Uterine tumor

It was January of 2004. I had been engaged to my boyfriend of 3 1/2 years for just under a month, and my medical insurance had just kicked in. I was at my yearly checkup and the ARNP thought my belly seemed a little too firm, so she actually did a pregnancy test, which turned out to be negative. Then urged me to see a regular doc. After much hesitation, I finally did. They did an ultrasound and told me I had a tumor. They were not sure if it was on my ovaries, but I was referred to an oncologist. At first, they were confident, due to the fact that I was only 22, that it was surely just fibroids. I had surgery to remove the mass January 26th, 2004. It turned out to be the size of a volley-ball, and had cysts throughout. They thought this was strange for a fibroid, but continued to say that it was a "degenerating" fibroid. After about 4 weeks of waiting for the biopsy results, I get pulled into "the room". The one where they tell you the bad news. While it was not actually cancer, it wasn't benign. The tumor was actually a rare type, they called it "STUMP" or Smooth Muscle Tumor of Uncertain Malignant Potential. Only 218 people had ever been diagnosed with this in the history of medicine, and four had died from it. So their recommendation was for an immediate hysterectomy.

As I was 22 and newly engaged to be married, and eager to start my family, I got a second opinion from an entire panel of doctors. The recommendations were unanamous. Though tragic at my age, they all steered me towards a hyst. So after much agonizing over my decision, my fiance and I decided that taking the risk of having kids and leaving them motherless was not worth it. Eventually we would have kids....somehow, and that my life was more important. I had my hysterectomy on March 15th, 2004. While in surgery, they noted that the scar tissue from my tumor removal had actually fused to my bladder. Who knows, but had I ever actually tried to have children, I can only imagine what might have happened...

I was married on October 9th, 2004. I have had some scares, at my yearly (sometimes quarterly) visits to my oncologist, but for the last 3 years, my MRI's have come and gone and I am cancer and tumor free! Only two more years to go and I will no longer need to see an oncologist!