This cancer thing was such a shock, I think I was in denial......that this was happening to someone else. It was a rare, aggressive type of endometrial cancer that was found on a routine PAP smear as abnormal cells. Luckily I have a female gyn who doesn't have a "watch and wait" attitude about abnormal findings. She put me through an office biopsy (not enough tissue), ultrasound, which showed only mild thickening of the endometrium and then the D&C, which did, indeed, show the cancer. I had a total abdominal hysterectomy, which showed only two polyp-type tumors that pathology read as serous cancer in the endometrium only. There was some questionable abnormality in the left ovary, but no confirmed cancer in it. Lymph nodes were removed and 28 out of 28 came back negative. They even sent my slides to Johns Hopkins for comfirmation. I really feel God blessed me. The chemo is being given as a prophylactic treatment since this cancer is aggressive and is known to present in other organs, ie, colon, stomach, lung, brain. So hopefully, all cancer will stay away for many, many more years. This came at the same time that our class had two deaths and more cancer, so I didn't want to add to the misery until I found out how I was going to do. Thank you for your prayers and thoughts. Del
So, the prognosis looks good and we're all happy for that! She followed up a bit later with this e-mail:
Can't seem to stay asleep. I slept during the chemo, then slept for about 4 hours when I got home. Then was able to fall asleep around 10am, but up at 1:00am. Finished one book and started another. Oh, well. Can sleep in tomorrow.................I think it would be OK now to post my message to you. Seems like all will be OK. I will be followed for about 10 years since I am in a study for this type of cancer with women all over the US, since there is no one reason for getting it. There is a syndrom that links colon cancer with different types of cancer, one being endometrial. This is some type of genetic trait. But since there has never been a known colon cancer in either side of my family, my oncologist didn't seem it warranted genetic testing. I can't praise the cancer doctors enough here at Case Western Medical Center (aka University Hospitals). It doesn't hurt having worked at UH for 29 years and knowing the right people and getting a little special attention. I will definitely keep you updated. I just did not want to put the specifics on Face Book, since everyone's friends have access to my status. I was keeping it pretty generalized. Messaging or email seem to be the better way to avoid testing the HIPPA law. Well, back to bed, perchance to sleep or even dream!
Everybody keep the positive thoughts flowing for Del!
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