Hi there,
Posting here for the first time and to introduce myself. I had squamous cell cervical cancer in 2013 treated with a radical hysterectomy.
Last month I had an unrelated CT scan in hospital where they identified a 3cm lump in my left pelvic wall which they think is a recurrence of my cervical cancer 12 years on
I'm still in shock I think!
Last week I had a laparoscopy so they could remove and biopsy it but unfortunately the adhesions and scar tissue from the hysterectomy are too severe.
So I'm now waiting to find out if I'll have a much larger open surgery to get to the lump, or if I'll need radiotherapy instead.
I had a PET scan too and the lump was active but thankfully no where else lit up.
All I know is it's small, contained, unreachable and probably a recurrence unless it's my ovary but my Ca-125 was really low so they don't think it's that.
Just wondering if anyone else has been through similar?
I'm gutted Jo's Trust is no longer active as that was a lifeline last time I was diagnosed.
Hi JoH_1982 and welcome to our group.
I’m really sorry to read that you think you have a recurrence, especially after such a long time-what a shock for you.
I had a recurrence of my stage 2b cervical cancer in 2019, but I had been through chemo and radiotherapy as surgery wasn’t possible at my stage. At least the option of radiotherapy is potentially there for you as you’ve not had it before in that area.
My recurrence was found 9 months after my treatment ended, which was 6 months after an mri scan gave me a NED result (no evidence of disease), and it really was a huge shock. I had an mri scan, biopsy under anaesthetic to confirm it was cancer, and a petscan where the recurrent tumour lit up at the original site on my cervix.
My surgeon attempted a salvage hysterectomy, but I had a lot of adhesions and scar tissue from the radiotherapy so it wasn’t possible. Luckily, because the cancer was contained, I was able to have a much larger surgery which did remove the cancer with clear margins. That was almost 5 years ago now.
Do you know how long you’ll have to wait to find out what the plan is going forward? It’s horrible to be waiting but I hope you’ll find out soon.feel free to ask any questions in the group-I hope you’ll find it helpful and supportive to be with us.
Sarah xx
I had no symptoms of my recurrence either! They tell you to report pain and/or bleeding but I had none of that.
I was lucky that something small was spotted at one of my follow up appointments, as I wouldn’t have been scheduled to have any more scans as I didn’t have any symptoms.
I found it harder to cope with news of my recurrence than I did with my original diagnosis-it took time to process what it might mean for me, whereas at my first diagnosis I was focused on getting through the treatment and my consultant saying they were treating to cure me.
A new puppy will keep you busy! I adopted another cat yesterday and she’s been hiding under a bed ever since except for waking me up with miaowing at 1am last night!
Take care as you recover from your laparoscopy and I’m always around to chat.
Sarah xx
