JUST DIAGNOSED W/UTERINE CANCER...HAVE QUESTIONS, HELP?

A day at at time...
Colleen

I know this is all very overwhelming for you! The best thing you can do is take one day at time. First, have your surgery and find out the Stage and Grade. Is a gyn/oncologist doing the surgery? That would be highly recommended. I know you want to do everything you can to do the "right" thing. At this point, do not worry about what you eat. Just eat a healthy diet....plenty of lean protein, fruits, vegetables and grains. You need to have a good nutritional status to fight this beast!

Be careful what you read on-line...there are lots of sites out there that just prey on your anxiety! You can always ask for a dietitian's consult when you are in the hospital and/or when you are getting treatment. It is recommended that you do avoid lots of sugar. But a good basic healthy diet should do the trick!

Just keep asking questions....that is what this site is all about!

Karen

kkstef said:

A day at at time...
Colleen

I know this is all very overwhelming for you! The best thing you can do is take one day at time. First, have your surgery and find out the Stage and Grade. Is a gyn/oncologist doing the surgery? That would be highly recommended. I know you want to do everything you can to do the "right" thing. At this point, do not worry about what you eat. Just eat a healthy diet....plenty of lean protein, fruits, vegetables and grains. You need to have a good nutritional status to fight this beast!

Be careful what you read on-line...there are lots of sites out there that just prey on your anxiety! You can always ask for a dietitian's consult when you are in the hospital and/or when you are getting treatment. It is recommended that you do avoid lots of sugar. But a good basic healthy diet should do the trick!

Just keep asking questions....that is what this site is all about!

Karen

(((((Colleen))))). I took "Slow FE" iron before my hysterectomy
Hi, Colleen! I got a good book on hysterectomies written by a gynecologic oncologist, and followed the nutritional advice in that book, pre-hysterectomy. The book advised taking a time-release iron tablet each day prior to your surgery ('Slow-Fe': available without a prescription), and that you should increase your fiber in the weeks prior to surgery to get ahead of any constipation problems the anesthetics and pain killers may cause. So I ate Fiber One every day for breakfast (with dried cranberries or raisins or fresh fruit and nuts added in. And I ate a big spinach salad every day for lunch with more fruit and nuts and hard-bioled eggs as garnish. (I continued that routine throughout chemo.) An oncology nutritionist told me to eat at least a tablespoon of yogurt every day throughout my cancer journey, to help keep my digestion balanced; and a glass of cranberry juice every day for my kidneys. You'll want to drink 64 ounces of uncaffeinated fluids daily throughout your cancer journey, so you may want to start now developing that new habit. (You can have caffeine-coffee, but it doesn't count towards your daily 64 ounces of fluid.) Water and naturally decaffeinated green tea are good choices; no alcohol. Your body (liver especially) may have trouble handling mega-doses of any supplements, so please don't go that route unless prescribed by your oncologist. I continued to take my calcium tablets and a multi-vitamin throughout my cancer treatments and was told that with my healthy diet, that was totally adequate. I finished my entire initial treatment protocol last Wednesday (surgery, 6 rounds chemo, 28 external rads, & 3 internal brachys) and, so far, feel wonderful with no lasting side effects at all.

Just diagnosed
I am 43 and got diagnosed in Feb. with Stage 3C Uterine Cancer. It is rare for someone our age to get Uterine Cancer and because of this my doctor had me get Genetic Testing. This testing revealed a Gene that most likely caused my cancer. It is called the Lynch Syndrome.
As for books, one that I recently read that talks about cancer cells and nutrition is called ANTI CANCER- A New way of Life. I found this book very helpful and have started to incorporate some of it into my own diet.
Also, I had a radical hysterectomy in Feb.09, right after the diagnosis came through, have had 5 rounds of chemo (with one left) and will start Radiation sometime in August. I also had leg and back pain for quite some time. I hope this info helps you in some.
I wish you well.

Thinking of you
It seems like I just had my diagnosis (coming up on a year Aug 7, 2008). I was 46 at the time and had so many of the same symptoms. Abnormal bleeding with no apparent problem except maybe my age, which progressed to crazy, heavy constand bleeding. My DC gave me my diagnosis.

I don't recall pains in my legs and groin area- tho I may have. I do remember the most horrible abdominal cramping as well as lower back pain.

Wish I had something profound to offer, just wanted to wish you well and hoping for the best possible news from your surgery!

-Kat

lociee said:

Get a Pet scan
I think you should definitely ask for a PET scan. That would show the places you have cancer and let you know if it has traveled anywhere else. They should do that before the surgery for added information. I was told to stay away from tofu - and anything else that contains estrogen.

