Cervical Cancer Support Group
Cervical cancer is a malignancy of the cervix. Worldwide, it is the second most common cancer of women. It may present with vaginal bleeding but symptoms may be absent until the cancer is in advanced stages, which has made cervical cancer the focus of intense screening efforts utilizing the Pap smear. This is the place to talk about your experience with the cancer.
2013 at age 29 i got a phone call that my pap was abnormal, after 3 biopsies, it was confirmed that i had precancerous cells (the highest stage before hitting stage 1 cancer) my HPV test was negative, i waited 6 months per my obgyn for another pap and biopsy, it had gotten worse. I am a mother of 4, so my first reaction and request to my obgyn was please just do a hysterectomy. My obgyn refused. So i searched for a 2nd opinion and after 2 years of my obgyn refusing to send my records over to the obgyn (that specialized in cervical cancer), my primary MD (who also was refused my records!) decided to start over from scratch to make/have records of her own. I decided after she told me it was extremely dangerous to keep waiting, and just go back to my regular obgyn and accept the treatment he was offering. So i did. And was immediately scheduled for a LEEP and uterine ablation 2 days beforw Mother’s Day 2016. What was supposed to take 45 minutes, took 6 hrs, telling my fiance and mother he ran into ”complications”but would give no further details (and i have asked multiple times since then and he changes the subject or ignores my question so i guess ill never know what complications took 6 hours!)
recovery wasn’t so bad, just what you woukd expect, cramping and bleeding for a few weeks.
As 2 weeks went by, i started noticing a ‘dead’ smell, never had any issues with this smell coming from my vagina before! It smelled like dead flesh and i had a brown discharge! I called immediately and they got me into the obgyn that day!
My ob nonchalantly laughed when he walked in, saying he knew exactly what the problem was, stating he left a gauze inside the surgical area to stop the bleeding, he proceeded to ask me to lay back while he removed it! The horrible dead smell filling up the room and the extreme pain had me in tears and embarrassed! He reassured me that he’s smelled worse from women that didnt have the issue i had, yeah, didnt help! I was mortified, i swear thay scent lingered throughout that whole office! Haven’t had a period or spotting since the LEEP and uterine ablation which is a plus i guess!
Fast forward to this year…. Had a pap 3 months ago, got a call that my cancer cells were back and more aggressive and the next step would be a hysterectomy (after years of begging for this hysterectomy, he always refused saying that is LAST resort)
I go in 3 weeks for a follow up pap and I’m guessing biopsies, and then schedule for the hysterectomy i hope.
My question is…. Im extremely worried that the cancer will spread again.
What’s the chances of me having cancer in other regions of my body?
What’s the recovery/survival rate?
I want to live for my children, but i can barely get out of bed, not sure if it’s from the extreme pain I’m in or depression.
Any insight would be helpful, because i am terrified!
Generally when you have a hysterectomy for precancer, or even for early stage cancer, a hysterectomy is all the treatment you need. It is very rare to have cancer in other areas of your body at this point, and the five year survival rate for stage 1 cancer is around 95%. If it was still only severe precancer then the survival rate would be 99-100%.
Its perfectly normal to have high anxiety/depression when dealing with cancer/precancer, or facing major surgery. So please do talk to your doctor about your feelings. They can often prescribe medication to help get you through a bad patch. Times like these are what medications like that are meant for.
There are many, many women who have been down this road, including me. My hysterectomy was four years ago now, and I'm doing very well. You'll get there too! We are here for you whenever you need us. Sending lots of supportive thoughts.