new diagnosis

A simple D/C with hysteroscopy ended with a diagnosis of endometrial cancer. I'm 3 days post diagnosis, and I guess I needed to talk to someone who understood. I'm not sure what I should be doing. It seems like there is something I should be doing to get ready.... Nothing is scheduled yet, need to meet with the oncology GYN first. Please tell me that someone else has gone through this uncertainity of not knowing what to do next.

Sorry you are joining the cancer group. Its a scary thing to hear. Next thing is just take one day at a time. You'll see the GYN oncologist who will plan your surgery and then you can make more plans. Until then try to stay calm and realize this is a very treatable cancer. Very often surgery is the only treatment needed. Many of us have gone through this and we're here for you.

kfondayou -

Ohhh my does this bring back memories. I am so sorry that you have this diagnosis and have joined our the cancer club. This exact thing happened to me with my diagnosis in Nov 2008.

What to do next?
Simmer in the diagnosis for a little bit.
Reach our for support - like you are doing.
You read the Hysterectomy Checkpoints.
You figure out what questions you need to ask the Dr.

You will find the women on our Cancer Concerns forum very supportive and helpful as you go through this journey.



G.

Welcome to the nobody-wants-to-be-a-member club. You'll find lots of great advice and support here.

I felt exactly the way you're feeling. I had a hysterectomy for heavy bleeding. My cancer wasn't discovered until after the surgery. They found endometrioid adenocarcinoma in my uterus and one ovary. Because of the way my hyster was done, we'll never know for sure where it started.

I got the diagnosis in March, had to wait a week to see the GYN-onc for the first time, then had to wait 7 weeks for staging surgery to find out if it had spread. The whole time, I was pretty much in a daze.

I spent a day or two looking up info here on this site and a couple of others (ACS, Mayo Clinic), then I made a conscious choice to go into denial and act like nothing had happened until my surgery. There really was nothing I could do and worrying about it all the time wasn't going to help.

My second surgery was in May and I started chemo in June. I do what I have to do to take care of myself - meds, checkups, etc. Otherwise, I'm trying to go on with life as normal.

The only big change I've made is I'm working on my novel again. I had set it aside for a long time but now it's more important to me to get it finished.

kfondayou:
I am so sorry that you have to join our club. That is exactly what happened to me. I had a small episode of spotting... had a pap (came back normal) so my gyne scheduled a D&C/hysterscope which came back with the dx. I remember sitting in his office as he was reading the report. It honestly felt like I was dreaming. I remember telling my husband if he had told me I had breast cancer I wouldn't have been shocked (my mom has had a double mastectomy) but no-one in our family has had uterine cancer.
I like Iowacatlover went into denial. I didn't and still haven't told most people that I have cancer. But once you have a plan in place, time will go by quickly. What I did was clean the house and pre-make some meals ( you won't want to do that for a bit) and then I went out with friends and family and did the things I enjoy.... movies, dinner out, etc.