Hello all, I was told yesterday I had grade 3 / Stage 3 Endometriod Endometrial Adenocarcinoma and I'm just trying to process what that means, I'll give some background. I started bleeding lightly in September, In October I had a gyno appointment where she did some stuff , and a transvaginal scan and noticed thickening of the lining. I was then booked in for a hysterscopy in Nov (inpatient) and needed to be done under anesthetic. Results cam back at the end of Nov that it was a Grade 2/3 tumor stage 1a. I then had a MRI and CT scan in December saying it all looked ok, except CT said " CT scan showed 2 borderline right pelvic side wall lymph nodes - no other evidence of any metastatic disease or lung lesion.". I got booked in for radical Hystorectomy on 15 Jan. I was pretty much told by 2 doctors, surgeon and nurse that it would probably be curative treatment as it was contained (although I was worried it was a high grade and things were progressing slowly (I don't mean to sound ungrateful) - so wasn't too worried. Had results back yesterday and told it is a grade 3 and now Stage 3 as its in both the sentinal nodes. Also told there is no cure - it was all a bit pessamistic which has vaguely freeked me out. They said I would be contacted in due course about treatment programme. (Radioology and Chemo) - I'm now 2 weeks post hyso and feel great as I'm relatively fit and healthy - no idea about when this can happen and if I should be mega worrying as grade 3 spread quickly. Actually, if the tumor is grade 3 - (and is now removed) - are the spreading cells also grade 3? Any help greatly appreciated.
Hello Rachart
Welcome to the Online community and the Womb group. There are lots of lovely ladies on here who have been where you are now and will want to offer support.
I am sorry to hear that you have had a diagnosis of endometrial cancer. I hope that you are recovering ok from your hysterectomy on the 15th.
Endometrioid endometrial adenocarcinoma means that the cancer was in the glandular, epithelial cells in the womb lining. It is from what I understand the most common type. Grading and Staging are given provisionally before surgery and the information comes from the scans and the biopsy. After surgery everything that is removed is tested in greater detail and this is what normally is used (alongside other factors) when deciding whether it is best to have some further treatment.
It sounds like before the surgery you were given a provisional stage 1A as they believed that it was all contained within the womb and that the ultrasound and CT scans backed that up. I think the only suggestion that it might change was that they said there was borderline changes to the pelvic lymph node. After surgery because they found cancer in the sentinel nodes this means it would automatically go to stage 3. It sounds, in your case, that it appeared to have been all contained and that they didn't expect it to be found in the nodes.
I found stages and grades hard to understand to begin with but as I understand it....
Stage 1- is where it is only in the womb
Stage 2- it is in the cervix but not spread any further
Stage 3- is locally advanced- so this includes lymph nodes- which is where you are.
Stage 4 - is where there is cancer out of the pelvic area.
Grade 1- means the cancer cells look pretty much the same as normal cells, with only a small amount of change
Grade 2- means they look more different
Grade 3 - means that they look much more different.
It must have been hard to be told that treatment would probably have been curative to now being told it is treatable but not curable. I think the thing to hold on to is that they are able to give you treatment. Hopefully this treatment will have a good result. I hope that you do not have to wait too long to have your appointment to discuss the chemo and radiotherapy.
If talking things through would help, please do give the Support Line a call and speak to one of the nurses. The number is below and they are lovely on there.
I had both chemotherapy and external beam radiotherapy in 2022. If you click on my name my profile will come up. The treatments were not easy at time but with support they are both doable. I did have some side effects but on the whole these were managed by medication. I am now post treatment and have 12 weekly check ups. If you want to ask anything about the treatments then please do so.
I will pop a link below with some information that I found helpful.
Womb cancer booklet | Macmillan Cancer Support
If there is anything else you need, please do ask.
Jane
