Hi all,
im new here so hi to everyone..
im Charlotte, i am 26 and i live in Wales with my partner of 10 years and my beautiful 3 kids, 8,7 & 5.
I am going to start at the very beginning most information will probably be completely irrelevant but I'd prefer to share my whole experience to see if anybody has had similar issues that could help me understand what is going on with me as im literally so sick of feeling ill and waiting for the doctors and appointments is draining and quite frankly i have had enough.
Basically, all my issues started just over a year ago, i started getting pelvic pain and lower back pain, they put it down to a kidney infection and that was that.
3 weeks later I was rushed into A&E with severe pain, felt like labour, tuned out i had a burst ovarian cyst, they said it was large and it caused internal bleeding. i had to have an emergency laparoscopy to stop the bleeding. this was august last year and i feel like everything has gone downhill from there.
A couple of months after this the pelvic pain came back with shooting pain going down my thighs and chronic back pain, they started me on Gabapentin for the pain and it has helped to an extent, but when it comes to my period the pain is severe and can make me bed ridden, my periods are always very heavy to the point where i have to change my pad every half hour otherwise i leak through. i bleed in-between periods and they are very painful, I get cramps opening my bowels and going for a wee i also get frequent Uti's.
I have been going to my doctors for months saying how much pain i have been in and the impact it is having on my mental health along with the effect it is having on my family and my young kids. they referred me to gynaecology; this was over 6 months ago and not heard anything.
They advised me to do some swabs so i did and it came back with i was positive for strep-B, they weren't concerned because normally it isn't a concern unless you are pregnant.
Recently my symptoms have been getting worse, i have been feeling nauseous on and off, very fatigued, bloating, pelvic pain, lower back pain, losing weight without trying. I have been going very lightheaded, to the point i stood up the other day and nearly passed out so i rang the doctor and said i have been extremely heavy on my period for 8 days straight and that i have not been feeing right for weeks and it's getting worse, so he gave me a tablet to stop my bleeding and he said he wanted to do a cervical examination just to see if there is going on instead of waiting for gynaecology to do it.
so, i waited for the bleeding to stop and booked in for a cervical examination with my doctor
I went in on Monday for the cervical examination and the doctor was very gentle and explained what was going to happen, he did it and he sat me down and said that he has found something, he said my cervix was inflamed and had cells on the cervix and said that it looked like a large cervical ectropion but he couldn't be sure as the cells and the redness was covering the whole front of my cervix. He said he couldn't rule out that it could be cervical cancer and that it needs to be urgently looked at and that i needed to see a specialist and i need to have tests.
He said he has urgently referred me to a specialist and that i will be seen in less than 2 weeks.
I suppose i just want answers as this has been a long time coming, i knew there was something wrong as i haven't felt well in months, I'm tired all the time.
I feel like i should be prepared for the worst just in case and find out what are the next steps?
Has anybody been diagnosed with cervical cancer that's had similar experiences to me?
thank you all, in advance!!
Charlotte x
Hi Charlotte and welcome to the group!
Oh my goodness, you’ve been having an awful time of it-I’m sorry to read all that you’ve been going through. I haven’t had anything similar to you prior to my own diagnosis, as I was post menopausal, so I hope you don’t mind me replying to say hello.
The doctor has done the right thing in referring you to gynaecology where they’ll be able to take a closer look at your cervix and do further tests. Cervical ectropion isn’t cancer, but it can cause bleeding-on contact usually. It’s where the cells from inside the cervix grow on the outside and it does look red.
When you go to your referral appointment the gynaecologist will want to hear all about your symptoms first, and then you’ll get examined. He/she may want to do a hysteroscopy which is a tiny camera up inside your womb, and may want to take a biopsy from the inflamed area to check for abnormal cells. I didn’t find either of these procedures painful at all, but did have bleeding afterwards. But I was bleeding anyway so that wasn’t a surprise!
You should be seen quickly which is the main thing. Sooner you are seen, the sooner you can get an answer to what is going on.
Please keep in touch and let us know how you get on. Meantime I hope some of the other ladies in the group might join in the chat and tell you their experiences. Feel free to use the group to ask any questions or share anything you need to. We are here to help and support you through whatever is going on. Hopefully it won’t be cancer, but if it is, then we have a lot of combined experience of this and can help with our own experiences.
I hope your referral appointment comes through quickly so that you are not waiting too much longer for answers.
Sarah xx
Hi Charlotte
You're very welcome to be with us here and we will help and support you as much as we can. Keeping busy gives you less time to sit and worry so it’s good to try and be as distracted as possible. Angela made a very good point about it being difficult to hand over control, but when you know what’s going on I think you regain some control as you are focusing on getting through everything. I’m doing ok thank you!
Sarah xx
Actually Angela it was really weird for me in terms of NOT worrying so I was different to you-but then again I was very naive (also not to be recommended!).
I went off to my referral appointment thinking they’d find a simple explanation for my bleeding, and never had the word cancer in my head at all. Even when he said he found a lesion and was taking a biopsy it still never clicked! I can’t believe I was so dense!!
He told me I couldn’t go on my holiday that was booked for the next week and to come back for my results. I actually didn’t spend the week worrying, thought I was going to be fine and went in for my results on my own. I remember thinking I wonder if there are abnormal cells on my cervix, and that was it!
So it was a shock to be told I had cancer, but at least my worrying only started then and my stupidity had saved me a week of worrying waiting for results. 
Sarah xx
Honestly cancer never even entered my head and I’ve no idea why, since both my parents died from it. My partner said they knew it would be cancer so wanted to come in with me for the results, but I was like- no, I’ll be fine! Crazy looking back on it now.
Sarah xx
