Worried- thickened endometrium with bleeding

Forherself said:

9 out of 10

Biopsies are normal.   And most new cancers are endometrioid garden variety.  And most of those are early stage.  So chances are she will be ok. BUT do get the biopsy done as soon as possible.  And maybe she could have a hysterectomy so she doesn't have to worry about this anymore if the biopsies are ok.   The other risk factors for endometrail cancer is not being pregnant, older age, use of estrogen without progesterone, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, and type II diabetes.  It is scary to think about but her chances are good.  

Hi Forherself. Thank you for the reply! She has a couple risk factors based on this. Also, I'm not sure if genetics play a role but two of my aunts and a cousin had abnormal growth and one had a hysterecmy just in case. 

She's going to do the biopsy as soon as she gets everything checked (she has a heart condition).

I keep reading the ultrasound scan hoping to find something new. But it's gibberish. All I understood is existence of fibroids (which are probably old b/c we were told about that last year), the increased endo thickness and "increased vascularity" (the last of which sent me on a panick attack... but after doing some search i found out polys and other growths have increased vascularity as well. I even looked at the RI and PI values and they appear to favor benign pathologies vs malignancies according to studies I looked at.. but who knows!).

It's gonna be a tough few weeks. But I'll try to remind myself of that biopsy statistics you mentioned.

Thanks again

zsazsa1 said:

A lot of women come on this

A lot of women come on this board seeking reassurance as they go through biopsies for post menopausal bleeding, and thickened endometrium.  And most of them wind up not having cancer.  But many of us who do, had initial symptoms dismissed, and had missed diagnoses.  So, to reassure you, your mom probably doesn't have cancer, and even if, God forbid, she does, it's probably an early stage very treatable cancer, usually cured by hysterectomy.

That being said, after my own dismissed symptoms, and knowing that 1/20 women will have a GYN malignancy, I am now strongly in favor of post-menopausal hysterectomy if there is the slightest indication for it.  So, if she were my mother, I'd be lobbying for a laparascopic transvaginal total hysterectomy, rather than a biopsy.  But my view has certainly been colored by my own unfortunate experience.

Hi Zsazsa1, 

Thank you for the feedback and the information.

I didn't even think I'll get any reply frankly since the board looks slow. I really appreciate your input, ANY human input lol, you've no idea. Having one parent diagnosed with cancer and another going through all of this, I guess I can strangely understand "survivor guilt". If my mom ends up having cancer, it's going to be inspiring to gain stength from others' experience who have lived through it. And if she ends up being cancer-free, I will still be thankful to have visited this board and for your input given that I'm going through such diffcult time. It just feels like I have massive amount of information to learn and decisions to make. So I appreciate it either way.  

I actually just looked up laplaparoscopic transvaginal total hysterectomy. I'll bring it up in her next appointment. 

Excuse my absolute lack of knowledge on this, but it sounds like you already had this type of hysterectomy? I'm curious did you experience any issues or complications?  

PS: I keep thinking about lack of persistence to get it checked it sooner. It sucks. But here we are. I'm not sure how fast this grows. At least I pushed her to do the tests now since she's been quarantining like a pro since march lol.

EDIT: I just clicked on your profile and read your bio. What a powerful story. I'm so glad you didn't ignore the continued signs and are doing fine now!  

alicia2020 said:

Dear Ag123,

I'm sure by now you've probably read through a lot of threads and"About Me" posts on this board. There are many, many women lovely ladies here ready to help! I'm a newbie here, but already feel loved and supported by them! What a blessing they are!

As to your mother, I'm guessing they are going to do a hysteroscopy. I hope it goes well! I didn't know until they tried it with me, but there is such a thing as a "failed hysteroscopy." So, general anesthesia and a whole day at the hospital to wake up and be told, "He didn't do it." WHAT??? GYN said he couldn't get a sample (which is not true, because he did send something to the lab), and because my cervix was completely uncooperative (I was never able to have children), so he shut it down because he "didn't want to hurt me." I'm just telling you this because you mentioned stenosis in your original post. I had my hysterectomy the following week.

My first surgery was a "robotic laparoscopically assisted vaginal hysterectomy." I did very well, was able to come home afterward, and recovered easily. He didn't take any lymph nodes because he was so sure that I didn't have and he didn't'see" any cancer. He was very wrong.

i wish you and your parents weren't having to go through this! You're very smart to have joined this board....I sure wish I had before I let that regular GYN touch me. 
Love and prayers to all on this board!

Alicia

Hi Alicia, thanks so much for this note! I read your bio and learned a lot from it and all the other ladies as well. I actually read this comment before the appointment today and mentioned the what you have experienced to her new gyncologist. I would rather not have her do extra procedures unnecesairly if she has stenosis. Her gynocologist said this can happen but she seemsed to favor doing D/C& hysterscopy as her first step. (As a new doctor.. She honestly seemed pretty... genertic to me)

Molly110 said:

Myometrial invasion refers to

Myometrial invasion refers to whether and to what extent endometrial cancer has invaded the myometrium, which is the layer of the uterine wall next to the endometrium. It's a really good thing when cancer -- if it is cancer -- hasn't invaded the myometrium or when the invasion is less than 50%. (That's my very lay-person understanding, but I'm positive that no invasion is a very good thing.) I know how frustrating and frightening it is to have to wait, but until the tests are done, I guess there isn't much she can tell you beyond the generic.

Take care.

Exactly. I feel the same way. Based on this, if it's cancer then it's probably/hopefully just an early stage (stage I) type of situation perhaps.

And I guess that one comment felt genuine because she actually had to look at the picture herself to estimate the invasion (as opposed to read what report said). 

Hi everyone, 

So today my mom did the D/C and hysteroscopy. It lasted 5 hours for some reason and we were waiting outside worried sick. Her gynocologist called me to tell me that what she saw looks more benign to her. We're waiting on pathology now. But it that was SUCH a relief to hear!

I wanna thank you ALL so much for all your support. It's been a very tough few weeks for us (especially given my dad going through his own complications and stuff these days). I just really thought we couldn't handle a parralel set of challanges, but you ladies gave me so much hope and inspiration to work with! I would think negatively for one second and the next second I'd even tell my mom "Look there are some ladies that made it despite 16% chance of survival on google search!"... It gave us all the strength.

As a defensive pessimist lol, I spent some scary moments and contemplated worst cases (not only diangosis, but stage IV, recurrences, failed treatments) BUT I realized that EVEN then there was hope as I kept reading latest journals and read some inspiring stories in this board. 

Still have the oncology team on the side just in case the pathology comes back concerning or if she needs to do hysterectmy.

Thanks again ladies