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Very Scared Endometrial Cells On My Pap Test My Mother Died Of Uterine Cancer In Only 4 Months After Diagnosis At 49!
Hi,
I'm new her and since there isn't a specific forum for uterine cancer I hope you don't mind I'm posting this here.
I have posted on the thyroid disorders forums about my 3 small thyroid nodules that were found by accident in late 2006 when I was 41 and a half on an ultrasound I asked my doctor for because my metabolism got very slow and I had to go on a diet for the first time in my life and my thyroid blood tests have always been normal. I just had an FNA on June 24th by a very good endo and I had my samples sent to another pathologist at a top hospital University of Penn for a second opinion and both pathologists didn't see any cancer and the second pathologist says he does recommend clinical follow up for these nodules and another FNA if any of them grow.
As I've already said before, I do have some of the ultrasound features that are commonly found with thyroid cancer and The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists says that FNA is only 95% accurate and I know it's not as easy to get a great sample when the nodules especially my other 2 are this small. So now after almost 2 years of being so afraid about this and reading a lot of scary medical information about thyroid cancer which The National Cancer Institute and The American Thyroid Association reports has increased especially in women, and they are finding an increase in very small papillary thyroid cancers often picked up like mine were by accident on ultrasounds and other imaging tests and communicated with many thyroid cancer survivors some of which had recurrences, and having the thyroid FNA, I now have to have a uterine biopsy on August 28 and my stepmother is taking me to her gynocologist for it!
I had a Pap test on July 24th and a week later my gynocologist calls me and tells me that endometrial cells were found on my Pap test! I asked her what does this mean I'm really scared because my own mother died of uterine cancer on September 1, 1985 in just 4 months after being diagnosed at the age of 49! My gynocologist didn't even tell me or explain that much and all she said was it happens sometimes and that if I was under 40 we could just ignore it, but because I'm 43 she is required to do a biopsy.She said it might have happened because my period had ended 2 days before. But my internist said that it's not very common for this to happen and that other women have Pap tests near the end of their periods too but endometrial cells don't usually show up in their Pap tests.
I have also been spotting reddish browinish blood for about 3 or 4 days at a time in between my period off and on since the Fall of 2005 and it happened again in March and April and I have been getting my period since I was 12 and half but I never had any spotting in between my period before. I also have never been pregnant and I have never used birth control pills and I know that these are also risk factors for endometrial uterine cancer.
I have found women on other health boards who also had endometrial cells in their Pap tests and they are really worried too but they didn't say they had any family members especially their mother who had and or died from uterine cancer so I'm doubly afraid! I have found many very good medical studies on great academic medical sites like the journals of obstetrics and gynecology and other gynocology discussion boards where both gynocologists and patients have discussions and there and they say that it's not very common for endometrial cells to show up on Pap tests but it's not rare either especially towards the beginning or end of a woman's period and that it does happen sometimes and most of the time it's not uterine cancer in menstrating women but is more often cancer in postmenapausal women but also if there is other symtoms like vaginal bleeding.
But they also say that one of the causes of endometrial cells showing up on Pap tests is because of low or high grade uterine cancer! And there have been women who had normal benign endometrial cells on their Pap test and they had endometrial uterine cancer! And a study in June 2007 by The Oncologogy Gynocology Department at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center found that out of 2494 of premenopausal women age 40 and older, from a 12 month period endometrial cells on Pap tests were found to have significant uterine pathology regardless of what part of their menstrual cycle they were in!
From the time my mother died I have asked 4 different gynocologists and my internist if uterine cancer is genetic and if I have to worry about it, and they all always told me that breast cancer is more commonly genetic but that uterine cancer usually isn't. Yet I spoke with a woman at The American Cancer Society and she said that contrary to what I have been told their document does say family history is a risk factor with uterine cancer. The Women's Cancer Network also says that women with family members who had uterine cancer are more likely to get it and on the web site of the hospital where my mother died they talk about risk factors and they say that women who have family members especially a mother or sister who had uterine cancer or twice as l ikely to get it!
So I'm very afraid and I wanted to know from any women on here who has it had a uterine biopsy, if the endometrial biopsy hurts that bad. And I would really appreciate any info and support you have about endometrial cells on Pap tests.
Thank You
I'm new her and since there isn't a specific forum for uterine cancer I hope you don't mind I'm posting this here.
