Thinking of cancelling hyst

Hi there,

I'm LiquidIce, I just turned 34 on 10/6/2012. I'm having my hyst in two days and I still don't have authorisation due to my gynea stalling with his motivational letter. He knew about the letter since last week and I have been phoning his office every day so far. To escalate the stress, I broke my wrist 2 weeks ago and will only know in 4 weeks time if it has to be operated on. Also, I started having cold symptoms yesterday. I'm having a terrible nasal drip, scratchy throat, stuffy nose and mild temp. Now I'm stressing that the op will be postponed.

I went to my gynea in Feb this year for a routine pap smear (last one was 9 years ago). A week later he phoned back to say they have found stage 3 something. (can't remember the word), and that I'm at risk for cancer as stage 4 is cancer. I'm to have a abdominal hyst and keep my ovaries. I have two kids, 8 and 16. Due to the fact that I have been having extremely painful menses since 15 yr old, we thought this to be the best. Also, I have been on Depo Provera for 15 yrs, only stopping to have my daughter who is now 8. after she was born I went back on the Depo. The depo caused me to gain weight and causes frequent migraines. Whilst on the depo I continued having extreme pain, but no bleeding.

I had to postpone the op in feb due to my mother ending up in Intensive Care. She was connected to a ventilator and was in a coma for almost a week. She has to many medical problems to list here. She is on oxygen 24/7 and has to sleep with a bipap machine. She is only well enough now for me to go for the op.

Well, thats it in a nutshell. I just neede to vent somewhere, I am so stressed, I feel like canceling the op and deal with the cancer. I know it sounds stupid. I don't want cancer, nor do I wish it upon me or anyone else, but that is how I feel. I t feels like everything since feb is hindering the op. Thanks for reading.

Ps I know I was supposed to stop smoking or smoke less, but with all the stress with my mom and the op, I am smoking more than I used to and that worries me as well...

I have no advice for you, but I am sending you a . I hope others here can help you with this decision.

You have a lot on your shoulders. It's hard to think clearly when you have this much going on. But, you don't want to delay too long due to the potential for cancer. If you don't have the approval from the insurance yet, and you are coming down with a cold, rescheduling for a couple weeks from now might be a good idea, but talk it over with your doctor first.

Just all the planning and anticipating for this surgery is pretty stressful, and once you have it behind you, and you get through a few weeks of recovery, it will eliminate one of the big stresses in your life. Well, it will eliminate multiple stresses. You won't be stressing about upcoming surgery, and you won't be stressing about the potential for cancer. And it sounds like it will resolve a long history of pain.

Hand in there, and take care of yourself. Lots of hugs!

Hi

It sounds like you are having a hyst for the same reason as me. I was being investigated for ovarian cancer in feb, turned out to be an ovarian cyst but because I have also had breast cancer they had to be sure as I was getting spotting and due to the tamoxifen I was also at a higher risk of developing endo cancer. Anyway, during the examination my cervix started to bleed and he decided to do a smear even tho I had a normal result only the year before. My result came back as moderate dyskariosis and I was referred to colposcopy where they did a biopsy that actually came back as ungraded favouring high so they put me at least CIN 3 - cin 3 being pre cancer and anything more being cancer. They didn't offer me a loop or cone, he recommended a total hysterectomy. I agreed, as I could not stand to have another cancer scare it really took over my life. I was so scared that I wouldn't live to see my children grow up.
I will admit that as my date approached I started to panic and think maybe I was being over treated and I also started thinking whether I'd cope with surgical menopause as I'm not allowed to have hrt.
I'm happy to say my op went very well, I had laparoscopic surgery and have 3 tiny incisions and two inside my belly button. I am nearly 3 weeks post op, I have no pain and only took pain med for 1 week. I did suffer from very bad wind pains and was also very constipated which wasn't pleasant but that is really my only complaint as well as the tiredness. I can honestly say my experience has been no where near as bad as I expected. Surgical menopause doesnt seem to have kicked in yet and I feel exactly the same as I did before surgery. I had everything removed so for me I don't now have the risk of ovarian/cervical/endo or uterine cancer yay!!!!
I hope I've helped a little and I'm sorry you've been through so much but you really need to think about your health too and peace of mind is a wonderful thing x

