I am not ready to read anything on here yet as I’m just in whirlwind of thoughts and emotions but I know I’ll need everyone’s support, and hopefully lend some along the way. I was diagnosed on Wednesday and had my MRI this morning. Now the awful wait for results which I guess is going to become part of life now.
Hi Rc82 and welcome to our group.
I’m sorry you’ve had a diagnosis of cervical cancer but things seem to be moving quickly for you with your mri happening so quickly.
I’m glad you’ve felt able to join us, but absolutely no need to read anything in the group yet while you’re still waiting to find out more information from your doctors. It might not necessarily be helpful for you at this stage.
Waiting for results and further appointments is very difficult for us-we tend to want answers and solutions quickly when we’ve had a diagnosis, but waiting definitely becomes a part of life-difficult though it can be. Sometimes there are different scans needed to build up a full picture to decide on the right treatment plan for you.
Usually once all the scans are done, there’s another wait to get the results. These results need to be discussed at an MDT (multi disciplinary team) meeting where the different specialists discuss each patient separately to come up with a plan. Then you’d have an appointment to see your consultant to discuss what’s going to happen and have the chance to ask questions.
Your diagnosis is very recent and I know it took me a bit of time to process everything once I’d been given mine. That’s ok-it’s a big shock to come to terms with.
Take things slowly, and look after yourself. Have you got family and friends for support? The group is always here whenever you’d like to chat or ask any questions.
I hope you don’t have too long to wait for your results and to find out the next steps. There is a lot of experience in the group of the various treatments and different stages of cervical cancer, so when you’re ready to ask any questions or are looking for others to share their experiences, we will be here for you.
Sarah xx
Your mind can go a bit crazy when you first find out you have cancer. There are bad and good days all through the whole process of diagnosis and treatment, but you don’t have to feel positive all the time. I still remember well the day I got diagnosed, and your life is never quite the same as it was before, because you can’t un hear those words.
Human emotions are made up of all sorts of feelings, and some are negative, but that’s natural. You’re at a stage where you’re scared and don’t yet have all the information you need, so sometimes the fear can take over your thoughts. I think that’s perfectly normal.
I certainly wasn’t positive every single day, but knowing the full story helped me, Once you’re told what you’re dealing with, and what the plan is, it will hopefully help you come to terms with everything and be able to focus on the specifics.
I know it’s very difficult not to let your thoughts run away with themselves, and we can imagine lots of different scenarios, but the best piece of advice I got was to take things a day at a time, or even an hour at a time. Try to focus on the reality of the here and now and what you know for certain at this moment. For now you know you have cancer, and you’ve had a scan.
That’s honestly enough for now. You don’t know what the stage of the cancer is, or what the treatment might be, so imagining what “might be” isn’t a reality for you yet. Over the years, I have imagined all sorts of things which “might” happen when my mind was racing. My thoughts were often worse than the reality!
But I learned to focus on each appointment and taking one step at a time to make things easier for me to cope with. Things should feel more manageable when you know more and move on from this limbo stage of waiting. I hope so anyway!
Sarah xx
