Newly diagnosed

Hey Em, so sorry to hear of your diagnosis. I am thinking of you. 
I am waiting for biopsy results, they took it 3 weeks ago and I have been contacted this week and asked to go for an appointment with the consultant next Monday 26. Putting on a brave face and saying how positive I am but underneath I am so worried. I can’t say I know how you feel but I hope you kick that cervical cancer into touch. If you just want a sounding block I’m free.

Col

Hi Em,

The rollercoaster of emotions is really hard and harder to explain to family and friends. I was the same and could be laughing with my husband one minute and then crying my eyes out the next. 

If you were given a nurse at your hospital to talk to, please call them if you need someone to chat to. Or if you do not definitely call Macmillan or a Maggies centre depending on where you live. I didn’t do this until after my treatment began and on reflection I needed that emotional support from someone who truly understood what a cancer diagnosis meant far earlier. They will be able to talk you through the feelings you are having as they completely understand how cancer changes your life and your outlook on the future. They can share words of wisdom that your family perhaps cannot and you can cry or rant as much as you need.

The initial wait until you have your MRI results and treatment plan is absolutely the worst bit and you are already a week through!! I had to wait 3 before my first meeting to discuss my treatment. Not too much longer for you I hope.

Please do not feel isolated. There are lots of us currently on this journey with you xx

Hi Col,

Thank you for your message. It is tough at the moment. I think waiting for results and the not knowing was hard so I can relate to you completely. Please do let me know how it goes and same for you, if you needed a sounding board let me know - I think it can feel quite isolating. 

Em. 

Hi Kate,

Thank you so much for your message and your advice. You have summarised exactly how I feel at the moment! I can be having conversations about totally unrelated topics and suddenly start crying! I do feel like I'm still processing, some of my family are keeping me company often and I think they're worried about leaving me by myself but I've reached the point where I may need that so I can process and rest, it all feels very intense. I will take your advice with Macmillan nurse and I think I should ring her this week just to speak about how I feel, I think I feel a bit like I'm bothering her and that she must have people who are in a much worse situation than I am! I'm half way there if my wait is 3 weeks too! That's not so bad. Can I ask you a question? When you discussed treatment plans were you given options? 

Em. 

Hi Em,

Having people with you can be a soothing influence but you are right you also need time to process everything. I remember just being constantly exhausted the entire time. 

I thought the same as you and didn’t contact my nurse until I reached a point where I was so anxious and upset I was struggling to function normally. I obviously had some very dark thoughts that I didn’t want to offload on my family but needed to express them. They will absolutely not tell you you’ve wasted their time. Once I finally did call and got it all off of my chest it helped me to accept what was happening to me.

Prior to my treatment meeting I had a really lengthy discussion with my nurse that my priority was to preserve my fertility if at all possible. That in turn was fed back to my team and that meant my treatment options were tailored in that direction. You will always be given options, your doctor will explain to you what they think is the best option but you do get a say. There are no guarantees - so in my case the aim was to preserve my fertility but I had it explained to me that at any point this could be revoked if it meant it would bring my survival in question. 

kate x