My Story: Uterine Cancer - Katerskater's Story

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My Story: Uterine Cancer - Katerskater's Story

My Story: Uterine Cancer - Katerskater's Story

Date : 04-11-2002 - 01:02 AM - Readers : 10747

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It all started in December when I went to the clinic to have a GYN checkup and pap smear done. The nurse practitioner saw something out of the ordinary and thought that I should see someone who had a little more expertise. The N/P's guess at the time was that I had a cervical polyp.

[I should probably back up a bit here and explain that I had been having VERY heavy bleeding when I wasn't having my period (which tends to be a symptom of uterine cancer). I also was very irregular, which may have been due to any number of things. My mom read an article about PCOS and thought that some of the symptoms I was having were similar to PCOS but when they did a blood test and checked my hormone levels they were normal]

I saw the second doctor, who confirmed that I had polyps and referred me to another doctor (I actually wound up seeing his partner, a woman, because he was delivering a baby), who did an exam, and looked and told me that I was going to have to have a D&C to see what was going on.

*Snip*

I had the D&C (was very nervous about it, but it turned out to be a walk in the park, compared to having a hysterectomy)

The doctor said everything had gone well during the surgery.

Fast-forward a few days later...To make a long story short, what the doctor had found when he did my D&C was that I had uterine cancer. There were a ton of polyps that he removed as much as he could when he did the D&C.The polyp on my cervix was actually in my uterus-it was so big it was sticking out of the cervix.

This was devastating news for me, and for my parents, who were the ones that had to tell me. They were just as upset about it as I was, maybe even more so.

A few days later, we went to see my Dr. and he actually had some good news-I had uterine cancer, but it was the non-aggressive kind, meaning it grew slowly. He told me he was surprised to see it in someone so young (I'm 31).

He told me that I would have to have a hysterectomy, which was the cure, pretty much, and possibly radiation afterwards. I felt a little bit better after hearing that news, believe it or not.

I handled the situation amazingly well, though I didn't look forwards to telling my family about it. But I did. I have a LOT of family and friends and they were *so* supportive. It was what my family and I needed.

I went in for my hysterectomy on March 4th and came through it with flying colors. I worried a lot about the surgery and what could happen during it but everything was fine. They removed my uterus and ovaries and also took a few lymph nodes to see if the cancer had spread. Fortunately, it hadn’t, which meant I didn't have to have radiation, thank goodness.

I'm grateful that they caught the cancer in time and that I had a wonderful doctor who explained everything to me.

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