I am scheduled for surgery Thurs morning and I too started with a fever with congestion and was put on a z pack and other meds to keep asthma at bay. Every time I get sick it tends to get into my chest and linger and linger... I would suggest calling your doctor and letting him know so he can get you on track to be able to keep your scheduled surgery date. I think you should do what you can to keep everything as scheduled. Women too often put off their own health to care for others and it sounds like you are putting everyone else in front of yourself. Once you get through your surgery that will be one less worry for you. I wish you the best!

CIN 3 - thats what it was called! Thanks! I just got my authorisation, so it seems the op is going ahead. My cold symptoms are subsiding with the meds i'm taking and the gynea is not worried about the broken wrist.

I thought I was stressing earlier with getting the auth, the cold and the wrist, but now that I have the green light from everyone, I very worried. And I'm crying, something I have never done before an op. And I have had two c-sections, a back operation and two abdominal hernia repairs. Don't know why I am like this. Luckily my husband just informed me that he is taking a whole weeks leave for next week!

I now have a silly question. How is this going to affect our sex life? Not emotionally, but physically?

I'm not yet 3 weeks post op so have been cleared for sex yet, my post op appt is 27th June but I've read here that 6 weeks seems to be the earliest. I can tell you tho that during the first week after my op I had two 'O' in my sleep!!! I'm eager to find out what it feels like tho I am nervous too as this was one of my main concerns before surgery. I still feel like me tho so I'm hoping there won't be any problems!!

Sex is great. So is life at 8 weeks. The waiting is the hardest part. You are almost there. You will be sooooo happy after you recover. Hugs and good luck.

LiquidIce!!

I'm sorry to hear that you are frustrated with all the postponements. I hope your mother is doing much better and your cold resolves itself soon!!

I also had CIN 3 (and CIS carcinoma in situ), but that was not the reason for my hysterectomy. Have you discussed other options with your for treating this? I had a cone biopsy done which worked well for me as it does for many others with this issue. I know it is not the best option for everyone with CIN 3, but it is definitely worth checking into before you go through with the hysterectomy. I am sure you were terrified even hearing the word "pre-cancer" and that is completely understandable. I just hope you will explore other options since once it is done, that is it, there is no undoing it. You are so young and I would hate for you to have to go through something like this if there were other treatments out there available to you.

If you have already discussed alternatives with your doctor and hysterectomy is still the best way to go for you that is understandable as well. You asked how it would affect sex....for me, sex has improved dramatically. I had painful intercourse before my hyster (from endo), so the fact that I am pain free makes the whole experience much better. Many women worry about orgasms after removal of the cervix, but I have not had any issues with mine whatsoever. In fact, my orgasms are better than ever, are more frequent, and WAY more intense. It is different for everyone, so hopefully if you do end up with the hyster, you will be like me and be able to enjoy a long, healthy, and fantastic sex life for many years to come.

The feelings you're experiencing are perfectly normal, sweetie. That doesn't make it any better, but you're not going crazy or anything.

As others have mentioned, there are options available for treatment of CIN3 which hopefully your doctor has discussed with you in the process of deciding on your treatment. For cases of gyn pre-cancer/cancer, we recommend consulting a gyn/onc (gynecological oncologist) if possible. They're the experts, and it's always a good idea to get a second opinion prior to major procedures, anyway.

You're also more than welcome to post on our Cancer Concerns forum, if you'd like. We cover everything from abnormal paps to actual cancer, and the ladies there will help however they can.

Take some deep breaths (it really does help!). You CAN do this!


monami