Newly diagnosed: chemo or not?

Help!!!!
I have just been diagnosed with endometrial adenocarcinoma and don't know if I should do chemo or not. Please help.

Hi Snowwhte,

Really sorry to hear that you have endo cancer. Do you have your Path report back yet so you know the stage and grade? They usually have it for you a week or two after your surgery.

What is found during the surgery will determine what sort of treatment may be needed. They will probably have done a pelvic wash and taken out some lymph nodes to test. Your doctor may already know the grade of your cancer before the surgery, though, after the biopsy or D & C.

If the cancer is stage 1a Grade 1 or 2, I don't think they usually will recommend chemo. Sometimes they want ladies to have some radiatio n as a preventative measure.

I chose to have 3 rounds of Chemo because I had a postive pelvic wash after the surgery (this happened after my D & C/Hysteroscopy flushed the cancer cells into my pelvic area). I didn't want to have "floating cells" in there! I felt that it gave me better odds of no recurrance later down the road.

So it really depends on what they find in your path report. I hope it's good and you don't need any other treatment. I also hope that you're feeling ok after your surgery and having a good recovery! Try not to worry, I know it's not easy. Even if you do need more treatment, it's not terrible and you can make it through it!

So here is the thing. My uterus was taken out lathroscopically, so it came out in pieces. They did not know I had cancer at the time. So I don't know stage etc. orginally they thought it was the aggressive one, then upon further review they changed it. Gynocologist/Ono, now says I can just do hormones, progesterone with the option of chemo. Adding the chemo would be a more aggressive treatment and brings my odds up to 98%. It would be 6 months long. He said if it were his wife he would have her do the chemo.


Just a little scared

This is just my opinion, but I agree with your doctor, I'd go ahead and do the Chemo. I would'nt want to regret not doing it two or three years later. But I wonder why you would have chemo for 6 months?

Seems like a long time to me to. It's a 3 hour infusion, once a week for three weeks, then off for one week, for 6 months.

That is a lot of Chemo! Have they told you which drug or drugs they would use? I had taxol/carbo every three weeks for a 5 hr infusion. But there must be a good reason why this is the way your doctor wants to do it. You'll probably know more when you get to see the path report. I'd sure ask a lot of questions, though.

I'll keep you in my thoughts and prayers for peace and wisdom for your doctor. please let me know what you find out. Hugs and blessings.

That does sound like a lot of chemo. I am starting chemo next week but it will be once every three weeks for 6 hours for 6 sessions. After that I will have the radiation. Best of luck. I decided on the chemo even though it hadn't spread in anything that was tested. It did get into the blood though so there is a 20% chance of spread to something that wasn't tested. That along with a 5cm tumor and class 3 determined that chemo was the best way to go Just in case it spread. It is still your choice though just like it was mine. I want to fight it up front before it has a chance to get back. Good luck with your decision.

It is the same amount of chemo as the every three weeks version. They use a lower dose weekly instead of a high dose every three weeks. This is supposed to be easier on the system, bone marrow suppression and such.

It's always tough to make these decisions, but if it were me I would do the chemo..... especially since that's what your doctor recommended. Was your doctor a gyn/onc?

If your uterus had been removed in one piece, it probably would not be such a risk.

But in your situation, where the uterus was removed in pieces, there was more opportunity for the cancer cells to spread, and having chemo gives you a better chance of killing any stray cells that might be there.

Good luck making your decision. Remember, you can and probably should get a second opinion.

I agree with the chemo recommendation. As miserable as chemo is. The chance of recurrence is so much greater without chemo. I just started chemo for stage 1a ovarian cancer due to high grade aggressive cells in the tumor. (6 treatments of Carbo/Taxol every three weeks) I hate it but I feel like it will be worth it if my survival rate is the 95% studies suggest.