I have posted on the thyroid disorders forums about my 3 small thyroid nodules that were found by accident in late 2006 when I was 41 and a half on an ultrasound I asked my doctor for because my metabolism got very slow and I had to go on a diet for the first time in my life and my thyroid blood tests have always been normal. I just had an FNA on June 24th by a very good endo and I had my samples sent to another pathologist at a top hospital University of Penn for a second opinion and both pathologists didn't see any cancer and the second pathologist says he does recommend clinical follow up for these nodules and another FNA if any of them grow.
As I've already said before, I do have some of the ultrasound features that are commonly found with thyroid cancer and The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists says that FNA is only 95% accurate and I know it's not as easy to get a great sample when the nodules especially my other 2 are this small. So now after almost 2 years of being so afraid about this and reading a lot of scary medical information about thyroid cancer which The National Cancer Institute and The American Thyroid Association reports has increased especially in women, and they are finding an increase in very small papillary thyroid cancers often picked up like mine were by accident on ultrasounds and other imaging tests and communicated with many thyroid cancer survivors some of which had recurrences, and having the thyroid FNA, I now have to have a uterine biopsy on August 28 and my stepmother is taking me to her gynocologist for it!
I had a Pap test on July 24th and a week later my gynocologist calls me and tells me that endometrial cells were found on my Pap test! I asked her what does this mean I'm really scared because my own mother died of uterine cancer on September 1, 1985 in just 4 months after being diagnosed at the age of 49! My gynocologist didn't even tell me or explain that much and all she said was it happens sometimes and that if I was under 40 we could just ignore it, but because I'm 43 she is required to do a biopsy.She said it might have happened because my period had ended 2 days before. But my internist said that it's not very common for this to happen and that other women have Pap tests near the end of their periods too but endometrial cells don't usually show up in their Pap tests.
I have also been spotting reddish browinish blood for about 3 or 4 days at a time in between my period off and on since the Fall of 2005 and it happened again in March and April and I have been getting my period since I was 12 and half but I never had any spotting in between my period before. I also have never been pregnant and I have never used birth control pills and I know that these are also risk factors for endometrial uterine cancer.
I have found women on other health boards who also had endometrial cells in their Pap tests and they are really worried too but they didn't say they had any family members especially their mother who had and or died from uterine cancer so I'm doubly afraid! I have found many very good medical studies on great academic medical sites like the journals of obstetrics and gynecology and other gynocology discussion boards where both gynocologists and patients have discussions and there and they say that it's not very common for endometrial cells to show up on Pap tests but it's not rare either especially towards the beginning or end of a woman's period and that it does happen sometimes and most of the time it's not uterine cancer in menstrating women but is more often cancer in postmenapausal women but also if there is other symtoms like vaginal bleeding.
But they also say that one of the causes of endometrial cells showing up on Pap tests is because of low or high grade uterine cancer! And there have been women who had normal benign endometrial cells on their Pap test and they had endometrial uterine cancer! And a study in June 2007 by The Oncologogy Gynocology Department at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center found that out of 2494 of premenopausal women age 40 and older, from a 12 month period endometrial cells on Pap tests were found to have significant uterine pathology regardless of what part of their menstrual cycle they were in!
From the time my mother died I have asked 4 different gynocologists and my internist if uterine cancer is genetic and if I have to worry about it, and they all always told me that breast cancer is more commonly genetic but that uterine cancer usually isn't. Yet I spoke with a woman at The American Cancer Society and she said that contrary to what I have been told their document does say family history is a risk factor with uterine cancer. The Women's Cancer Network also says that women with family members who had uterine cancer are more likely to get it and on the web site of the hospital where my mother died they talk about risk factors and they say that women who have family members especially a mother or sister who had uterine cancer or twice as l ikely to get it!
So I'm very afraid and I wanted to know from any women on here who has it had a uterine biopsy, if the endometrial biopsy hurts that bad. And I would really appreciate any info and support you have about endometrial cells on Pap tests.
Thank You
Subj: (no subject)
Date: 8/10/2008 5:14:03 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: CMH4165
To: CMH4165
Also my mother had a hysterectomy and chemotherapy and they even tried alternative treatments, and after her hysterectomy and chemotherapy she went into a very short remission for just about a month and came home from the hospital but then her cancer spread to her lungs! My mother didn't have any sisters but she had no close female relatives who had uterine cancer. Her mother lived to be 91 and her maternal grandmother lived to be 90 but my grandmother's youngest sister died of breast cancer in her 40's.
I asked my father recently if my mother had any symptoms months before her diagnosis and he said yes, 8 months before they were on vacation in France and she was exhausted,had no energy and was practically fainting. He said she put if off for months, and I remember her bleeding for a month before she was diagnosed but she didn't go to a doctor right away because she thought she was getting menopause. She was thin in her 20's like I was but got overweight starting in her mid-late 30's but she was in good health I don't remember her ever in a hospital before!
