Hi,
I had a trachelectomy in January following a 1B2 squamous cell cervical cancer diagnosis. I'm thankfully recovering well and aside from significant fertility challenges (male factor), am feeling okay about things. Like most people in a similar situation, I do have an ongoing worry re: recurrence if if there are any lingering cancer cells that the surgery didn't get / it spread and we didn't realise - but I know we are managing that as best as we can through the regular scans and examinations.
The thing that's been keeping me awake and I'm struggling to find much information on is what happens if I have a new or ongoing HPV infection. In that case, surely there is a risk that a 'new' cancer could form if my body can't clear that infection? I feel like having had CC I'm surely more at risk of this - my body obviously didn't succeed in clearing an HPV infection previously (hence the tumour!) and my immune system is not as strong as it used to be with all that it's been through lately (surgery, IVF, stress). So I worry that there is a chance this could all happen again at any time, and potentially in a new area that's harder to detect/treat?
Not sure if others have recieved any guidance on this - Iogically I think if it was a significant risk then oncologists would be talking more about it, so probably nothing to get too worried about, but would really appreciate any words of wisdom!
Thanks x