Stage 2, oops, no, Stage 4

I'm glad you insisted on the CT scan so you know what you're working with. It seems you are prescient, but I can't imagine how disconcerted you must be with the results. Here's an article that shows typical and atypical sites for mets. Lung is pretty typical, unfortunately. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3613792/. What's unusual is that your's is a Grade 1, which usually doen't travel that far, or fast. Did the biopsy confirm that it was the same grade as the original?  Please keep us posted, you'll be in my thoughts and prayers. B

I'm sorry. I've heard that lungs and liver is the most common place for our cancer to spread. I didn't have a CT scan before surgery. My biopsy just showed 1a and my ca--125 was low, so the doctors weren't worried.I received my CT scan a couple 2-3 weeks after surgery, and then again 3 months after. I'm glad you pushed for it.

Hello Tamlen, I was diagnosed with Stage IC, Grade 2 endometrioid adenocarcinoma in 2005.  I had total hysterectomy and some nodes resected.  (I did not have a textbook sentinel node sampling; don't get me started--that's another story).  Then followed 25-28 external radiation treatments and no brachytherapy (2 older men decided that it was unnecessary bc of the grade/type and bc I was relatively young and they mumbled something about the effect on my sex life).  And I was declared "cured."  In 2012 I had a recurrence with a right para-aortic node tumor and a suspicious node in my left clavicle and scattered lesions over both lungs.  Only the para-aortic node was biopsied.  I was afforded "palliative" care, meaning I had radiation on the known cancerous node (it was causing pain) and given high-dose progesterone to prolong life.  Within a year, I was found to be "no evidence of disease."  Then, in late 2016 I had a day where I peed blood.  After a Chest, Pelvis, Abdomen CT and a cystoscopy of my bladder, I was found to have several small nodules in my lungs.  They were too small to biopsy but, given my past history, were presumed a recurrence and this time I had chemo.  I had some difficulty early on with the carboplatin/taxol regime and ended up with 12 rounds of chemo of one or both drugs.  Since September 2017 I have again achieved remission with no evidence of disease in the March 2018 CT.

So, don't count yourself out just yet.  I would say to be be very proactive about your body's ability to withstand the chemo, if that's where you're headed, especially relative to diet & exercise level (i.e., weight) and also your important levels like Vitamin B-12, which, if low, can buy you a case of neuropathy (like me).  While a recurrence means you are no longer considered curable, it does not mean that the disease can't be managed for a long time.  I'm going on 13 years (with an average of 5 years between bouts).  As time goes on, there are certain to be more therapies.  So, hang tough.  Best wishes, Oldbeauty

Again, I am sorry that this proved to be endometrial cancer in the lungs.  I love what Old beauty had to say, and look at that such good news with a long term survivor. 

It is so hard to understand this cancer.  Sometimes it think that I am beginning to understand patterns, and then---no something totally unexpected happens.  There are way too many variables. It is impossible to say how the cancer spread to the lungs.  I hope that you are getting a PET SCAN, this will give you more information regarding any spread to lymph nodes in the pelvic area.  However, the most important thing is focusing on treatment.  I can follow-up with article, but remember reading that asymptomatic recurrences fare better.  I am thinking positive thoughts and prayers for you.  I am here if you ever need anyone to talk it out with.   Please stay tough.  

Kindest Regards,  Patrice

So sorry for your news.  It seems your instincts were good and you advocated for yourself.

I did have a CT of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis before surgery, but only because I had lost 20-30 pounds due to gallbladder attacks. She wasn't going to do one until she realized how much I had lost. Of course,  it was read as uterus normal.

It seems so strange to me not to check these things out in all cancer patients. 

Moekay and TJ,

Moekay,  I am very familar with the article that you cite, however, it is dated and I am not sure that outer third invasion adds much more to those with over 50 percent invasion. (I wish it were the case that it did, as I was 60 percent invasion).  LVSI is clearly a risk for hematogenous spread, but as I stated before the risk increases with extensive LVSI (not to say that even a single foci of LVSI is not a concern).  It is true that most grade 1 tumors are slow growing, yet the investigation into the molecular profiles of endometrial cancer is changing this assumption.  I will cite some articles at the end of this post, but what is becoming clear to those studying EC is the impact of the molecular class on prognosis.  More specifically, some classes (POLE) have a very favorable prognosis in spite of being high grade or myoinvasive, while others (low copy number) have a poor prognosis.  The landscape of EC has evolved over the past several years, and while grades are still important the molecular class also plays a huge part in prognosis, and as such play a part in treatment. 

TJ,  I hope that you are holding steady there.  I would push for a Pet scan.  I am suspecting that they would be ok with this.  I would think that it would give you a lot of reassurance going forward.  And, if it were me, I would push for NGS (next generation sequencing) if this is a possiblity in your area.  I believe that there are some clinical trials regarding certain molecular profiles.

https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/press-releases/2013/TCGAendometrial

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5154099/