Hi all.
My journey with cervical cancer started last March (2006). I was
having a hard time eating, throwing up and constipated. ER Dr
ordered X-rays and said that I was constipated on my left side and
to try over the counter products to try to alleviate my pain.
In April, I went to my primary care Dr. I was still having the
same symptoms as I was in March. He ordered x-rays and I was still
compacted on my left side. He said to continue with the over the
counter products. He also did blood work and found out that I was
anemic and that my thyroid wasn't working. During this time, I was
bleeding like I had my menstrual cycle. At the end of April, I was
still having the same symptoms. My primary Dr ordered a colonoscopy
and an endoscopy. Both of these tests came back normal.
In June, I was still having the same symptoms as in March and
still bleeding off and on. This time I chose an internal med Dr. He
ordered more blood tests and a CT scan of my abdomen and pelvis. The
CT scan showed enlarged lymph nodes. I then had a PET scan which
showed reactivity in my abdomen. I was sent to consult with an
oncologist. The oncologist didn't know exactly what was going on. So
he ordered a bone marrow aspiration to be done. This came back
negative. So then he ordered a lymph node biopsy. Then I was off to
the surgeon. The surgeon biopsed a piece of lymph node by going up
thru my groin area. This test came back as inconclusive. The
oncologist was stumped.
I put up with the constant stomach pains by taking advil around
the clock. The stomach pains went away with the advil. During this
time I had lost about 20 pounds. I am down a total of 55 pounds
since everything started.
The oncologist then scheduled me to have exploratory abdominal
surgery at the end of August (August 25th to be exact). My husband
told me that he would like for me to go have a pap test before I had
the abdominal surgery. I went to an OB-GYN dr 2 days before my
scheduled surgery and that's when the cervical cancer was found. So,
the OB-GYN dr called the surgeon and the oncologist to cancel the
surgery and to let the oncologist know what was going on.
I then had an appointment with GYN-cancer. This was scheduled for
Monday, August 28th. On the 28th, I went to the dr and he took a
look at my cervix and said "Yes, what you have is cervical cancer. I
can see the tumor. The reason for the bleeding is because the tumor
is weeping." He sat me, my hubby and my mom down in the conference
room and told me my options. I also met with the radiation dr and he
told me what was going to happen. I had to have blood work done in
anticipation of starting chemo. The blood work revealed that I was
still low on iron and that my WBC's were low. So, on sept 1st, I had
a blood transfusion.
September 5th, I had both chemo and radiation. The chemo was very
hard on my body. The radiation didn't do much on the outside.
Everything made me very tired tho. After treatments, I would come
home and soak in the bathtub for an hour. Doing that seemed to relax
me a lot. I had 6 weeks of once a week chemo and 6 weeks of daily
radiation (minus weekends). The nurses had a hard time finding veins
for the chemo but I was adamant about not wanting a port. I figured
with once a week chemo, a port was just going to be a big hassle.
On Oct 23rd, I had 3 days of internal radiation (brachytherapy). I
had to be in the hospital for that 3 days. My mom and hubby took
turns being up there with me. The dr told me that they could stay
with me because the amount of radiation that was emiting off of me
was a very small dose. I had to stay in the hospital bed the whole
time and be at a 25 degree incline the entire time. That was the
longest 3 days of my life.
On Nov. 29th, I had my 1st visit with my GYN-cancer dr. He took a
look at my cervix and he said that everything looks pink and
healthy. I don't have to go back to see him until Feb 2007. At that
time he is going to do another internal exam and discuss the results
of my CT scan that I will have a few days before going to see him.
So that's my introduction. BTW, I'm 32 years old, married and with
no children (in case anyone wants to know) :) Thanks for reading
thru everything I wrote. I didn't mean to be so longwinded!

~Kathy H.~