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Best Hospital for Endometrial Cancer?

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mtgmike

Hello.   A few months ago I posted I was getting married and my wife and I were looking for advice buying property in Vietnam to live in and run her nail salon.  We got married in October.  We finally got our loan from the bank last week to begin serious house hunting.

Three days ago we were informed she has grade 3 endometrial cancer.  She had some symptoms of something for the past 3 months or so, but it didn't seem like a major cause for concern.  She went in to get checked out about 2 months ago at one of the better VN hospitals for women's issues..  They gave her some treatment presuming it was not cancer, cancer was not even mentioned, told her to come back in a month if the symptoms didn't subside.  The symptoms didn't subside so she went back in.  They did a uterine curettage and biopsy. 

We got the results a few days ago.  The diagnosis was a grade 3 cancer.  Cancers typically come in grades which indicate the aggressiveness of the cancer spread and the response to treatments, with 1 being the best prognosis and 3 being the worst.  The Vietnamese hospital she went to, I forget the name so I'll call it VN hospital, scheduled x-rays (I hope ct-scans of the area?) for Monday, and a meeting together to many of the doctors Wednesday on how to proceed.  Apparently hospitals tend to have weekly meetings to discuss these sorts of cases together.

I've been asking around about hospitals and I was told the best places for a second opinion or treatment would be FV hospital or ESMO hospital.  We wend to FV with our paperwork.  The gyno specialist there said the hospital we went to before is good, it specializes in women's issues, and he trusts their diagnosis is accurate.  He looks at their ultrasound of her uterus and said it looks not good.  He scheduled us for an MRI Monday night, and said we can have the x-rays transferred to FV hospital, but not the other way around because he said VN hospitals tend not to accept anything from other hospitals (money/profit issue?  I don't know).  So FV hospital said they would have their weekly meeting between all the doctors about cancer patients and make a determination about what they think should be done in this case, he would then call me Friday, and Saturday we could come in to meet with him to get the results.

FV said treatment in serious cases like this would begin fast, I guess get priority, but that the FV hospital closes all week for Tet the week after we get our results.  I don't know about the VN hospital, if it will close for Tet.  I looked up the FV hospital cancer unit, it looks like they either opened in 2018 or in recent years, or they got more funding.  He said the doctors at FV are international.  I don't know if this is good or bad, like do the doctors that can't make it in Western countries come to work here, or does FV pay top dollar to get the best doctors from overseas?  Would a Vietnamese doctor at the best Vietnamese hospital have the most experience and skill in this area?  I'm pondering these questions.

I don't care about cost, I'd rather be flat broke until I die than have my wife die.  I've met thousands of people in life, I'm a bit older, I've been around, I've dated hundreds of women, of all the people and women I've met she's the most genuine, caring, kind, real, good people I've ever met, really 1 in a million.  She's only 35, she lives an immensely healtful lifestyle, she won't eat any of the junk I order, never smokes, never drinks, never does anything wrong, pretty much just takes care of me and other people and works 10 hours a day 6 days a week with a smile and no unkind words.  I want the best treatment for her regardless of the cost.  It seems we will be using the funds we intended for the house for her treatment and for making her life comfortable in the even things don't go well.

I think we will find out more about the state or prognosis after x-rays and mris to see where it spread, but I don't think we will know more precisely until they do the surgery to take things out.  If the scans indicate it is more advanced, they may not do the surgery and just do palliative care.  In the mean time, we are preparing to rent a house close to her mom and dad so they can help her and spend time with her easier.  I've been doing a lot of my own research, the grade 3 rating is very unfortunate, the worst news possible about that.  The staging prognosis of 5 year survival ranges from a bit under 90% at the very earliest stage (presumably for grade 1s), to 50% in midrange, to 15-20% in later stages.  Prognosis is generally lower with grade 3.  In the later stages the median time until death is 9-10 months from diagnosis.

