don't recognize that alien in the mirror since my hair fell out. Fortunately I've been given a couple wigs and lots of beautiful scarves and hats... I've always been a hat and scarf person, so I'm actually having fun with that. I'm also obese, diabetic and take blood pressure medication. I'm 63 years old, by the way.

I went public on Facebook with having this cancer, and have been given a lot of support by some people, and ignored by others, most of whom I took off my Facebook recently. I am very fortunate to have a close friend since childhood who does continual esoteric healing on me. She has made a huge difference when my energy was too low to get out of bed much. I told her once that she was better than a pain pill. She really helped me recover from my surgery. And I love it when people pray for me; I enjoy the loving flow of energy so much. Sometimes I feel so loved that I send it out to friends and family who I know are suffering.

Someone told me that uterine cancer is a physical symptom of something off in your relationships as a mother and with your mother. I think this is true. However, in going through this process of healing from cancer, I have drawn closer to my mother than I've ever been in my life. And my son, who had been neglecting me, has come through for me financially, emotionally, and with coming to visit and care for me. My mother also provides financial support, and we talk almost every day now on the phone, really enjoying our talks. There has been deep healing in my family.

At Thanksgiving, I was able to drive all the way to Oceanside from where I live in Arizona now, and it was the best ever. I enjoyed the company of my mother, sister and brother-in-law, and brother and sister-in-law very much. It was all so low key. We spent several days together visiting, working puzzles, putting up outdoor Christmas decorations for my 86-year-old mother, sitting outdoors chatting by the firepit, spread out working on projects throughout her place, reading, resting. I caught up with my mending and did some beading, making jewelry as gifts.

I treasure the time that I spent with my family because I've been outside of it for so long. It was very healing. I tell people that the silver lining of having this cancer is the love, healing, and support that I've been receiving from my friends and family. I felt so alone for so long. I don't anymore.

I've only been on this Board for 6 weeks and it's already saved my sanity several times. I start chemo on Monday, so will soon be your sister in hats-scarves-turbans, etc.

One comment caught my eye: the dreaded recurrence that we all fear. I find myself shocked over and over again about how crude, and indirect, the treatments are ("flea with a sledgehammer" is a good analogy). As I keep asking my onc: I currently have no turmors,  so you have nothing with which to gauge the effectiveness of the chemo I'm undertaking. If I have a recurrence, how do you know which chemo to use? Did the previous one 'fail' ? I can't get a clear answer; maybe someone here can explain that to me.

I did want to pass along one thing, though: a colleague's husband is a pharma sales rep (switched to an MBA program his first year of med school). She told me that Keytruda was just approved for more cancer variations. I've followed the issues with immunotherapy and believe I understand its limiations. However the fact that they're expanding the range of what can be treated is very interesting to me. Here's an older link (2015), I'm sure you all have already seen it but my interest was re-awakened based on what I just heard. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02630823.

I know several of you follow this topic closely, so I'm hoping to expand my knowledge by follow you. Blessings on our collective wisdom!

Lou Ann M said:

Just wanted to welcome you to

Just wanted to welcome you to the club no one wants to belong to.  This is a good place to come for support and information.  The ladies here have a wealth of information and we are also good listeners. So come,here to rant if you need to.  I also don't believe that family situations have anything to do with cancer, but I do believe that stress just might make you more susceptible.  I was diagnosed within two weeks of finishing reading "Shades of Gray" and my first thought was that I was being punished for reading such a "dirty" book.

Hugs and prayers, Lou Ann

If reading that book caused cancer, whole neighborhoods would be decimated lol!

ARIELKY said:

Newbie

Hi everyone, I'm new here, joined because I wanted some kind of online support group of women going through the same thing that I am. I'm going through chemo right now, just had my second round a week ago. Today was the first time I woke up feeling normal, and am finally having a good day.

When I got diagnosed with cancer mid-September, it wasn't clear whether I simply had a uterine carcinoma, or whether I also had serous cancer. Once they did the hysterectomy, signs indicated that there was serous papillary cancer, but it still wasn't completely clear from the way the lab report was written, so my oncologist got a second opinion from a Harvard-associated professional. Having read the literature (as much as I could take), I agreed to stage 2 of treatment, 3 rounds of chemo, and stage 3, radiation following chemo.

Chemo has been rough; it's been quite a saga. I knew that I probably wouldn't be one of those that sail through it. How anyone is able to keep working while going through chemo is beyond me. I have been able to care for myself, as I live alone, but thank the Goddess that my son and his wife are coming to care for me during the third round that is the last week of December.

I'm going through some intense identity issues, as I don't recognize that alien in the mirror since my hair fell out. Fortunately I've been given a couple wigs and lots of beautiful scarves and hats... I've always been a hat and scarf person, so I'm actually having fun with that. I'm also obese, diabetic and take blood pressure medication. I'm 63 years old, by the way.

I went public on Facebook with having this cancer, and have been given a lot of support by some people, and ignored by others, most of whom I took off my Facebook recently. I am very fortunate to have a close friend since childhood who does continual esoteric healing on me. She has made a huge difference when my energy was too low to get out of bed much. I told her once that she was better than a pain pill. She really helped me recover from my surgery. And I love it when people pray for me; I enjoy the loving flow of energy so much. Sometimes I feel so loved that I send it out to friends and family who I know are suffering.

Someone told me that uterine cancer is a physical symptom of something off in your relationships as a mother and with your mother. I think this is true. However, in going through this process of healing from cancer, I have drawn closer to my mother than I've ever been in my life. And my son, who had been neglecting me, has come through for me financially, emotionally, and with coming to visit and care for me. My mother also provides financial support, and we talk almost every day now on the phone, really enjoying our talks. There has been deep healing in my family.

At Thanksgiving, I was able to drive all the way to Oceanside from where I live in Arizona now, and it was the best ever. I enjoyed the company of my mother, sister and brother-in-law, and brother and sister-in-law very much. It was all so low key. We spent several days together visiting, working puzzles, putting up outdoor Christmas decorations for my 86-year-old mother, sitting outdoors chatting by the firepit, spread out working on projects throughout her place, reading, resting. I caught up with my mending and did some beading, making jewelry as gifts.

I treasure the time that I spent with my family because I've been outside of it for so long. It was very healing. I tell people that the silver lining of having this cancer is the love, healing, and support that I've been receiving from my friends and family. I felt so alone for so long. I don't anymore.

 

Welcome, Arielky. So very sorry to hear of your diagnosis. There are others on this board with a similar diagnosis who are willing to share their experiences with you. Hopefully that will prove helpful and hopeful to you during your journey. It sounds like you have a good head on your shoulders and a strong network of family and friends to assist you so you are moving in the right direction. There will be bad days and good days in the coming months so just remember to take it a day at a time. Wishing you strength and peace, Kim