So, I went to the GP about strange heavy bleeding on 22/08.
She didn't like the look of my cervix and sent me straight up to the gynae ward at the hospital, where they took a biopsy and some blood. She told me it looked like cancer and my tests would be marked as urgent. I got an appointment to get my results on the 03/09, the same day as my CT scan.
The Dr explained that it was indeed CC and that they think it's about 2cm big and still in the early stages because my only symptom has been the bleeding. He didn't say what stage I was because I still have an MRI to go for and my CT scan had been done that day. He said I will probably need a hysterectomy (which I am completely fine with) or maybe chemo/radio.
He said that it was a good sign that I hadn't had any pain, but what type of pain are they looking for? I've had back problems for many years and sometimes I can get a bit sore in general from the fact that I'm quite overweight. I'm scared incase I've dimissed something important as my general niggles. :/
Sorry for your diagnosis, before i was diagnosed, i used to get a lot of lower back pain & low down pelvic pain, i don't really know what pain the doctor would mean
At this point I wouldnt worry (hard I know) about the back pain as the mri and ct are both detailed scans and should pick up anything thats worrying. To make you feel better my last ct scan picked up a 4mm change in my lung so they can see really small changes and I am now having the appropriate treatment.
Take it one day at a time and you should be assigned a specialist nurse who you can phone at any time if you are worried.
So sorry to hear about your diagnosis, you seem to be taking it in your stride which is great. I second what Anna Sparkles has said to you, the CT and MRI scans will pick up anything that isn't as it should be so you don't need to worry about failing to tell the doctor about the odd symptom here or there. We all have different pain thresholds anyway and what some women would regard as significant pain others would regard as part of life.
It's a bit of a relief to know not to make myself worry about that. I have an appointment next week for my scan results and another appointment for the thursday after that for my MRi (i think). I'm feeling weridly calm and chilled out about it, probably because I did all my panicking and stuff the day my GP sent me straight to hospital. We were all a bit of a mess that week, but we all seem to have come to terms with it. The worst bit now is waiting on these scan results to see what's happening in there. It's the waiting that really hikes up my anxiety. :/
So, thanks again for your reassurance. It's good just to talk to other people who are going through the same thing.
i have just come home from hospital and your message caught my eye. I too am looking at a rather sudden diagnosis of cc. I had a loop yesterday, and my consultant is rushing through a ct scan and an MRI, hopefully in the following week. I am terrified. I have come to terms with having the cc (or perhaps it still just feels surreal!) but I am so worried about what stage it is at and if it has spread.
It seems to be waiting around for results/not knowing how bad it is that is the worst bit, it's worrying me too. I had my MRI today and a 2nd CT scan. My Dr had to cancel my appt. last Thursday because we were still waiting on me getting my MRI and she had nothing new to tell me. I'm hoping that my appt. this thursday is for my results, and I can finally find out what my treatment plan will be. The fact that I had a 2nd CT scan is slightly worrying me though, but maybe the last one didn't come out very well.
I found out why they did a 2nd CT scan. Apparently it picked up my breast cysts and they didn't seem to know that they were already in my notes. So I had to get poked and scanned again to make sure they're still the same ones I had 4 years ago (which it turns out they are).
My treatment plan is - 5 weeks of Radio/Chemo followed by 2 weeks of Brachy.
I had a PET scan on monday to check the nodes, then on thursday it's my Radio planning scan & tats. I start treatment on the 14th of Oct and will be starting a new post over on the treatment forum.
Yep, I know it's utterly stupid! My cysts and their biopsy results and ultrasound placements from 2010 are all in my notes, A quick flick through or a wee question would've cleared it up in a second. Anyway, according to the "We'll just re-check those" ultrasound scans, my cysts are the same ones as before and they have shrunk in size. I waited 40 mins today to hear the Dr. say that, by the way!
I'm actually quite glad I'm not getting a hysterectomy now. My mum had one last year for a different reason and she's been suffereing with back pain ever since.
Did you get low dose chemo? How long does that actually take per session? My Dr said I'd be getting low dose chemo so my hair will be fine and most side effects should be on the mild side.
Yes I had low dose Cisplatin so kept my hair. Each session took about 4 hours actually hooked up to the drip. That breaks down loosely into a couple of hours on some kind of saline solution, then about an hour of Cisplatin, followed by a final hour back on the saline. This is to make sure that your bladder and kidneys are working hard to keep the toxic Cisplatin flushing through the system. It may interest you to know that Cisplatin includes Platinum - very expensive! More amusingly, at one session my drip was going so slow that I was running really late. I still had my radiotherapy blast to have in another part of the hospital and was exhausted and just wanted to be out of there. The drip was hurting and since it was just fluids, as opposed to anything nasty and toxic I asked them if I would be allowed to just swallow the bottle. They let me! LOL.
Prior to the four hours on a drip they would take a blood test to check I was strong enough to take it. I would then have to sit around for about an hour for the blood test results to arrive back in the chemo department. I don't know if it works the same way in Britain but basically, with the blood test, the four hours on a drip and then the quick blast of radio I was in the hospital from approx 8am until approx 5pm on each chemo session. There was a lot of sitting around waiting to be called.
Yes that does help Tivoli, thanks! I think here my GP does the blood test the day before (I hope they give me priority as my GP is really bad for getting appointments within in a decent time scale.) I had my planning scan and mini tattoo dots today. I think I drank too much water trying to get a full bladder for them and was absolutely bursting by the time the scan was done! Luckily the toilet was just opposite the scanning room!
My Dr also told me the results from my PET scan I had at the start of the week - no cancer anywhere else, and clear lymphnodes! I'm so pleased! :D
