Newbie

Hello Capybara25 hope you are as well as can be. Your key dates line up with mine, kind of. I had my first smear ever in Jan, results end of march colposcopy April, got told it was highly suspicious that I had cervical cancer, (but in my gut I knew from my symptoms - so her response just compounded it) then a week or so later it was confirmed I had cancer and then got called in and told I have stage 2a2. I start treatment chemo radiation on Monday. 

This group has been nothing but supportive and Sarah is always around with super advice! Always here to chat. 

I have to agree the waiting was the worst. But now I know I’m just coasting along, waiting for the next checkpoint (appointment) xx

Hi Capybara25 and welcome to our group.

I’m sorry you’ve had this diagnosis-it’s such a horrible shock isn’t it? The diagnostic process can seem to take ages to go through and that’s difficult when we just want answers and to get on with things.

i know it’s probably temping to start reading things and finding out about possible treatments, but without knowing your stage, it’s very hard to anticipate what treatment might be..so try not to overload yourself with information which may not apply to you. 

The referral to hospital is just the start of more waiting I’m afraid and more tests or scans and a wait for the results of those. Your team need to be certain of the stage to determine the most appropriate plan for you, and it’s important to get that right to determine whether surgery is a possibility or not, for example. Are you staying with private healthcare or transferring to the nhs if you’re in the UK?

In the nhs things will move fairly quickly with a cancer diagnosis so there will be nothing like 3 months to wait for results at any stage of the process. 

We’ll all be happy to help with support no matter what-we have a lot of experience in the group of different stages and treatment for cervical cancer. Please feel free to stick with us, keep posting, and ask any questions you’d like to. Not a fun club to be in, but happy to have you with us nonetheless, and I hope you’ll find it helpful to among people who can understand all the different feelings a cancer diagnosis brings. All the best for your upcoming appointment.

Sarah xx

Thanks to both of you for the support. It's just shock and not being able to sleep at the moment (and trying not to randomly cry at work when brain decides to scream 'cancer'). I actually live in Spain so will be with their national health system for treatment. I don't have insurance so just paid private to speed up the wait. Supposedly the health system is good here (never had to use it before), but it seems slow. It's just bizarre - always been negative for HPV before, and no symptoms until slight bleeding late last year. I was really just expecting pre-cancerous cells and a cone biopsy at worst when I went for results.

Hi Capybara25 

I have no experience of healthcare in another country but I know we’ve had ladies in the group living in Europe who’ve had treatment there-one in Spain and one in Italy I recall.

HPV is a virus which can come and go, even if you’ve tested negative in the past, as it can be dormant in your system but flare up at another point and start causing damage to your cells. It doesn’t give symptoms in itself, but as you’ve found yourself you can experience symptoms such as bleeding when it is causing cell damage. 

It’s understandable to feel really shocked-I went to my results appointment assuming I might have precancerous cells, so I was completely blindsided by my diagnosis. I remember just repeating the word cancer in my head with the shock of it all and waking up with it being the first thought in my head every day.

I hope things will move quickly for you now and you find out your next steps soon.

Sarah xx