I had similar, with 6mm measurement.  As it was a bleed post menopause, although not heavy,  and lining not much over,  it triggered a referral  -  I also had a polyp which they removed  biopsied during a hysteroscopy  and was probably responsible for the bleeding and pain. They may give you a hysteroscopy.  I had one under GA although most seem to be without.

I was very up and down, it's an emotional rollercoaster as you wait for tests and results, but they are just being thorough so that if it is anything, it is caught as early as possible.

Hi DaisyW

thankyou for your reply , you’ve made me feel a lot better , I had a scan vaginally and it showed I had fibroids , whether they have caused my bleed I’m not sure , , I have an awful habit of going on Dr Google and convincing myself that i have cancer , as you said it is a emotional roller coaster!  Did your biopsy come back clear apart from the polyps ? Xx

All biopsies clear, including the polyp.    I also had 'incidental' findings of lots of small fibroids and a large one,  and ovarian cysts, one complex.   They said the fibroids would now be shrinking, but the ovarian cysts  sent me into panic, then my CA125 was measured as high.  So they also got removed and biopsied (with ovaries and tubes), and were also clear.    The whole process of start to final results was about 3 months.  It has certainly put life into perspective as thoughts do have lots of time to wander.  I went out for lots of meals (and drinks) whilst I was waiting for initial appointments as it took my mind off things a bit -  I didn't feel hungry when I was in as too stressed,  but fine when out for a meal in a different environment .....

Gosh you have been through the wars , I'm so sorry to hear this, did you get any pain or indication that you had ovarian cysts? They couldn't see my ovaries, they said it was a good sign, they didn't seem to be active . My mother keeps telling me to demand a hysterectomy but they just don't do them at the drop of a hat. My mind is just doing overtime at the moment and I feel so selfish because I know there are people a lot more worse off than me xx

I always had cramping pain and problems that sort of were actually easier after menopause.   They diagnosed endometriosis at the op so that was the source of Decades of problems!  

I didn't need a hysterectomy in the end, I almost had one just to get it all over in the  one abdominal op in case biopsies came back positive, as they wouldn't  be able  to do  2nd op soon.  It's not something to do in a hurry if you don't need it. See if they do a hysteroscopy and recommend any treatment.   If all clear then maybe  you'll have the option to avoid open abdominal hysterectomy if you ever have one, so shorter recovery.

Hi Ladies

Im hoping that everything has turned out well for you both.

I just thought I'd add my story to show that even scarey situations can be dealt with. I was diagnosed with endometrial cancer in April 2018 and had a hysterectomy plus tubes and ovaries removed in May 2018. This was carried out using keyhole surgery and I was home by lunch time the next day. It took about two weeks to recover. So not really a long recovery time. I've also been type 1 diabetic for 57 years and even so the recovery time was short.

Unfortunately the biopsy results after surgery revealed a much higher grade of cancer than they had thought so in July 2018 I had further keyhole surgery to remove lymph nodes for testing. Again an overnight stay in hospital. To my relief the nodes were clear and I had three sessions of vaginal radiotherapy to reduce the chance of return. My last active treatment was in October 2018. At the end of this month I will attend  my third post treatment oncology appointment. The last two showed all clear. I will continue with these appointments for a further four years, hopefully soon to be one per year. 

Best wishes to all who find themselves at the start of their journey and to all those part way through.

Sundial
 

So happy to hear that your latest results are clear XXX

And thankyou for sharing what you have been through.  It was posts like yours that really kept me going whilst waiting for my results, and helped me to keep things in proportion as its a really lonely place to be in sometimes. I hadn't been through anything like this before and found it just easier to tell as few people around me as possible ....

I got the all clear for which I really am grateful, but the feelings and thoughts I had these past few months until that point, are going to stay with me.

Jenny65

i hope everything goes well over thr next few days/weeks. Let me know how you get on.

Sundial

Hi Jenny, hoping you are ok?

I've had a uterine scan last week and my lining is.19.4mm...I'm menopausal and been on tamoxifen for 3 years after breast cancer. Been refereed to gynae next week

.keep everything crossed xx

Hi sundial ,

Hope your well, wanted to ask what were your symptoms for endrometium cancer?