Pet Scan
I am 56 and have Stage 3 uterine cancer diagnosed in Jan. My Ct scan showed lit up areas around the uterus, spot on the liver and node in the left lower lobe of the lung. I was feaking out. A doctor friend of mine ordered a pet scan to decrease my anxiety and to get the real picture. On the pet scan nothing lit up except the uterus. Hysterectomy was done, 25 lymph nodes were negative for cancer, but a lymph channel to the vagina had a couple of suspicous cells.
So 6 treatments of chemo is done, with next to no side effects except side effects from a shot I received a day after treatment each time. Radiation has just started and so far so good.
I highly recommend a Pet Scan before surgery and to have that genetic testing regarding Lynch syndrome. If positive, your sisters, if you have any, should also be tested. Just had my post chemo Pet Scan this week so we will see.

nodes
ypu had hysterectomy why did they not do lymph node dissection..why wait and have to have another surgery

i thought lymphnoides are check AT TIME OF HYSTERECTOMY

Colleen Anti-cancer diet
You asked about what to eat. Someone mentioned that this cancer, especially uterine tends to be estrogen dependent. One of the most important foods to stay away from is beef, due to all the hormones present.
Cancer also is a very heavy feeder, having much faster metabolism than most other cells. It thrives on sugar. Try to stay away from sugar and white carbs.
There have been studies proposing that the phytochemicals in concord grapes have anti-cancer properties. Because they are high in sugar content, a good bet is to eat seeded concord grapes, preferably organic, first thing in the morning. The reasoning being that, cancer cells will be in need of nourishment as you haven't eaten for a bit and will take in the sugar along with the anti-cancer properties of the grapes themselves. It's the same theory as used with a PET scan. With a PET, you are instructed not to eat anything for a number of hours prior to the test, and then are injected with a radioactive substance in a sugar solution. The cancer cells, having a much higher metabolism than the other body cells take up a greater amount of the radioactivity in its quest for the sugar, and that higher concentration is what the computer reads. A note on PET scans. A PET reads all cells with higher metabolic activity, because of this is you have any sort of infection, be sure to take care of that prior to the PET or a lymph node could appear metabolically active and give you a heart attack while you figure out how to determine if it’s cancer or something else.
Go online and look at some sites that talk about alkaline and acidic foods, there are charts out there. Cancer also thrives in an acidic environment, so try to keep your diet in the alkaline range, 80% alkaline and 20% acidic could be good place to start.

I am not a doctor or a nutritionist, but I have spent the last year researching everything I could regarding cancer, how it grows and how it dies.
You’ll find some interesting facts out there. Lemon, which you would think of as an acidic food, is changed to an alkaline in the body and has ph close to the end of the alkaline scale and so is good as an anti-cancer food.
There’s a ton of stuff out there. I have gone through more than six reams of paper printing out information, which I get in bed with at nigh, along with my ever so tasty glass of water with one tablespoon of raw organic apple cider vinegar (yuk) (vinegar is also highly alkaline in the body) and read and underline and circle in red those things I’ve never come across before.
I cannot tell you how sorry I am for your troubles, truly I can’t. I hope some of this helps.
Oh, and exercise. I know, blah, blah, blah. Take care.
As always, love and hope to us all,

Claudia
You or anyone else who would like, can call me for anything. I’m on central standard time, my number is 947-517-9417
As a further note, I would like to see the nutritionist associated with the oncologist’s office actually have anti-cancer diet recommendations rather that just eat what you can, or eat for strength. It’s really not so much about that. It’s more about eating to help your body slow and defeat the cancer cells. For the year prior to my troubles, I had determined that brown rice was the cat’s meow, and I loved it with cheese. I also love my morning cup of freshly ground and brewed French Roast coffee, I nearly did myself in with all the acidity in those foods. I didn’t know about the body and ph.
Maybe the health care system will change and help the patients with more than things they can do to us. Maybe they will tell us how to help ourselves while they’re helping us. We’ll just have to ---what?? Wait and see??? Maybe. Maybe not.
Anyone who knows things about diet can write of call me or email me claudiaallen27@yahoo.com.
I think, in the end, we all have to do what feels right for us.

unknown said:

This comment has been removed by the Moderator

I did, but as you mentioned it did sorta look like a "fat cat", didn't want to make too many social comments--ah? way too late for that now I guess--so I have changed it to the painting of the little girl and her dog,I've titled Waiting. Most of us have someone waiting for us.

Lovely talking with you the other day, let me know how the doctor's appointment went. Glad the apple cider vinegar helped with your problem, I didn't know it would have that effect, but yippie anyway. Did you say your dog had passed on shortly after your diagnosis? He's a lovely looking friend. I hope I have remembered incorrectly. Don't overwork yourself.
As always, love and hope for us all,


Claudia

The hospital diet is the worst, especially for uterine cancer. Gee, let's feed the most likely, hormone dependant cancer patient some beef. Do they even try to think these things through? If you ran a hospital, what are some of the things you would do to improve their performance???