I felt the same. I thought I had a death sentence too. However, I'm now
approaching
6 years since my diagnosis and no problems & I have a toddler! My doctor told
me that I would look back someday as an old woman and say, hmmm, remember when
I had cancer? I thought he was nuts, but now I think he was right!

I had adeno carcinoma in situ. In situ from what I understand it full thickness
of the cervix, but hasn't spread into the surrounding tissue. Compared to most
other cancers, as far as I'm concerned, it really is pretty good. Adeno is
less predictable than squamous cell which is what most have. I would think
you have more time to work out your fertility than I had. How old are you?


I don't think you will increase your chances of dying by trying to have a child.
You just have to follow all the rules. Make sure you do all the follow up
when you are supposed to. You don't want to have it get ahead of you and end
up with invasive cancer. However, obviously if you get invasive cancer, you
won't have any options. I think you need to sit down and think long term.
If you think you will regret not having a child, then you need to seriously
think about it. If you don't think you want a child, then you can go from
there.
I too had a friend that offered to be a surrogate which gave me incredible
peace of mind. However, remember that surrogacy is NOT easy. Both you & the
surrogate go through emotional & physical stresses beyond belief. If you can
have a child the "old fashioned way," trust me, do it! Don't think, Oh we can
just do it like that. Not to mention the financial strain. I would think that
if you go all the way through it, I'm sure it'd run you over $15,000-$20,000
and no guarantees. I spent probably $5000 on artifical insemination.

When my daughter was six months old, I had a hysterectomy. I was grateful of
the time I had, but I certainly wasn't going to push my luck.

You have a lot of choices to make. Make sure you take the time to make them.
And with education. I also have heard recently that you can have your cervix
removed, and leave your uterus in tact. Obviously, you'd have to do artificial
insemination, maybe IVF, and have a C section, but this is something that is
new from what I understand. Something to ask about.

Take care! Good luck. I'll be thinking about you!

Mary Anne

>Hi everyone!
>
>Well, last night I got the bad news; I have cervical cancer. It's in
>situ, which is as far as I can tell better than some alternatives.
>They've already done a cone biopsy and LEEP. On the 11th, I have an
>appointment with an oncologist to talk about the next step.
>
>My gynecologist suggested that, because it looked like they got nearly
>all of it, my husband and I (yesterday was our six-month anniversary;
>what an anniversary present!) may have a year to try for a child. I'm
>really wondering how much doing this will increase my chances of
>dying, though. One of my oldest friends has already offered to be a
>surrogate mother for us if we wanted to do IVF, which to me is the
>most incredible gift I've ever been given.
>
>This is especially scary for me because my dad died of colon cancer
>just over a year ago. It's funny - six months ago they were checking
>me for colon cancer and esophagal cancer, and I had neither and
>thought I was in the clear. This whole process has been quite shocking.
>
>I am hoping that people on this board can give me some assurance that
>this is not a death sentence. I know what the statistics say, but on
>the web sites most of what I see are the stories of people who aren't
>surviving, not the stories of the people who got through it OK.
>
>- Nikki
>
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>
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