I don’t mind answering, but it might be a bit shocking to anyone else reading this. (Anyone who is squeamish should turn away now)
My story is a bit dramatic and a little bit unusual – most women get diagnosed after unusual bleeding, particularly post-menopausal. I hadn’t reached menopause yet, though I was starting to have very irregular bleeding, including times when it was ridiculously heavy, though I was in denial for a long time – thinking if I ignored it long enough, it would go away (very stupid of me).
On one particular day I woke up haemorrhaging and realised there was something seriously wrong, so I went into the emergency department at the nearest hospital. By the time I arrived, I had lost so much blood, my heart couldn’t cope and I needed to be resuscitated. Fortunately I had made it to the hospital before I reached the crisis point – if you are going to have an emergency, the best place to be is sitting on a bed in the ED with a nurse standing next to you. The rest of that day is a bit of a blur, but I needed a blood transfusion & I was rushed into surgery for investigation & a biopsy; before spending the next couple of days in ICU.
A few days later the pathology results showed it was a grade 2 carcinoma and they referred me to a gynaecologist. It took a week to see him and he took one look at the pathology report and referred me to a gynaecological oncologist. It took three weeks to get an appointment with the oncologist and I had the surgery two weeks after that. Fortunately I haven’t needed chemo, but I did have 25 radiation sessions. There is still a question on whether my lymph nodes were affected or not, so I’m going to need close monitoring for a few years.
It is scary when you are still waiting to find out what’s happening, but even if it is the worst case scenario and it is cancer, most women with this type of cancer can be treated successfully. The biggest advantage is the uterus itself. It’s actually quite a strong muscle and it manages to keep most of the cancer contained, meaning surgery is often all that is needed.
The surgery itself wasn’t too bad, without too much pain. I had four nights in hospital, but many women are able to leave after a day or two – they kept me in for four nights because I live alone. If you have support at home, you probably won’t need to stay that long. I was a public patient at a public hospital, but I can't fault how well I was treated.
Hope all goes well for you. It is OK to be scared, but we have some good medical services in this country and you can get through this.