Hi sundial ,

Hope your well, wanted to ask what were your symptoms for endrometium cancer?

Hi Anna7

The only symptom I had was post menapausal bleeding. When I had an ultrasound they found s thickened womb lining. I then had a hysteriscooy where they found a suspicious area in the lining from which they took biopsies.

And thank you I am well. Waiting for my first face to face oncologist appointment for a year. The previous two follow up appointments were made by telephone due y=to the pandemic.
 

Sundial

Thank you  

Did they find the suspicious area during your scan too or just on the hysteroscopy?

Hi, so helpful to read all posts. I had complex cyst removed last year. It all came back benign but the waiting and all the tests was difficult. Now again having issues, early heavy period and spotting and private ultrasound showed likely polyp 17mm. I will hopefully see my gynaecologist next week but feeling so lonely and exhausted. I lost my parents last year, I am also distant carer of my brother with schizophrenia, have two kids 6 and 10, full time job, doing building work and just find all really difficult. I am 47, still more or less regular periods but so worried and tired. ... and I should be excited about holidays we booked in next two weeks... 

Hi Sundial

I hope you are well. 
I was wondering how long you had a bleed for? 
I have been on HRT since I was 48 (I'm 52 now) and moved onto Everol Conti patches in August last year and had a bleed that started on Boxing Day and still have it. Going for a scan to look at the lining of my womb. I had 3 polyps removed from my cervix in July. 
 

Hello, just joined this forum and read all the posts about thickening of the uterus. I'm 51, with a lifetime of chronic endometriosis, ectopic pregnancy and fibroids, chocolate cysts and a small abnormal bleed after no periods for 14 months. I'm not on any form of HRT as I worry about being Estrogen dominant which aggregates endo lesions. Yesterday my vaginal ultrasound said ovaries look normal but abnormal thickening of the uterus and now waiting for hysteroscopy or biopsy or further tests I guess. I never had children, am a little overweight and in a dreadful toxic relationship with someone who just shouts at me and bullies me all the time. I'm now worrying about endometrial cancer or uterine cancer. Has anyone else been in my position. I have dreadful lower back ache, am shattered all the time and my hip keeps giving way. Worried that my endometriosis has triggered cancerous cells and spread in some way. Please help? Any advice welcome. 

I am having trouble replying to posts here - keep getting a gobbledegook message. However, it seems to be letting me reply on this latest post so here goes....

I wanted to say firstly, how much hope "sundial" has given me. Reading her post from 1st Dec 2019....I have been through the hysteroscopy under GA for the first time ever in my life (GA) and I survived! I didn't die under the GA! which was my initial fear. Now, I have been told that I have atypical hyperplasia (need to ring the nurse when she is back off hols on Monday to ask a few more details as I didn't take it all in fully when getting the results, as I was still in denial that it could be happening to me!)  and need to know if it is simple or complex. In the meantime, I am booked in for a total hysterectomy on Weds 12th April. I am coming to a certain acceptance but I am going through a bereavement for my health as I have never in my life had any health problems, I am not quite 63 yet and I only ever wore a hospital gown for the first time at my hysteroscopy a couple of weeks ago! I have researched a lot since I got the news, and it seems that my chance of actual cancer in the short/medium term is about 30% if I don't have this hysterectomy. I am still wavering, wondering if I am doing the right thing. 30% is a fairly big risk - but - how can they be certain?? On the other hand, I am very scared that I will end up with incontinence, and I already have issues with constipation that have been with me literally since I was a toddler. Nothing short of an enema is going to clear me out after this surgery, as I always take fibrogel anyway and stool softeners before and after a long journey. My diet is very healthy - 7/8 fruit and veg a day, never mind just 5! I am really scared that they will send me home before I have been able to poop, and I will panic, being bunged up. My endometrium lining was measured at 2.5cm. My CA125 was 109 at the first blood test, and 65 at a subsequent one and I don't know why it might have gone down and no medic seems able to tell me? 

