Hell of a Day

Hi Queenvic and welcome to our group!

You must have had a shock at your appointment, but you’ve come to the right place to be with people who will completely understand how you feel.

I was in the same kind of situation except for post menopausal bleeding-went to be checked and the doctor spotted a lesion on my cervix. So, same as you, biopsy and then scan, 

The worst time is waiting for results and a diagnosis, then finding out the next steps, but things do get a bit easier once we know what’s happening. I only had a week to wait for biopsy results, and then another week for my scans, but I’m sure my doctor knew immediately when he examined me that he was looking at cancer, although he didn’t say anything at the time-just said the results would be back in a week. 

So, for the moment you’re stuck with the wait, and everyone finds that really difficult, but the process of testing, diagnosis and treatment plan all involves a lot of waiting unfortunately. Different tests are required to make an accurate diagnosis and treatment plan, so biopsy results and scan results go to a multi disciplinary team meeting to be discussed. This is made up of the various different specialists involved, radiologist, oncologists etc. 

We have a lovely group here of supportive and encouraging women, all at different stages of this-from just been diagnosed, to going through treatment, to coming out the other side.  We will help support you with advice and our experience to hopefully make things a bit easier for you, so please keep in touch and let us know how things are going.

Sarah xx

Hi Sarah 

Thankyou so much for getting back to me. I am so worried about my kids more than I am me. 
Do I tell them now what’s going on or wait until I know exactly what is going on. 
I think my doctors know as unfortunately they looked extremely worried and they arranged to to biopsy straight away and slotted me in between other patients. 
but they obviously can’t say until everything is done. 
I am just frightened and scared as I’m a single mum. 
I hope my results come back quickly. 
Will they give my biopsy results as soon as they get them? 

thank you so much for your support 

victoria xxx

Hi Victoria

Personally, I wouldn’t tell your kids anything just at the moment. My daughters were adults, but in order not to worry them, I waited until I had the results of my biopsy and had my treatment plan. Then I was able to reassure them that although I had cancer, I had a plan to treat it it and my team were treating it to cure me. 

I think doctors do have a pretty good idea what they’re seeing, but it’s only the biopsy which will confirm for sure. My gynae told me after he had taken the biopsy to make an appointment for a week’s time and he would have the results back then, which he did. I went for the appointment to get the results and he told me I had cervical cancer, and then referred me for scans. He did think I would have a radical hysterectomy, but the mri showed that this would not be an option, unfortunately.

If your lesion is 5cm, and is cancer, then this would be too large for surgery, because 4cm is the usual cut off point, but it will depend on what scans show. You will have the mri first which will give size and location, and then either a Ct scan or pet scan to check for any spread. This is assuming that it is cancer of course! 

It’s very frightening and scary to be where you are right now, but if this is cancer, treatments are usually very effective and successful. Hopefully some of the other ladies who have recently been diagnosed and are going through treatment will come along and tell you how they have got on which should be a good encouragement. We’re a good bunch here and all root for each other!  

Sarah xx

Hi Victoria,

The wait and what you have described was similar to myself I thought the bleeding was due to my coil I was diagnosed in November and have just finished all of my treatment. My tumor was just below 4cm and where it was positioned I could not have surgery.

My son is 13 and found it difficult to know when to tell him but I found waiting until I knew for definite what it was and what the treatment plan was going to be really helped and that is when I told him and I waiting until after Christmas. Telling him was really tough but I made sure I did not go into great detail and let him know he could ask me, his dad or any of his family questions if he needed to or just to talk when he needed too.  I appreciate everyone is different. Do you have any family or friends to support you as confiding in them first may help you? Again that can be tough so as Sarah has said groups like this one can be support too for you.

The waiting is really hard and at the moment you feel in limbo and all the what ifs go through you mind. At the moment there is not much more you can do I found doing nice things helped a little to distract my mind. Xx

Hi Victoria.  I'm so sorry you find yourself here but hope that what you are dealing with isn't cancer.  Either way, the stage you are going through at the moment is the very worst part, waiting for the results of scans.  As Sarah said, there will probably be a Pet scan or CT scan if they see anything on the MRI.  I was initially staged after my MRI and then had a PET scan to ensure that nothing showed up anywhere else.  I looked at it from the point of view that they need to know absolutely what they are dealing with so they can treat all of it.  Better that than to miss anything.  I have four grown up boys and chose to wait until I had my staging to tell them.  Good luck to you and we are all here with you.   xxx

Thank you so much for your information and it helps so much talking to you xx

Thank you so much for your help and support xx

Thankyou Sarah for your advice and support. 
I do appreciate it. 
Xx

It’s worrying me a lot as we have horses and I’m a single mum now after a trauma last year. We are now just the 3 of us. 
I just pray I can keep everything going for them as the horses are such an important part of our lives especially the children. 
they compete at top level across the uk. 
my mum and dad help but they are in there 70s now. 
it’s just frightening isn’t it. Xxx

It’s so scary and so much potentially to be worried about, but one of the best pieces of advice I ever read was to take one day at a time and not look too far into the future. You are in this awful limbo right now because you don’t know anything, and because of that you can’t plan or anticipate anything. It messes with your head and makes you feel out of control. That will get better.

Until you get a diagnosis you can’t anticipate what may lie ahead, but you also can’t change it. So focus on first of all getting through the wait for results. Try to keep busy and distracted, please don’t use Google to give yourself a diagnosis, and keep chatting with us because we know what this is like and will all be here for you.

Sarah xx