You might need to move this, not sure where it should go

Hey, I don't know where to put this but I have a question. I'm over 2 years cancer free, but I have been sitting around expecting the sky to fall the entire time (to be honest). Well, not the entire time or it would consume my life and it hasn't done that. Anyway, my biggest concern is that once the radical hysterectomy happened, I was basically passed along and told to visit the doctor yearly for five years. Ok..... The cancer was aggressive, supposedly, and it was bad - that is the gist I got from my OB/GYN and Gyn. onc. but once it was removed, my step-mother had told me that they found very little cancer and it didn't leave the uterus (which further confuses me because it was cervical cancer...), so the prognosis was great. However, I became very, very angry when she told me that and I asked everyone to leave the room except my mother, to whom I then began to cry and ask if I just lost my reason for living (having children in the future) for nothing??!! I asked the doc this same thing the next morning and he got kinda mad at me and acted like I was unreasonable so I dropped it. A year later, his office sent me a thing to sign saying that they had never gotten it from me before the surgery and it was basically a statement saying that I understood the surgery was elective or something - basically, it sounded like I had an unnecessary hysterectomy. So, now, I'm sitting here and there are two things bothering me - if it was so bad, why wasn't I given chemo or radiation to make sure it wouldn't come back and it it wasn't so bad, why did I have a freaking hysterectomy! Seriously, I cannot get straight answers to these questions from the docs. Did I seriously just give a doc more pocket money and rep for something that is not even needed? Girls, make very very very sure you NEED that hysterectomy before you get it!!!

Let's celebrate you are cancer free! There is nothing you can do to undo what was done whether you needed it or not, it is done and final. I'm so sorry you are not getting the answers you need to move forward. Hugs to you.

Caradia, I am glad the cancer is gone. I can understand your frustration as it seems you have questions regarding the cancer and a need for a hysterectomy. Your doctor should be able to give you straight answers. Also, you can ask for a copy of the pathology report as well as the surgical notes. Might find more straight forward answers there. The cervix is just the lower part (the neck) of the uterus so that is probably what your step mom meant. I just found this out after my hysterectomy. I agree everyone should make sure the hysterectomy is needed. Best wishes to you.

(((caradia)))

First, big congrats on being two years cancer free! That is no small feat, sister!

As for some of your concerns, from what you've said, it sounds like you might have had cervical adenocarcinoma at an early stage. It's the cell type that's often described as "aggressive" as opposed to the more frequently diagnosed and slower growing squamous cell. The nature of adenocarcinoma makes it difficult to catch even with close follow-up (it can hide, have skip lesions, distal spread, etc.), and that's why hysterectomies are recommended even for cases where it's still in situ. Since you had a radical hyst like I did, I'm guessing your stage was beyond in situ but still early. Mine was a IAI, and I also did not require radiation or chemotherapy. For cases of early cervical cancer, they like to hold chemo/rads in reserve in the (unlikely) event of a recurrence. I did ask about doing preventive chemo/rads following surgery, and that's what I was told. Basically, if the cells are removed with surgery, there's nothing for the chemo/rads to treat, and you've lost those things as options if you do have a recurrence (you can't re-irradiate the same areas). So, no, it does not mean things weren't deadly serious just because you didn't have chemo/rads. Many gyn cancer ladies here "only" require surgical removal for treatment if the cancer is caught at a stage where the docs are fairly confident they can get it all. That also goes for other types of cancer, like melanoma (which I've also had).

The fact that little other cancer showed on your final path is indeed great news but that doesn't mean you had major surgery for nothing. My final path didn't show any further cancer, but I know that yes, I did need to have that surgery to remove any possible areas of spread. The fact that you did have more cancer show on final path should actually give you more confidence that the surgery was necessary. Otherwise, it would still have been there to grow and spread. Gyn/oncs are the experts for treating gyn cancer/pre-cancer, and I'd say you should feel pretty confident he absolutely wouldn't have performed a radical hyst unless it was necessary, nor would your ob/gyn have stood by and permitted this.

As someone else suggested, if you haven't already, get copies of your biopsies that lead to your diagnosis and your surgical path reports so you'll have them for your own reference. Sometimes, it helps to see things in written form as verbal communications can be confusing now and then. Speaking of that, I'm guessing the form which you hadn't signed prior to surgery was one of those consent to treats full of legalese. So, even though it might have mentioned something "elective," if you had cervical adenocarcinoma (or another cell type) that required a radical hyst, rest assured that in reality it was not an elective procedure.

Surviving cancer is a tough journey to be sure. The fear of recurrence is very common (we call it cancerhead around here), but that will get better the further out you get from your treatment. The emotional healing goes far beyond the physical. Please know that you're not alone, caradia, and that you absolutely did not go through (survive!) all of this for nothing. You did it to kick cancer to the curb so we could still have you here!

As a reminder, we do have a Cancer Concerns forum which addresses issues such as cancerhead, survivorship, etc., as well as an Aching Hearts forum for concerns about loss of fertility and all that entails. You're more than welcome to post on those forums again as well.

Monami, yes that's what I had. Your reply has helped me so much, and thanks to the rest of you for your support as well.

No problem, caradia! I'm so glad you're feeling a bit better about things -- that's what we're here for!

Canadian,

The surgery you had was the same as mine, and I had cancer for the second time ( different place) but I also didn't require chemo or radiation, but I had 9 days ago the radical hysterectomy which I am still trying to come to terms with.

But we will get there, please have faith, no surgeon does these surgeries without seriously considering the consequences too. No surgeon worth his diploma.

But this site will help you, ask any question at anytime, ..............it helps, I know xx