However....I wanted to say how much hope Sundial has given me! I have read so much about recovery time being weeks not days. 6-8 weeks off work (my job is very physical) and I cannot drive, cannot dance (I love my Silver Swan ballet classes) for weeks, and cannot bounce in and out of bed but have to roll on my side or something....and I can only do the washing up after the first three days or so...I have never been ill or unfit in my life and I am struggling to imagine what I will feel like in the days after surgery. I live alone and have two dogs to walk. I have read that I can add on five minutes extra walking per week. I walk miles most days with my dogs! What am I going to feel like that I cannot walk more than a few hundred yards at best??? I read that you can do certain things such as walking and driving and washing up and hoovering "when you feel able to" - well, how will I know when I feel able to? what does that mean? Does it mean if I get pain when doing them? I am expecting pain...but have a high pain threshhold so I always get on with things through pain. But if I do so after surgery, will I unknowingly burst something inside? and how will I know? I am also scared of the blood. I bled heavily for a week after the hysteroscopy - much more than the period-type bleed they told me. I have actually bought a pack of puppy pads for my bed! as I stained clothing and bedding after the hysteroscopy and I dread flooding after this next surgery.  I have read of people who cannot sit at the computer for more than a very short while. I have been told I can bend; then told that I have to bend by bending my knees which I will find hard. I have read of people who cannot sleep lying down..of people who spend most of the first two weeks half-lying on the sofa propped up with cushions...I have been told I need 8-10 hours sleep a night to heal....I haven't ever been able to sleep that long since I was about four years old! So much that is contradictory and I have been feeling more scared about my post-surgery invalid status than about anything else.

And then the food!! After my hysteroscopy, they offered me toast. I don't eat toast or bread. They offered me sandwiches and biscuits. I asked for prawn sandwiches which is the only one I ever eat and that was the one they didn't have! So I snacked on my snacks I'd taken in with me: dried fruit, banana, ginger etc. I tried to find out the hospital menu and at best it looks like "brown food" such as macaroni cheese, lasagne, toad in the hole. What veg would I get? If you don't order in time, you apparently only get sandwiches!! They say I will feel nauseous after the GA so I am stocking up again with ginger; a friend has told me I won't feel like eating the first day. I never don't feel like eating!!! If I don't eat a proper meal on the first day, moreover, my bowels really will be shot by the following morning. 

So sorry for this awful long "rant" but I seem to be surrounded by tales of all the things I won't be able to do for weeks after this surgery and I am really struggling to imagine myself unable to move and unable to do the tasks I have always taken for granted.

So then I read Sundial and she had keyhole as I am to have, and she was home by lunchtime the next day. (Which worries me slightly because if I bleed heavily, I would prefer to be in hospital than alone at home and terrified) BUT she said that she only took two weeks to recover!!! That gives me so much hope! I can deal with two weeks - plus six weeks off work which despite only getting SSP, I am going to milk as much as I can because everyone else at work takes time off sick and I think I've had three weeks total off sick in the last 35 years!

Then I read a post from DaisyW and I could relate so very well where she said that she had never been through anything like this before. Nor have I!  And I also like Daisy, have found that it's easier for me to tell as few people as possible in my daily life. My neighbour and friend knows, the couple who are looking after my dogs for the two days I will be hospitalised, know. Latterly, I have chatted with one of my work colleagues of a similar age to me and bless her, she is coincidentally at the blood test stage I was at in early December and is as scared as I was then...I didn't even know! So although I hope that hers isn't what mine is, it did help to share fears and worries and I was able to reassure her a little that there are so many things her pain could be because I'd researched all these things myself and also hoped myself it wasn't what it has turned out to be for me...but hopefully hers will not be the same as mine. I had to tell my manager, who is a young lad of about 22 but he is SO understanding! Otherwise almost nobody else has any inkling and I hope that I can keep it that way for as long as possible, as I just don't "do" being ill or incapacitated. I have worked a lot in the care sector and been on the other end of all this, and find it hard to accept that I am now the one on the receiving end and I haven't even reached retirement age yet! 

I point blank refused to sit in a wheelchair when I had come round from the GA at my hysteroscopy. I told them I am not an invalid! and I paced up and down for about half an hour until they had two nurses free to walk me down to the recovery lounge. I figure this time I might not be quite as alert and will probably have to succomb to being pushed somewhere as again they tell me I will be lying in bed for most of the day of surgery. Not sure how my back is going to tolerate that, never mind my need to be active as soon as possible. 

