Diagnosis end with endometrial cancer on 2-10-14 and surgery on2-26-14 help,

Everything is so intense and compressed. I had a D&C for post menopausal spotting on 22-4-14. On 2-10-14, I was diagnosed with entermetriod type cancer,Grade 1. I was in shock and denial, after all I felt fine, I met my ob/gym oncologist on 2-17-14. He was patient and not condescending, He reexplained things that I did not understand and answered my 52 questions. I liked him and his staff. Complete da Vincia hysterectomy and bilateral saplings-oophorectomy on 2-26-14. Feeling totally overwhelmed, everything's happening so fast that it's hard to get ready. I feel I have had no time to process what's happening.I also have constant low grade depression and anxiety, I worried that the stress could make worse. Any suggestions?

Wow, things *are* moving fast for you! I too had a D&C for post menopausal spotting and was diagnosed with Grade 2/3 endometrial cancer. In my case, it took three weeks to get an appointment with a gyn onc and another seven weeks for surgery. On one hand, the waiting wasn't fun but on the other, I had plenty of time to prepare.

One thing I'd suggest is that you keep in mind that you're going to have plenty of processing time during your recovery period. Even after a daVinci, you need to take it really easy the first couple of weeks. It might help if you can think in terms of getting the surgery over with now, doing the processing later.

I live with depression, have been on an SSRI since 1999 and also have various behavioural management strategies built into my life. I had to think about recovery in ways that would help me heal from surgery *without* triggering my depression. For me, being active and spending time outdoors are ways I manage depression. Spending days - let alone weeks! - in bed was not going to happen.

Instead, I built a day-nest in the living room, which gets direct sunlight. The nurses in the hospital encouraged walking and sitting upright (vs. reclining), so I did as much of these activities as my body could comfortably handle. I started out taking short but frequent walks around my own neighbourhood and found that over time, the walks gradually got longer. My recovery period was in June, so when I wasn't walking I was able to spend time sitting outside in the sun reading, sewing and playing with my two cats.

In some ways, I found that my history of depression helped! It's pretty normal for your appetite to be down the first week or two after surgery. For me, depressive episodes also do a number on my appetite. So I already knew that smaller, more frequent snack-like meals would be more appealing - fresh fruit and yogurt tasted especially good!

I also know, from healing from depressive episodes, that I needed to celebrate whatever I *could* do and not worry about what I couldn't. Some days, during a depressive episode or after surgery, it may take everything you've got to haul yourself out of bed, get dressed and comb your hair. That's fine - that's what you celebrate doing for that day. My theme song was Heather Small's "Proud": "What have you done today, to make you feel proud?"

Think a bit now about the techniques you use to manage your depression and how you're going to build those into your recovery period. What does a "good recovery" mean to you? Before surgery, I had a specific image for recovery: me and my cats, napping together in the sun. When I got anxious or scared, I'd focus on that image. After surgery, it really happened!

Good luck, and don't hesitate to ask more questions!

Hugs, Wildflower! I am having surgery the same day as you. I will keep you in my prayers when I am not doped up.

I am having the hysterectomy due to bad cervical cells. They are not showing as cancer yet, but during surgery the pathology lab will review what's removed to see if lymph nodes need to be looked at. I will wake up wondering if I have cancer or not.

I was talking with someone yesterday about how fast things will be moving if I do, as I am going to need some time to recover before I can start to manage that sort of thing. She told me not to worry - her doctor told her not to rush what she was doing as she'd probably had her cancer for seven years. That made me feel better, as I don't want to be making decisions while I am not all there due to surgery.

I hope things go really well for you!! I'll look forward to hearing from you afterwards.

Honey, I'm so sorry. There's lots of people here who have gone through what you're dealing with -- please don't worry about being stressed. You just found out you have cancer -- it's normal and right and healthy to be stressed about it! No one hears that word and immediately dances a tango of joy!

Let yourself feel whatever it is you're feeling without judgment. Don't try too hard to be in control of your emotions.

Please keep us posted -- see you in the post-op forums soon!

Hi Wildflower8. I too have uterine cancer grade one although that will be confirmed once they remove my uterus. I was told I had cancer cells in my uterus on 24th December, I had a MRI done very quickly afterwards to see if the cancer had spread, plus chest xrays. I didn't think I had cancer cause I'd had a hysteroscopy and D&C done and they'd found a biggish polyp so I think they'd thought that was my problem as the likelyhood of cancer was only 0.5% or so I'd read if a polyp was found, I fell into that 0.5%. On finding out about my cancer I went on an emotional roller coaster ride, but on talking to others and doing reading on the internet, stage 1 is very good if you have to have cancer as it is the one most curable with surgery, that's what I've been told by doctors and also read. I have to have a vertical cut TAH on the 11th, uterus, fallopian tube, ovaries and cervix have to go, that was a shock. Things initially went very fast and I didn't have time to breathe, as I also had to have an iron infusion due to blood loss and a low red blood count and low iron. I ended up having side effects with the iron infusion so I was glad when things had slowed down a bit so my body could have time to heal before surgery. Replace negative thoughts with positive ones and negative imagery with positive imagery as to how your surgery will go and after surgery. I liked what SurprisedInNB wrote as it confirms what I've been reading and listening to about positive imagery, I found a book called Prepare for Surgery, heal faster by Peggy Huddleston, I also listened to her free hour long interview on her website. I do relaxation breathing techniques for my anxiety although I might also download Peggy Huddlestons relaxation MP3 to compare. I was surprised as to how many negative thoughts were creeping into my head and also negative imagery, I'm much more aware and quickly replace with positive thought and imagery and it is helping. In New Zealand hospitals they only do the adominal cut and take out the uterus whole for cancer in case the cancer cells escape and spread, don't know about the private hospitals here as I can't afford private care. Check how they will take out your uterus to make sure there isn't any risk of cancer cells escaping and spreading else where. All the best with your surgery, you'll soon be cancer free, that's what I tell myself with my up and coming surgery. We'll get through this, positive thoughts and imagery!!!!