Hello everyone,
My mom got diagnosed with cervical cancer yesterday and I’m scared. My father passed away from lung cancer 2 years ago and I don’t want to see my mom go through a hard time like he did…
It started last September after her annual PAP. It came back positive with ASCUS and so she went in for a Colpo a month after that. The Colpo showed some abnormal cells but nothing concerning for cancer so they had her come back in 6 months for another PAP. Meanwhile she was experiencing daily spotting. At first I told my mom to not worry because this can happen after those types of procedures, but then when she kept mentioning how she was still spotting I became concerned given she’s post-menopausal. This then lead to her getting an ultrasound which showed her cervix was “bulky” appearing, referral to a gyn-oncologist, LEEP, and now being here.. pathology from the LEEP says grade 2… now my mom is set up for a radical hysterectomy in a few weeks. The gyn-oncologist said she will most likely need combo radiation and chemo… I hate that for her… chemo and radiation have such bad memories for us with dad. Does this sound like an appropriate treatment plan even though my mom’s getting a radical hysterectomy? The doctor also said you can get the PET scan before or after surgery… what do you guys think about that? I’m going to try to set it up before since we have 2 weeks from surgery but if in the chance I’m not able to, do you guys think it’s okay to get it after?
Well, thank you for listening and I’m so appreciative of any thoughts. I didn’t use support forums when we were taking care of my dad, but now it’s just me for my mom so I wanted to introduce myself and talk to others going through this..
Hi sunnyskies and welcome to our group.
I’m sorry to read about your mum’s diagnosis and appreciate you will be very worried.
I’m wondering if you are based in the UK? It’s not an issue if you aren’t but as Macmillan is a UK based charity our discussions are based on treatment in the UK.
You have said that the pathology from the LEEP identified grade 2 cells-were those grade 2 cancer cells? It would be usual here in the UK to receive a staging for the cancer, in addition to a cell grading, and these are two different numbers.
The grade of cells are given from 1 to 3 based on how cells look under the microscope, with grade 1 cells looking closest to normal cells, grade 2 looking a little more abnormal and grade 3 looking very abnormal.
The staging of the cancer refers to the size and location of the cancer and whether it has spread anywhere either local to the cervix or further away. These stages are stages 1,2,3 and 4.
You have said that your mum will be having a radical hysterectomy which would suggest it is a low stage cancer and has not spread, as surgery is normally only performed with stage 1 or an early stage 2 cancer.
Not everyone who has a radical hysterectomy will need chemoradiation, but that is a decision the doctor will make from the pathology of what is removed during the surgery.
It wouldn’t be possible for any us answer questions on the appropriate timescale the petscan-these are performed less often in the UK at original diagnosis as it’s more usual to have an mri and/or ct scan. Scans in the UK take time to organise and we need to wait -2 weeks or more- for results. We don’t say what we want here in the UK as our healthcare is not insurance based so it would be our doctors who would arrange a petscan if they thought it were necessary. We can’t request it as a matter of course.
I didn’t have a petscan myself at diagnosis, but did have one later on in the process. I went though chemoriation. and I appreciate that you have bad memories of this treatment for your dad, but I’d encourage you to try not to compare the 2 situations.
Chemoradiotherapy, if it is required, can be a very effective treatment for cervical cancer and we’d be happy to share our experiences here in the group if it turns out your mum needs it.
Please feel free to keep posting, sharing your thoughts and asking any questions and we’ll be happy to do our best to help support you through this.
Sarah xx
