34 and the early menopause

Hi Wags28 and welcome to the group!

I wanted to say hello, although I’m sorry I can’t help with your questions as I was diagnosed originally with a higher stage of cancer where surgery was not an option, and was also post menopausal.

However there are other ladies in the group who have had this surgery and also had to make decisions on egg freezing so let’s hope they’ll come along and share their experiences with you.

You could have a look through previous posts or put relevant words in the search bar at the top of the page by the magnifying glass to see if there are any posts you can identify with or other ladies you could connect with.

You can also click on members’ names to read their story if they have completed their story on their profile. You can add your own details to your profile if you’d like to by clicking on your own name. It can be helpful for others to read how you found yourself here and what treatment you are facing or have had done and it saves you repeating yourself in threads if other members can see your story.

I hope you’ll find the group useful and supportive and that we can help you from our own experiences. Please feel free to ask as many questions as you’d like, and use the group as a source of support going forward.

Sorry I can’t help personally, but I just wanted you to know you are very welcome to be with us.

Sarah xx

Hi,

Have you spoke with your consultant about preserving your ability to have your own baby? 

Wheres your cancer? Just your cervix or else where also? 

The reason I ask is I'm stage 2 cervical and began as listed as a radical hysterectomy and am not listed as a radical tracelectomy instead. My treatment plan keeps changing and I ended up have a 2nd LLetz when I went to my appointment last week. If that successful I'll only need surgery for lymph node removal and I'll still be able to have more children if I wish. It's worth exploring all the options with them. 

Recovery is dependant on open surgery and keyhole or laproscopic aalso.im open surgery only so recovery for me will be around 3months no matter what operation they do. 

Hello,

I am 36 and had a radical hysterectomy hoping to preserve my ovaries however they later found I had cancer in the lymph nodes so I ended up having radiotherapy, chemotherapy and brachytherapy.

Unfortunately these treatments killed my ovaries pushing me into early menopause. I have no idea about preserving eggs as to be honest I didn't want anymore children. Me and my husband had made the decision we were one and done  before I was ever diagnosed.

As for hysterectomy recovery, your age will hopefully help your recovery. Ask lots of questions before surgery so you know exactly what to expect. The first few days in hospital were rough for me but because of the general anaesthetic not agreeing with me. The actual scar and tummy pain wasnt too bad and I was only on paracetamol and ibuprofen after a day. It differs for everyone though.

I'm now almost 6 months later and forget I've had a hysterectomy. My body healed around 6 weeks and by about 12 weeks I was jogging again. You have to take it very careful afterwards and don't push yourself at all. As with most things, each day gets easier.

My menopause symptoms aren't too bad at the moment and strike everyone differently. I get hot flushes quite a lot, sometimes have trouble sleeping and feel achey. The main one for me though is the forgetfulness and brain fog. I'm not yet on HRT but hoping this will help me once I am. I can still work full time doing a challenging job though.

Hi 

I was 36 when I had my diagnosis and treatment and was desperate for children so did everything to preserve my fertility. Originally I was diagnosed with stage 1 so they offered to do a radical trachelectomy, which would have allowed me to still have children naturally.

Unfortunately my cancer had spread so I was "upgraded" to stage 3c, so chemo/ radio/ brachy was only way however I chose to go through ivf to harvest my eggs before treatment so I had options ahead.

I actually did 2 rounds as the 1st round didn't give many embryos- I know this isn't for everyone but having been trying for a family for over a year already this was engrained on my mind, I agreed it with my oncologist after pushing her. I think it's best to talk through your options with your oncology teams and discuss realistic risks. I had a scan between 1st and 2nd round of ivf to see how much my cancer was growing, to determined if we had time. 

Obviously I can't carry my own child, we are hoping to go through surrogacy which again isn't for everyone, just depends what you want.

Feel free to ask any more questions, I will help where I can.