{"id":83482,"date":"2026-09-09T12:43:58","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T04:43:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=83482"},"modified":"2026-09-09T12:43:58","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T04:43:58","slug":"12-years-after-surviving-breast-cancer-a-new-health-scare-tests-an-american-journalist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=83482","title":{"rendered":"12 years after surviving breast cancer, a new health scare tests an American journalist"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The symptoms started a little before my 50th birthday in December. I pride myself on healthy living, and my gauge of good health has always been consistency: are sleep, eating, digestion and period cycle regular? Now the clockwork was off, if only slightly.<\/p>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">My hypervigilance was born more than a decade earlier in Hong Kong, where I lived from 2009 to 2013 while working as a journalist. In 2013, at age 37 with no family history, I was <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">treated for stage 0 breast cancer<\/span> \u2013 the earliest detectable form. I kept my breasts and have had clean annual screenings since, but the scare left behind an inner antenna. Now back in the United States \u2013 in Connecticut, north of New York \u2013 that familiar paranoia returned as I began navigating a new medical crisis.<\/div>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">As I write, I am recovering from <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">a total hysterectomy<\/span> following a diagnosis of precancerous uterine changes in January. In the dizzying reality of medical statistics, there was a 40 per cent chance that cancer already existed, and a more than 50 per cent chance it would advance to full-blown uterine cancer within a few years if left untreated. Today, I am celebrating a clean pathology report: no cancer was found.<\/div>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">My diagnosis was a stark reminder of how common these issues are. Uterine cancer includes any <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">cancer<\/span> originating in the uterus. In the universe of women\u2019s reproductive cancers in Hong Kong, the most common is endometrial cancer, says Dr Karen Chan Kar-loen, chair and professor at the University of Hong Kong\u2019s department of obstetrics and gynaecology.<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cEndometrial cancer [which begins in the uterus\u2019 inner lining] usually presents as bleeding after menopause and tends to be diagnosed early,\u201d she says. \u201cEarly endometrial cancers can be treated by surgery, and the prognosis is good. Recently, immunotherapy has been introduced for advanced disease.\u201d<\/p>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">Risk factors include obesity, early menstruation, not having given birth, late <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">menopause<\/span>, and tamoxifen, a medication commonly used in <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">breast cancer<\/span> patients.<\/div>\n<div class=\"image-inline-container e1a5rv550 css-1llrc1m e1yqhwb40\" data-qa=\"Component-renderMap-StyledDiv\">\n<div class=\"image-inline caption e1fvabeq0 css-19sk4h4 ea9pn0s0\" data-qa=\"Component-Container\">\n<figure class=\"image-inline caption ea9pn0s1 css-mv7ovk e1gf69pb0\" data-qa=\"ArticleImage-ArticleImageContainer\">\n<div data-qa=\"ArticleImage-handleRenderImage-ImageContainer\" class=\"css-bjn8wh e1gf69pb3\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Amy Wu finds the lighter side of life at a comedy club in New Haven, Connecticut, in August 2026, to take her mind off health matters. Photo: courtesy of Amy Wu\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/img.i-scmp.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto\/sites\/default\/files\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/09\/08\/418b0bd3-46fd-45d3-9c5c-1b2c32b563f9_52e0d632.jpg\" title=\"Amy Wu finds the lighter side of life at a comedy club in New Haven, Connecticut, in August 2026, to take her mind off health matters. Photo: courtesy of Amy Wu\"\/><\/div><figcaption data-qa=\"ArticleImage-DescriptionContainer\" class=\"css-1bj5zno e1gf69pb1\">Amy Wu finds the lighter side of life at a comedy club in New Haven, Connecticut, in August 2026, to take her mind off health matters. Photo: courtesy of Amy Wu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/health-wellness\/article\/3366711\/12-years-after-surviving-breast-cancer-new-health-scare-tests-american-journalist?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The symptoms started a little before my 50th birthday in December. I pride myself on healthy living, and my gauge of good health has always&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":83483,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[295,1123,280,1714,9064,5889,10928,181,59],"class_list":["post-83482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-american","tag-breast","tag-cancer","tag-health","tag-journalist","tag-scare","tag-surviving","tag-tests","tag-years","wpcat-33-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=83482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/83483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=83482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=83482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=83482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}