WHat the heck is recurring

I was diagnosed with stage 1b endometrial cancer  july of 07.  Had total hysterectomy-was told that I did not need chemo or radiation.  There was no involvement with or organ and it was contained in the uterus.

5 days after surgery I had a a strange sharp pain and I was bleeding bright red blood.  This continued for months.  I had 3 pelvic ultrasounds, 3 vaginal ultrasounds, 5 physical exams.  2 clear pap smears.   Each week I complained about the pain and the blood.  2 more physical exams that show everything fine.  Finally I went back to gyno.  Told him I had pain bleeding and discharge and I knew there was a problem.  Physical exam ok bu he did a pap smear.  Pap smear came back abnormal.   They did a biopsy and it came back abnormal.  The then did a CAT scan and found suspicious etiologies in the omental and lungs.  The biopsy of the remaining flesh where the uterus was showed some cancer cells.  No tumors nodes large enough to biopsy.  Now i am on chemo for recurring endometrial cancer.  Still at stage 1.

Am I a freak or does someone think that they did not follow up properly after surgtery.  I think they are throwing the kitchen skin in to make sure I get rid of every  thing.  I do not understand how this is "recurring. 

I hope that you are now seeing a gyn-oncologist, not a general gyn.  See http://www.wcn.org/interior.cfm?diseaseid=13&featureid=4 find a gyn-oncologist,  Certainly, if there were cancer cells found after your uterus was removed, you are no longer Stage I ( see http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/endometrial staging information).   At the time of your surgery, it is possible that the cancer outside your uterus was too small to show up on a CT scan, and a Pap smear of the vagina might have missed a small pocket of cancer.  Doctors usually assume that if they can't find something, it's not there, and that is not always 100% true.  Because they didn't find any cancer right after your surgery, they are assuming that your cancer is a recurrence. 

Thanks for your reply.  Nothing was found in the lymph nodes nor anywhere else and like I said I told the DRs about the problem months before they could find anything.  Nothing in the lungs or anywhere,

They maintain that it is stage 1

On 6/1/2008 joycealim wrote:

Thanks for your reply.  Nothing was found in the lymph nodes nor anywhere else and like I said I told the DRs about the problem months before they could find anything.  Nothing in the lungs or anywhere,

 

They maintain that it is stage 1

Just so that you make sure you take the best treatment possible...  I had positive washings following my hysterectomy.  I had no lymph node involvement and no spots anywhere.  Positive washings means that they take fluid out of the abdominal cavity to test it and that there were some cells floating in this fluid.  I would have had stage 1 endometrial cancer, but because of the positive washings, it moves immediately to stage 3.   Make sure you check this out so that you are sure you are getting the appropriate treatment. 

On 7/1/2008 Beth499 wrote:

I have stage 3 uterine cancer grade 2 tumor.  They found cancer cells in my washings.  I have completed 6 rounds of chemo and now doing radiation.  So with your positive washings what type of treatments did they recommend?