I recently called the medical records departments at both of the hospitals my mother was in including the second one where she died and I asked for her medical records and my father a retired lawyer, faxed them the info they need and they are mailing the records to my father so we can know exactly what type of uterine cancer she had and why she died so fast.
My gynocologist is such an insensitive f***ing creep! She called me back a day after I had left 2 messages with her receptionist about getting a transvaginal pelvic ultrasound for some peace of mind before I get the uterine biopsy on August 28 which I had asked her for when she first called me and told me about this. Both The National Cancer Institute and The American Cancer Society say that getting the transvaginal ultrasound first lets the doctor know where exactly to biopsy.
In the Fall of 2005 I went to my regular gynocologist and told her about the spotting in between my period and all she did was give me a regular pelvic exam, then some months later I had the spotting again so I went back to see another woman gynocologist who was there on a day mine wasn't. And I told her about the spotting and that I was really concerned because my mother died of uterine cancer at age 49. All this gyno did was give me a regular pelvic exam and neither could answer me why the spotting is happening, she said I have to come in when it happens which is not easy to do because it skips months and the women gynocologists are not always there when it happens. She said she would be concerned if I was bleeding heavily but who wants to wait until then?!
I went to my internist in February 2006 and told her about the spotting and my concerns and when I told her that the 2 gyno's just gave me a pelvic exam, he said she wanted me to have a transvaginal pelvic exam because there are certain things you can't see with just a regular pelvic exam. So I had it done in October 2006 since the spotting had gone away for a while and it came back normal. But I just read a post on The American Cancer Society's cancer survivor's message board about women who got uterine cancer from tamoxifen to treat their breast cancer and one woman said that she had just a black and white transvaginal ultrasound with no color doppler and they missed her uterine tumor! It made me think about the fact that they didn't use color doppler with my pelvicvaginal ultrasound sound either and that was almost 2 years ago and my spotting in between my period is still going on off and on and now these endometrial cells turned up in my Pap test! It makes me so afraid to think that some tumor or tumors are in my uterus by now!!
Sadly and outrageously actress Fran Drescher was misdiagnosed with uterine cancer for *2* years by 8 different doctors when she was spotting in between her period and had pain after sex, all those doctors just minimized her symptoms and just put her on hormones thinking she was getting menopause and never did a biopsy until doctor # 9 did a biopsy and she learned she had a uterine tumor the size of a walnut! Fran is very lucky to still be here!
My gynocologist was nasty and annoyed with me for calling her office again and wanting some real answers about what this means my stepmother had said to me after my gynocologist first told me about this, that she scared me and didn't really tell me anything about what this is and means.My stemother said call her up and ask her to tell you more about this and I said well she doesn't act nice like the when I had the scare with the abnormal cervical cells years ago and my stepmother said well you can be tough try to find out.
My gynecologist said most of the time this is nothing, and that a family history plays a role but there is not a strong genetic link to uterine cancer and yet she still wanted to do a biopsy! She said that I should find another gynocologist and that I should see a psychiatrist! She had the nerve to also bring up how afraid I was when in November 2003 I had , a Pap test come back showing abnormal cervical cells and I asked The American Cancer Society to send me information on Pap tests and cervical cancer soon after this and it says don't use tampons 2 or 3 days before the test because it effects the results. And I had been using tampons just 2 days before so I'm sure thats what happened there and I had 3 normal follow up Pap tests after until this one. And I said to her I had good reason to be worried then but this new result is different and much more worrisome because the other abnormal test didn't show endometrial cells which are not very common on a Pap test and my mother died of uterine not cervical cancer!
I really do want to find another gynocologist who is nicer but it seems it's really hard to find nice doctors, medical assistants and nurses and some of her recptionists and medical assistants are nasty creeps too!. My stepmother had asked me to ask my gynecologists medical assistant to fax over my results to her and she said in a not nice way to me, no she's not going to fax it over to my mother in law or anyone, else because she had faxed it to a top cancer center in my city and I told my stepmother this and she said they are really nasty in that office! And this gynecologist is really convenient right across the street and takes both of my insurrances.
Date: 8/10/2008 5:14:03 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: CMH4165
To: CMH4165
Also my mother had a hysterectomy and chemotherapy and they even tried alternative treatments, and after her hysterectomy and chemotherapy she went into a very short remission for just about a month and came home from the hospital but then her cancer spread to her lungs! My mother didn't have any sisters but she had no close female relatives who had uterine cancer. Her mother lived to be 91 and her maternal grandmother lived to be 90 but my grandmother's youngest sister died of breast cancer in her 40's.