So sorry for this horribly long "rant" but I needed to let this all out. I am no longer scared of the actual surgery, not scared of it being full-blown cancer as I haven't yet been told it is, but I am very worried about how inactive they will insist I am for a long time after.

So I have my piles of books I am planning to read, am off to buy a portable DVD player tomorrow so that I can watch in bed if necessary some of my DVDs I never get time to watch when I am working and leading my normal life, and have warned people I might be offline for a few days as I can't use my laptop in bed as I don't want to have to buy a lap tray just for this. I am stocking my freezer but keep reading that I will struggle to cook meals and someone else needs to cook for me.(?!?) And that I ought to ask someone to feed my dogs for me...help! why on earth would I not be able to open a can of food and scoop some dried, and put it into their bowls?? Just how ill am I actually likely to be feeling?

It's all a challenge but I wish it had waited another few years until I had managed to enjoy being semi-retired for a few years! 

And I still feel like this is happening to someone else, not to me. It's like a bad dream I cannot wake up from but still expect to. 

I think keyhole is much quicker to recover from, I had the open surgery with the large c section type cut, they say 6-8 weeks for that, took me longer. But keyhole is supposed to be much less stress on the body so I think you'll find most of the long recovery posts are probably open surgery. I was told not to lift anything heavy, so not to strain the wounds. So I changed the bed, cleaned up etc before going in to hospital. They want you up and walking around as soon as possible  but not lifting or straining etc. so they will have you up as soon as safe after the op and fetching your own (small) jugs of water etc. It was my First time in hospital, was petrified, they did the hysteroscopy and surgery in same procedure so I wasn't sure which bits of me were going to be missing when I woke up never thought this was going to happen to me! 

Yes, take  as long as you can be signed off work for by the hospital  because it's easier to go back early ( if you really wanted to ) than having to go to the gp to extend it but I found I could be more mobile when not stuck at a desk which was better for my recovery. 

hopefully someone who had had keyhole will be along on here soon x

Bless you for your prompt reply!

Sundial said she had keyhole and she is the one I latched onto with her two weeks' recovery! Ok I know that probably isn't complete as-new-never-had-surgery recovery but it sounds so very hopeful that I may be back up and walking and doing most normal things (except maybe ballet alas for a bit longer) after two weeks. That gave me a lot of hope.

I don't understand what "recovery" really means. I have never not been fit and healthy. I have never in my life had to sit on the side of the bed and roll in and out of it - I have always jumperd in and out like a teenager!!

I am praying that they won't convert this keyhole to open surgery whilst I am under. I am a little scared of that. They were going to give me sedation for the hysteroscopy and when I woke up I was told they had converted it to a GA as I "wasn't tolerating the sedation". I still don't know what that means as he wouldn't explain exactly what "not tolerating" means.

So I am slightly anxious that this might not turn out quite as I am signing u,p for as I now know from experience that what I think I'm signing up for, might not end up being what I will get!

One other thing the nurse told me is that I cannot take a bath for 8 weeks! I told her, I am going to be minging!!!! I don't possess a shower. I have dug out an old bowl so that I can wash my feet because when I walk the dogs in this weather, my feet get filthy. I also have a foot spa that I have never used (never had time or desire to physically pamper myself!!) so I will dig that out as this might be the chance to finally use it, for a proper purpose!

I WILL be up and walking ASAP...probably as soon as I wake up!!! They are going to have trouble keeping me on bed rest, that's the problem, because even if my body is sore, my mind wants and needs to be up and active at all times. 

They told me I can't lift a full kettle of water but only enough to make a cup of tea. So I don't know how I am going to make myself a hot water bottle for bed, as that requires a full kettle otherwise it won't be hot enough.

Apart from my few hours for the hysteroscopy, this too is my first ever time in hospital and overnight too. (I was in A&E a few times as a kid for dog bites and being over-zealous on the swings and bashing my head!!)

I can totally relate to you therefore. In my case it was also a complete rejection of having to wear a gown, having to lie on a slab as I called it, having to have something stuck in my hand and left there (cannula) and whilst I did accept the DVT socks because I know that's sensible, I let them put some blood thinning injection in my tummy after, and I had the bruise for nearly two weeks - it has only just gone. 

