Good morning!
well.. after reading a lot of your stories it has made me more determined to beat this!
Since falling pregnant June 2021 I had constant bleeding and discharge and pelvic pain all throughout pregnancy, went into labour 6 weeks early and symptoms continued after giving birth.
12 months later I have finally been listened too and 3 weeks ago was referred by GP to gynaecologist.
internal examination done and biopsy was done.. suspected cancer. A week later I had MRI scan then on Monday I received all results. Stage 3 cervical cancer. 6cm in size and has spread to one lymph node.
yesterday I received a call from Christie hospital my first appointment is today!! I should receive treatment plan then we can get started. Any advice, tips, people’s stories all welcome and it would definitely help me through this.
thank you 
Hi She111 and welcome to the group!
You've moved quickly from initial diagnosis to treatment plan, so that’s a good thing-although it’s a difficult diagnosis to get when you’ve got a new baby.
A number of ladies in the group have had a stage 3 diagnosis and have come successfully through treatment, which is likely to be the same as most of us - chemotherapy and radiation together. Some ladies have added information to their profile, and you can read their stories by clicking on their name. I see you have added your information which is very helpful for people to see how you’ve arrived here and what investigations and treatment you’ve had. I see you are still waiting for your petscan, which will be the final result needed to confirm your treatment plan. It takes a while when you go for this scan-you need to sit quietly in a room for around an hour as the radioactive tracer they inject works its way round your body, but the scan itself does not take very long.
I hope some of the other ladies will come along soon for a chat-we have lots of experience of the treatments used and hopefully can give you lots of useful tips and advice based on those experiences. You seem to have a determined and positive attitude which I believe is a great help in dealing with this whole thing, so that’s a good place to start!
We are a supportive group, and please feel free to ask any questions you’d like to. Everything is a whirlwind of appointments at the start, but I think we all found things easier when we got our plan and started on treatment. You can focus then on getting through what you need to do. Take things a day at a time, and don’t look too far ahead would be my main advice at this point. Just deal with each day as it comes along-I found daily radiotherapy very tiring, but others don’t, so it really is a very individual experience.
Anyway, you are very welcome to be with us, and I hope you’ll keep in touch and let us know how you’re getting on.
Sarah xx
Oh it is a complete whirlwind at the beginning of all of this! Planning scan is a doddle but try to make sure you have an empty bowel for that. I got sent home from mine with a box of suppositories and had to go back. Very inconvenient.
The B will be brachytherapy which is internal radiation. Lots of ladies in the group have had this. Different types depending on equipment available at the hospital, but I hope some can come along and reassure you about this. It’s the final blast to the cancer!
Sarah xx
That’s the B word I couldn’t remember thank you! Yes need to have that in week 6 and week 7.
thank you so much for writing back! It’s such a help! I will look forward to hearing from other ladies too
I hope the other ladies will pitch in. I couldn’t have the brachytherapy through no fault of my own, but I wish I’d been been able to have it.
Sarah xx
Hi She111
What a whirlwind of appointments it is at the beginning of this- so many tests and things to go through, but each day is bringing you one day closer to getting your treatment started. January is not too far away, and once you start you’ll be focused on getting through it and being done. Keeping as positive as you can about everything definitely helps.
Sarah xx
