Step By Step

Monday, along with my fabulous sister Denice, I met with Dr. H a gynecologic oncologist from Brigham and Women's and Dana Farber.  I was armed with a long list of questions and copies of the pathology report from Milford Hospital.  I immediately felt at ease talking with him.  I didn't really need my long list of questions because he explained things in easy to understand terms and in such detail that most of my questions were answered before I even asked them.  One thing that was super handy and I would recommend to anyone else going through this was to record the meeting with your smart phone.  There was so much discussed and the ability to go back after the fact and listen to the Dr H has been invaluable.  Kudos to my sister for putting that in motion.

So here is the scoop.   The good news is that the tumor that was detected suggests that I have stage 1A endometrial cancer.  That is because it invaded less than 1/2 of the lining of my uterus and probably gone no where else.  If that was the end of the story then the treatment would be radiation, no chemo and the prognosis is very good with a 95% 5 year survival rate.  The kicker is that pesky lymphovascular invasion I referenced in my last post and the grade of the tumor.  Lymphovascular invasion means is that there is evidence that the cancer cells are in my blood stream which increases the likelihood that my lymph nodes (or worse) are involved.  The tumor was a grade 2 on a scale of 1 to 3.  One would be the least angry (as Dr H put it) and 3 being the most angry.  My tumor was moderately pissed.  I am unique because the majority of tumors are 1 or 3.  I knew I was special!  

So I could still opt for radiation and probably be okay with that or I could have another surgery  to test my lymph nodes and know for sure what stage cancer I have.  I am opting for the latter.  My surgery is scheduled for mid August at B&W. Once we know for sure what we're dealing with then we will decided on the next step.