Hospital gowns to me meant, I am an invalid. I am however now starting to realise that my past, healthy life is over and that there are going to be hospitals now in my future, in some form or other. Even if it's only regular gynae appointments or scans for a few years. I feel so lucky to have got to almost 63 with complete health and fitness - people much younger than I am don't have this fortune.

I am just going through a bereavement atm still, grieving the loss of my health. This is just the way I deal with the change to my life. I can accept it a bit better by viewing it as grieving for what I have lost, but at the same time I am also starting to plan for new things, some of them positive, coming into my life. One tiny example is that I have already met two LOVELY nurses who are good listeners and will gradually guide me through this as time goes on. I never knew nurses could be so very understanding and caring and empathetic. I've never had any dealings with nurses before. 

I am not so much terrified now that I know I woke up after the GA and didn't die (I think I worried the nurses as I was fully awake but it was such a lovely relaxed feeling that I didn't actually want to open my eyes! and they kept saying "open your eyes...wake up...sip water" and I said, "I don't want to yet! I'm perfectly happy for now as I am"!!)

Gosh re-reading your words, I can see why you were additionally petrified not knowing what you would wake up to! I said the hysteroscopy was my "practice run" for a full surgery as with my symptoms still being here since November, I had a pretty good idea that there was something not right in my body and that I could be looking ultimately at surgery.

So at least now I know more of what to expect than I did a few weeks ago!

I never thought this would happen to me! It doesn't feel like it's me it's happening to me really, still. I had always assumed that I would be healthy until I hit 70. Both my parents did get (different) cancers but my dad's wasn't until his late 60s and my mum's, in her early 70s. So I always assumed I had a few more years yet and would be able to work and live as normal until I draw my state pension at 66. (I also assumed I would always be able to work part time even after that, as I cannot survive very long on the state pension alone and I have no other pension.)

I have told Work, 6-8 weeks but financially I would like to make it 6 weeks. I won't go for less as if I am fit and feel fit and no more treatment needed, I will simply enjoy the luxury of being off work without having to break into my holiday allowance. My job is very physical. I work in a village shop and never sit down. We don't even have a chair, if I wanted to. I serve customers, serve post office, stock shelves, carry heavy stock to the stockroom where I get on the step ladder to put it on the shelves there; I bung the newspapers and heavy boxes of magazines into the trolley to put them out/do the returns. I bake. I lift freezer lids, and bend and stretch and twist and you name it....I am more active than a couple of the youngsters who are literally a third of my age. 

So going back to work too early isn't really a very good idea! I will certainly go back to ballet after a month IF they tell me it's safe to, but will milk it at work if I can, because I know what I'm like...I am a "doer" and even though apparently having cancer or possible cancer, counts as being Disabled, legally (argh??!! I reject being called disabled with a vengeance! but it might have advantages I can also milk, on the other hand!), even though I could turn that toi my advantage and demand my employer buys me a chair and allows me to do no work other than sit at the till and serve, I know myself that I will not be able to do this if I go back! My mentality is to be active, and I will absolutely NOT be able to sit at the till and see empty spaces on shelves or newly-arrived stock and not get up and run over to see to them.

So it's best if I forget Work for six weeks because what the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over - or whatever that expression is!

My problem is that I am TOO mobile and too used to being so. I am worried that I will feel perfectly fine but will do some damage to inside parts that I cannot see. And I don't know how to get around that. 

The bath thing got to me, I had a shower before leaving hospital. Main things are not to get dissolvable stitches soaked and just pat wounds dry, don't forget and absentmindedly towel them dry.  Getting up out of a bath would have been a no for me first few days .  Check with the nurses likely time as I can't remember now but I don't think it was for too  long.   Or is there  any chance you could get one of those push on  hair wash shower attachments.  For the kettle just add mugs of water rather than carrying and filling up.

It's hard to know whether surgery is the right thing,  but once we know about things then you feel you need to catch things early.  I still wonder if I'd have been ok without surgery but COVID hit shortly after my op so I would have been waiting a long time.    

When you get your fit note, make it clear you are in a heavy lifting job so you get a full amount of time. 

You sound so agile and fit that it sounds like you have every best chance of a quick recovery and stitches healing.  Keep asking questions of the specialist nurses, they are there as the surgeons don't have time and know lots x