Newbie questions

heavy bleeding
Hi SD,
I haven't seen very many women on this board mention heavy bleeding prior to diagnosis, but maybe they had it and it's just been too long ago for them to think about.

I'm writing to tell you that I did have heavy bleeding which resulted in large amounts of humungous clots. I lost about half of my blood before I got to surgery for the hysterectomy. It was really scary. My hemoglobin got down to 7. I would just bleed and bleed, at times I had to go to the bathroom every few minutes and every time I stood up big clots just fell out of me. But I did finally get some progesterone and it stopped it dead in it's tracks about a week before the surgery.

I got 3 units of packed RBC's while in the hospital for the hysterectomy and I felt a hundred times better when I left the hospital than when I entered.

Hang in there. You really won't know anything or what your treatment will be until you get the pathology report after your hysterectomy.

Surgery
I was diagnosed in July and had my surgery on Aug 26th. Prior to my surgery the D&C pathology report showed a Grade 3 cell. However, with staging during my surgery I was diagnosed as Stage 1C, Grade 2. (That means the cells were mostly confined in the uterus and the fatty tissue had 75% cancer cells) My lymph nodes were also removed and had no cancer cells. I had everything removed and sent to pathology. My gyyn/onc said that no further treatment is necessary.

I don't know where you live but try to find a gyn/oncologist. Mine was great and I was able to have Robotics and was able to go home the next day.

Also, I am going for a second opinion tomorrow morning regarding my pathology reports and treatment. Never hurts to have another set of eyes look at the information.

To answer a few of your questions, the only tests I had prior to surgery were: PAP which came back abnormal, D&C with biopsy, CAT-scan, blood work for the surgery such as the CBC. Many doctors due a CA-125 but not sure why none of my doctors did this test.

My initial diagnoses was with a gyn and he referred me to a gyn/oncologist. I met with him Aug 6 then had the surgery scheduled with his office that day.

I am in the early stage of cancer and to be honest I didn't have many symptoms. I'm 48 and thought that I was in peri-menopause. I did bleed more than normal for about 3-4 months.

I'm not sure but prior to the surgery I also had back pain. But I am prone to many Urinary Tract Infections and only have 1 kidney so I get back pain ofter for UTI's. However, since the surgery no more back pain. With the Robotic Surgery I can honestly say that I didn't have much pain. It felt more like cramps. My biggest complaint is my thighs hurt slightly due to the lymph nodes being removed.

Hope this helps.

God Bless,
Susie

loril7 said:

New Diagnosis too!
Hi SD,

I was diagnosed with endometrial/uterine cancer on September 18th. I too was bleeding and had huge blood clots. Some times there was so much fresh blood that it looked as if someone was pouring blood into the toilet. My doctor sent me to a hospital about 3 hours from my home to have a Biopsey done. The doctor who did the biopsey said everything looked good. She did not see or feel anything. She did the biopsey on the 4th. She called me at work on the 18th and said it was cancer. On the 23rd I had to go back to the hospital she is at for additional tests. On the 2nd of October I had x-rays, urinalysis, blood work, and EKG so I could go to my general physician for surgical clearance on the 7th. Surgery is scheduled for the 13th. I am having a radical hystorectomy which will be done abdominally. I want the surgeon to open me up and see what is in there. I could have chosen the laprascopic surgery, but after talking to numerous friends and a few doctors I know personally(they are not cancer physicians)I made the decision to have it done this way. I will be in the hospital longer, but feel more comfortable knowing he will actually see everything much easier. At this point I have no staging information but will receive it when they complete the pathology tests.
It is good you have family right there for you. For me the distance I have to travel for treatment and not having family is the worst part.

I too have pain in my back and 3 seperate doctors have told me it has nothing to do with the cancer.... I'm not sure I believe them yet. I'll decide that when I have healed up from the surgery.
Best wishes for you and your treatment. I hope you get things all set with your son before you have to have your surgery. I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.


Lori

Don't let the posts on UPSC scare you.
For you newbies: please don't let any of the posts regarding UPSC scare you. UPSC is a very rare form of uterine cancer and MUCH more aggressive and recurrent than the other 90% of all uuerine/endometrial cancers. This particular Discussion Board was started by women with this very rare form of uterine cancer, and so you may think your cancer treatment and prognosis is similar to our cancer journeys.

And yet, you most likely (90% statistically) do NOT have UPSC. I note this particularly because UPSC almost always has almost NO symptoms (no bleeding; no pain; no bloating) and is usually found by accident during routine testing for something else. That doesn't really sound like you, Lori, so don't let any of the "UPSC" posts scare you. And if it turns out you DO have some UPSC cells turn up in your pathology (you won't!), you have on this Discussion Board the very BEST UPSC resource on the web.

By using the SEARCH feature, you can put in any key words and pull up our posts on that topic. I suggest that you try the SEARCH with the word "hysterectomy" typed in to see all of our combined experiences before, during and right after our surgery. (((((Big HUGS))))))