I know a lot of people here have been around a while, or have special insight into things.  If you happen to have an opinion about what the best hospitals are for serious cancers, please drop me a line.  I am a bit worried about the closing for Tet thing, in her case I feel time is of the essence in case of metastasis, but at the same time if she does get surgery it's critical she gets the best surgery in the best clinic.  I don't know if FV is the best, of if the best VN oncology hospital is the best, or some other hospital.  I've asked around a bit elsewhere and gotten different opinions.  Some people said ESMO, some people said FV, some other people said something about another hospital I am not sure of the name.

I don't know if we could go overseas for better initial surgery.  She is Vietnamese, her family doesn't have any special connections or money, and the money I have is what we were going to use for the house.  Clearly we aren't using the money for a house now. so I'm up for paying whatever it takes to have the best chances at survival.

I guess at this point it's a matter of waiting to see what stage they think the cancer is depending on the x-rays and mris.  I'm leaning toward FV for treatment because it has "international" doctors and I get the impression people with money go to this one if they go to any in Vietnam.  The Tet delay is worrying though, no idea if this is going to be every hospital closing or just the one, or if it's just certain units like oncology that take a week long holiday for Tet.

Aside from that, I don't know how to cope with this.  My wife is the most important in my wife, it took me 40 years to find her and I've got zero interest in life without her.  I've been around the world, probably been on dates with hundreds of women, this isn't my first love, she is truly unique and special and I can't go back to a life without her.  My father died a couple years ago, and she was the only person who could bring me any comfort.  She's such a good person, and she has this rare cancer.  I rely on her for so much in my life, she is the one part of my life that keeps me going.  I think I can be more positive if we get better news next week, or after surgery, but it looks really bad.  She wants to live like there is no problem, she doesn't want to be sad, but she is so much better at it than me, I'm having difficulty with this.

Anyway, if anyone has insight into what hospital is the very best, or if I could even get her to a better overseas hospital for treatment right away like surgery the week of Tet, of if FV is really good and I should stick with them and wait after Tet, or go with the first VN hospital, please let me know what you've heard or what your opinion is.  Also, I'm not the religious type, but she goes to church and prays even when she isn't sick, so if you are the same and you want to send prayers her name is Uyen Phuong.

Edit:  I think the VN hosital she has been going to is call Benh Vien Tu Du.

michaellieptourists

Hi,
We are so sorry to hear about your wife’s condition...
Small advice, there are 4 stages to most cancers, you need to clarify which stage Uyen is...
In your position, I would be getting to Singapore for confirmation of diagnosis and for probable surgery, speed is necessary.
We are thinking of you both...
Mike and Liep

Ciambella

Second Michael's suggestion.

mtgmike

Do you think FV is not that good?  How do you get a VN citizen to Singapore and how fast can that be done?  I'm sure I could be on a plane to Singapore next week, but I don't know about her.

Edit: Just looked a bit at that, I don't know if we can afford that.  I think she's going to need major surgery and then other treatments like radiology or chemo, and continued testing.

Does anyone know if FV is better of ESMO or even the Vietnamese womens' center she originally went to?

mtgmike

It looks like it comes down to FV, Tu Du, or ESMO.  So far we're consulting with both FV and Tu Du.

Ciambella

Don't know how to compare the three hospitals against one another for your wife's case, but Từ Dũ has had a great reputation for women care for almost 100 years.  It has always been one of the two most trusted hospitals in South Vietnam.

GuestPoster0147

mtgmike wrote:

Do you think FV is not that good?  How do you get a VN citizen to Singapore and how fast can that be done?  I'm sure I could be on a plane to Singapore next week, but I don't know about her.

Edit: Just looked a bit at that, I don't know if we can afford that.  I think she's going to need major surgery and then other treatments like radiology or chemo, and continued testing.

Does anyone know if FV is better of ESMO or even the Vietnamese womens' center she originally went to?


A Vietnamese citizen does not need a visa for Singapore and most Asian countries.  All you need is a passport that is easy and relatively quick to get.

If Singapore is too expensive, why not go to Bangkok?  There are some good cancer clinics there (e.g. Wattanosoth).  And I think it will be cheaper in Bangkok.

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