the 'c' word

I am so happy to have found this wonderful website.
I already can feel the warmth and caring spirit. I'm sure I will visit often.

This is day 3 with the knowledge that I have stage 1b (from what they can see so far) endocervical adenocarcinoma, that is - cervical cancer. And this is day 2 of living with my decision of getting a total hysterectomy...not even sure of all the terms but they want to take the whole shebang. I'm 51 and they say I don't need it.

I'm so afraid and today is the first day that I can't seem to stop crying. I've never had so much as a bee sting and childbirth was 25 years ago.

I don't have that helpful hubby that I've been reading about but I do have a very loving family of sisters and a great son.

I look forward to being able to offer wonderfully helpful, perky and positive advice on this site... but right now I'm having a hard time helping myself. Tomorrow is another day. Thanks for listening.

Hi Jeannemarie!

I, too, am fairly new to this site, but not new to the cancer/surgery experience. I was diagnosed with stage 1b cancer about 18 months ago, following a bad pap result at my one-year post-partum checkup after my son was born. Definitely scary, but I figured if I am going to be a cancer statistic, that was a pretty treatable form to get.

I will say that the surgery itself was the easiest part of this whole deal for me, probably because I knew what to expect. I, too, had never had any health issues and had only been in the hospital to have children prior to my surgery. One thing that I found worked really well for me immediately after surgery was that I had an epidural for pain control, rather than morphine. I had NO pain immediately after and I was not loopy from morphine. Explore all of your options about those sorts of things pre-op and ASSERT yourself. I had surgery on 12/1/00 and was back at work on 1/02/01, by my own choice, plus I went snow skiing at 8 weeks post-op with no problems. The trickiest part of post-op for me was bladder control. It seemed like I had a catheter FOREVER (about 2 weeks, really), but that also was not as limiting as I expected, and I was driving myself around and doing Christmas shopping while I still had it in. I think that my experience in that regard was a little worse than most, but I'm not sure.

I am now on Estrace for hormone replacement, which I had expected not to have to face, because my ovaries were not removed in surgery. But, the little devils atrophied later, from being messed with too much, or from radiation scatter, who knows. I had thought I would not do hormone replacement, but at 38 years old, I am several years away from my likely age of natural menopause, and from what I have read and discussed with my doctors, doing HRT now, will result in lower lifetime estrogen exposure. So, I am doing it and hoping to get some benefit with no adverse effects. We'll see. When I reach my early 50's, I will definitely have to consider stopping HRT and going through menopause then.

I pray for you that the pathology report after your surgery is good and that you will DONE once your recovery from that is over. My path report was not horrible, but wasn't good enough for me to escape radiation and chemo. Not a fun six weeks!! I am having some lingering effects from that, but so far, all's clear on the cancer front!!

Make sure you are comfortable with your surgeon and other care providers. DO NOT make any decisions about your care based on their convenience. This is about YOU, not them. (My surgeon was not thrilled that I chose the epidural because it took longer to get me ready for surgery, but who cares? It's what I wanted, and I was very happy that the female anesthesiology resident took the time to discuss it with me as an option.) Treat yourself well. Let your family and friends take care of you -- you'll have plenty of opportunities to repay them in kind once you are well (which will be sooner than you think). Cherish your son (what helped me the most through this is that I was lucky enough to have children before this diagnosis, because I know others are not.). And ask lots of questions.

Sharon

Thank you Sharon for taking the time to share your story and information. The epidural sounds like a swell choice.
Thanks thanks....
More to come from me I'm sure.
And the best to you.
Jeannemarie

Hi Jeannemarie, welcome to the cancer concerns forum.

It is indeed a frightening thing to be told - 'you've got cancer' but cervical cancer stage 1b is usually very treatable by a hysterectomy and usually doesnt require any more treatment than that.

It is so very normal to have the crying that you speak of . We all do it. So when you have to cry then do, it will help you to grieve .

Sharon , has given you some great advice re the hysterectomy and if you want to read my story, you can by clicking below. But please remember that what did happen to me , is not normal

Please never hesitate to come here whenever you need support or a thats what we are here for, always . Dont worry about supporting others right now, that time will come. It is important to pamper yourself and keep healthy.

Sending you lots of love and hugs, take care xxx

If you have family and friends you have support. I do not have a big family but I do have alot of friends I thank all of them every day for being there for me. 1 year ago I was told I had Cervical Cancer stage 1a. Boy did my world change. Crying everyday did not know if I was coming or going. I just received my 1 year check-up and pap came back normal Yahoo!!!! Life does go back to normal it just another hurdle your have to jump in life. I went through alot I had two surgeries in less than two months. It was very hard to deal with. to you and yours

Hi,
I had a TVH in November 01 for Cervical adenocarcinoma Stage 1A. They kept my ovaries because I was only 35. The surgery itself was the easy part. The worrying has been the hard part! I did plenty of crying too! Please remember your long term outlook is excellent.

-Denise