micro cancer

My name is Karen, 1 month ago I had abnormal pap smear, the nurse called and told me on a friday afternoon that they had found cancer and I had an appointment for the following monday for leep, what in the hell I thought!!! I was in shock, my throat was in my stomach, I ask her am I going to die? her response I do not know, I hung up and had the worst weekend of my life.I went to the Docters office on monday and the dr. decided to do cone bio on following friday, need less to say I was sick all week, i really did not understand!! I had cone bio done and had to wait 2 weeks for results, which were micro cancer 3 centermeters deep,3 patholgists agreed, simple hyster she says, but wait would like to have oncolgy gyn look also- two weeks later to yesterday dr. say oncolgy gyn wants cold knife cone bio done tommorrow. says edges are cloudy from laser and wants to be sure not deeper than 3 centmeters or will need radical hyster- what is that! sorry so long and many details left out, but Iam scared to death.
thanks for letting me vent
karen

Oh gee Karen , I just know how scared you are. It sure is a shock when you hear that cancer word. I know the stomach in the mouth feeling and like you are living in a dream.
But micro invasive is in such very early stages, it is good that they found it that early.

As for the receptionist saying she doesnt know if you are going to die, well she needs people skills is all I can say to that. :hair:

Drs like to check things out when margins arent clear, just to make sure that there arent any cells outside these margins. If they do find more cells elsewhere then they do a hysterectomy. In your case they are suggesting a radical hysterectomy. This is where they remove .. the uterus, cervix and both ovaries and tubes, sometimes they remove some lymphnodes to check them for cancer as well.

This is very scary to be going through but it is treatable. Is it possible to give the gyn a call to ease your mind?
Best of luck with the cone and let us know how it all goes.

Dont forget that we are here always for you. You dont
want to be alone during all of this, you need love and hugs, thats what we are for . Take good care and love to you always x x

Hi Karen,
Welcome!!
I am not at all familiar with this type of cancer, and Robyn has given you great information, and she knows of what she speaks. I just wanted to welcome you as well, and also say to please come post anytime. We all know how scary this is for you , and we will do what we can to ease your mind. It really does sound like its caught very early! Which is always a good sign!

I agree that receptionist should not have said that to you as well, it may be that she is not allowed to say an outright "no" when asked that question perhaps, and that was the best she could come up with, but she really should have said something like 'lets wait till the tests are in and not jump to conclusions." That would have been better in my opinion.
You take care, I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers Karen.
Hugs,
Maria

Oh {{{Karen}}}

So sorry to hear of everything you are going through. It sounds like your GYN/ONC is being very careful in requesting the cold-knife cone. And that's good. Making the right decisions is so important, and you need to have all of the information in order to do that. It sounds like you are in good hands. I'm certain that you must be very scared right now, which is a very normal response. Try writing down any questions you have as they pop up and keep that list going. Then when you talk to your doctor about your surgery you won't have to remember everything to ask--you'll have it all in front of you. And if you're meeting face-to-face, pull that list out right in front of the doc and don't let him/her leave until all the questions are answered. Information is power and all questions are good questions.

Here's another . Feel free to come and visit anytime. I would never have gotten through without all the help I found here.

HI Karen,
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis... but like the others said it is in the early stages and is treatable... what i cant understand is why in the world did the dr's office tell you on the phone... that is so harsh... the least they could have done is told you in person so if you had any questions you would have been able to ask the dr....
Keep us posted on your progress... now that it has been found you can work on getting it taken care of and getting well.....

It sounds like you got it early, and it IS treatable.

If it were me, I would be looking for another doctor after the way his office treated you, and perhaps your best bet would be to do all of your follow-ups with the onc/gyn. He and his office probably are more comfortable in dealing with this kind of stuff.

On his behalf however, I will have to say that most ob/gyns don't know what to say when faced with cancer. They deal with yearly exams and pregnant women. My obgyn is a friend, and he was in shock. Swore at me over the phone (I was standing at the lab where they had just finished a "baseline pelvic ultrasound" and found cancer.) He was sure I was witholding symptoms from him, and was really angry. (We had both just gone through the cancer death of a mutual friend, and spent many a night sitting in her hospital room feeling SO helpless, so I knew how he felt.)

He settled down by the next day, but promised he would not let me die on his shift.

At any rate, perhaps that nurse had some personal history with cancer also. As shocked as you were/are, others can be left standing with their pants around their ankles also.

Do keep us informed, and I hope there is better news in your future.

I just wanted to offer you a and let you know that you are NOT alone!!!!

Thank you all sooooo much!! i have my bio this morning,
thanks for your input, and most of all your support1111, I will reply later
karen

OOOh, sister, I know the feeling. You probably feel de railed.
I must say it takes a few days if not weeks to wrap your brain around all of this.

Right on starting page is a list of Trishes links- ( she deserves a huge chocolate cake for that).

Just gather as much info as you can handle. Sometimes you just have to read a bit at a time.

As long as you stay in contact with your doc you will not die.

I was just diagnosed with stage 1 cervical cancer. I have tried to get as much info and stay in touch with my ob. His office has been very supportive , especially him. Puts the human touch on posssible information and emotional overload.
I am sorry about the phone thing. I too dealt with an insensitive receptionist at an oncology office. BLOW THEM OFF. It is hard- but just deal with the doctor. Some people just don't think before they speak.

Good luck to you. I had the cold - cone. Sometimes it removes all of the questionable tissue. (Prayers for you).

DeEtte

Hi everyone,
well got the cold knife done a couple days ago, and little more pain than last one, feeling fine tho.2 wks for results.
I guess I will share something with you all- my dh lost his job in july and we decided not to go with cobra plan- we are healthy!!! we thought-6 ft and bullet proof- he will get another job quick and we will be insured again, wrong!!! - just happened to need tb test because I work with children and the nurse ask about when last pap was? I told her 15 years ago, but I feel great!!
she convinced me to get one , she was nice so I humored her and had one, by the way this was at the county hosp tb tests are only five dollars, and pap would be free because my dh out of work- to my horror 10 days later I got the earth shaking news, and my life has turned upside down, need less to say I am at the mercy of this county hosp, and have to go to their clinic the Dr they gave me seems wonderful same one each time , woman Dr.
which I like alot - we have to pay for all services with a discount, could not get insurance now if I tried. this is all new to us and we know we will be better people because of this, where's my button that says (ask me about my pap?) I feel so stupid!! I never knew anything about hpv,I have told all my friends and they did not know about it either, no cancer in my family, so I always thought I was safe, funny thing is I have have 4 pelvic exams in the last 45 days and they really are not bad! and i thought it was the worst thing they could do thats why I never had one in 15 years, Iam a preacher for yearly paps now!!!
I am so glad to have found this group, I am looking forward to your advice and comfort.
thanks. Karen