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.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 treated for stage 0 breast cancer – 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 – in Connecticut, north of New York – that familiar paranoia returned as I began navigating a new medical crisis.As I write, I am recovering from a total hysterectomy 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.My diagnosis was a stark reminder of how common these issues are. Uterine cancer includes any cancer originating in the uterus. In the universe of women’s 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’s department of obstetrics and gynaecology.“Endometrial cancer [which begins in the uterus’ inner lining] usually presents as bleeding after menopause and tends to be diagnosed early,” she says. “Early endometrial cancers can be treated by surgery, and the prognosis is good. Recently, immunotherapy has been introduced for advanced disease.”Risk factors include obesity, early menstruation, not having given birth, late menopause, and tamoxifen, a medication commonly used in breast cancer patients.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