I asked my father recently if my mother had any symptoms months before her diagnosis and he said yes, 8 months before they were on vacation in France and she was exhausted,had no energy and was practically fainting. He said she put if off for months, and I remember her bleeding for a month before she was diagnosed but she didn't go to a doctor right away because she thought she was getting menopause. She was thin in her 20's like I was but got overweight starting in her mid-late 30's but she was in good health I don't remember her ever in a hospital before!
I recently called the medical records departments at both of the hospitals my mother was in including the second one where she died and I asked for her medical records and my father a retired lawyer, faxed them the info they need and they are mailing the records to my father so we can know exactly what type of uterine cancer she had and why she died so fast.
My gynocologist is such an insensitive f***ing creep! She called me back a day after I had left 2 messages with her receptionist about getting a transvaginal pelvic ultrasound for some peace of mind before I get the uterine biopsy on August 28 which I had asked her for when she first called me and told me about this. Both The National Cancer Institute and The American Cancer Society say that getting the transvaginal ultrasound first lets the doctor know where exactly to biopsy.
In the Fall of 2005 I went to my regular gynocologist and told her about the spotting in between my period and all she did was give me a regular pelvic exam, then some months later I had the spotting again so I went back to see another woman gynocologist who was there on a day mine wasn't. And I told her about the spotting and that I was really concerned because my mother died of uterine cancer at age 49. All this gyno did was give me a regular pelvic exam and neither could answer me why the spotting is happening, she said I have to come in when it happens which is not easy to do because it skips months and the women gynocologists are not always there when it happens. She said she would be concerned if I was bleeding heavily but who wants to wait until then?!
I went to my internist in February 2006 and told her about the spotting and my concerns and when I told her that the 2 gyno's just gave me a pelvic exam, he said she wanted me to have a transvaginal pelvic exam because there are certain things you can't see with just a regular pelvic exam. So I had it done in October 2006 since the spotting had gone away for a while and it came back normal. But I just read a post on The American Cancer Society's cancer survivor's message board about women who got uterine cancer from tamoxifen to treat their breast cancer and one woman said that she had just a black and white transvaginal ultrasound with no color doppler and they missed her uterine tumor! It made me think about the fact that they didn't use color doppler with my pelvicvaginal ultrasound sound either and that was almost 2 years ago and my spotting in between my period is still going on off and on and now these endometrial cells turned up in my Pap test! It makes me so afraid to think that some tumor or tumors are in my uterus by now!!
Sadly and outrageously actress Fran Drescher was misdiagnosed with uterine cancer for *2* years by 8 different doctors when she was spotting in between her period and had pain after sex, all those doctors just minimized her symptoms and just put her on hormones thinking she was getting menopause and never did a biopsy until doctor # 9 did a biopsy and she learned she had a uterine tumor the size of a walnut! Fran is very lucky to still be here!
My gynocologist was nasty and annoyed with me for calling her office again and wanting some real answers about what this means my stepmother had said to me after my gynocologist first told me about this, that she scared me and didn't really tell me anything about what this is and means.My stemother said call her up and ask her to tell you more about this and I said well she doesn't act nice like the when I had the scare with the abnormal cervical cells years ago and my stepmother said well you can be tough try to find out.
My gynecologist said most of the time this is nothing, and that a family history plays a role but there is not a strong genetic link to uterine cancer and yet she still wanted to do a biopsy! She said that I should find another gynocologist and that I should see a psychiatrist! She had the nerve to also bring up how afraid I was when in November 2003 I had , a Pap test come back showing abnormal cervical cells and I asked The American Cancer Society to send me information on Pap tests and cervical cancer soon after this and it says don't use tampons 2 or 3 days before the test because it effects the results. And I had been using tampons just 2 days before so I'm sure thats what happened there and I had 3 normal follow up Pap tests after until this one. And I said to her I had good reason to be worried then but this new result is different and much more worrisome because the other abnormal test didn't show endometrial cells which are not very common on a Pap test and my mother died of uterine not cervical cancer!
I really do want to find another gynocologist who is nicer but it seems it's really hard to find nice doctors, medical assistants and nurses and some of her recptionists and medical assistants are nasty creeps too!. My stepmother had asked me to ask my gynecologists medical assistant to fax over my results to her and she said in a not nice way to me, no she's not going to fax it over to my mother in law or anyone, else because she had faxed it to a top cancer center in my city and I told my stepmother this and she said they are really nasty in that office! And this gynecologist is really convenient right across the street and takes both of my insurrances.
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