After the Biopsy

I had my endo.metrial bi.opsy yesterday. The procedure itself went fine. It was a little painful, but I had my trusty Dem.orol and Xa.nax to get me through it and it was bearable. I was a little out of it (obviously), so I spent most of the afternoon (including the two hour drive home) asleep.

This evening about 6:15 (while I was still at work doing my standard unrequired overtime), my mobile rang. I looked at it and it was the RE's phone number, so I answered it. It was actually the doctor himself calling. What he had to tell me was the results of my bi.opsy. While it wasn't terrible news (no cancer, thank goodness), it wasn't good news either. He told me I have Complex Endo.metrial Hyper.plasia without atypical cells. What this means, he explained, is that I am two steps before cancer. Based on the bi.opsy, there are no pre-cancerous cells, but he wants to be completely certain there is nothing lurking unseen. Therefore, he has decided, with my consent, that we will move forward with a D&C.

My appointment with the pulm.onologist tomorrow will also act as the pre-op clearance. He needs her okay to go ahead with anesthesia if I do have sleep ap.nea and for my asthma. He said he thought the procedure would be done outpatient, but he would need her okay that I wouldn't need to stay overnight and he also wants to make sure she will be in town so as to be on-call in case of an emergency.

His plan for after the D&C was for me to take Pro.vera to bring AF on, then at the end of that cycle he'll do another D&C, then I'll start what he called a "Pro.vera Regimen" where I take the meds for 3 or 4 months straight to start AF. We'll then probably do another bi.opsy to see where we are.

This wasn't the news I was hoping for. I was hoping everything would come back okay and we could move forward with TTC. However, it is important to me be sure we nip this in the bud before it turns into something much worse. The way he described it, there are 6 stages from a healthy endo.metrium to cancer. The first is a clear endo.metrium without any thickening; the second is slight thickening; the third is Simple Endo.metrial Hyperplasia; the fourth is Complex Endo.metrial Hyper.plasia without atypical cells; the fifth is Complex Endo.metrial Hyper.plasia with atypical cells; and, finally, Endo.metrial cancer. As you can tell, I'm at the fourth stage. The scary thing is that 21 months ago when my OB/GYN did this procedure, I was only in the second stage. Basically, the endo.metrium is thickening at an alarming pace. This is also the reason behind his urgency to go ahead with the D&C.

I have to admit - I'm a little scared. This news is devestating to me. Granted, it's not anywhere near as bad as it could have been, but it certainly was a shock and a punch in the gut. I hate the thought of the surgeries (albeit minor procedures) to come and I'm scared what they may find. I know these fears are irrational, but that's where I'm at right now.

I need your prayers and/or thoughts. I'll be speaking to his PA tomorrow to make the arrangements and I'll stop by to let you know what's happening as soon as I have some definites. Thanks for your support!