How to Get Over Hurry Up and Wait

Hello. My odyssey with cancer started back in November when I had what I thought were UTI's. They were treated, but never cleared up. On a hunch, my doctor did blood work and sent me to the ER due to very high kidney numbers. I mentioned the bleeding to the hospitalist at the time, and he did a quick pelvic exam and encouraged me to see my gyn when I was released. So after recovering from my 5 day hospital stay, I contacted my gyns office. Of course, her availability was not until late March. I asked if anyone in the practice was available sooner, but nobody was. I went to that appointment and she did a pap smear (my first in 3 years, as I had normal one previous and was over 65). That came back abnormal. She scheduled me for a test ten days later, that almost made me jump off the table, it was so painful. She said there was a polyp and they took samples. Several days later, she called me, told me it was uterine cancer and referred me to an oncologist in her practice. I got in to see her within two weeks, and she told me that I needed to schedule a hysterectomy. (This was at the end of April). My robotic hysterectomy, oophorectomy, etc., was on May 23. It was determined from the biopsy that my tumor was over 90% imbedded into the uterine wall. That made me stage 1b and she referred me for radiation therapy. The radiation doctor said I would need three sessions at the top of the vagina to help reduce reoccurrence. However, he asked if I'd had a PET scan, which I had not. He put in orders and I had that at the end of June. Sadly, it showed that I had cancer in a lymph node in my abdomen between the aorta and the vena cava. I would need a needle biopsy. Because it was in a weird spot, he wanted me to work with a particular intervention oncologist, so I was scheduled for the needle biopsy on August 5th, as he was out of the office for three weeks. He did the biopsy, and I remember him telling me that the tumor had grown twice its size since the PET scan. He also implanted coils in the node, one of which escaped and he had to grab it through my groin so that it didn't cause a blood clot. I saw my oncologist who came in looking concerned and I asked her if I was going to make it. She said yes, but I would need to have everything thrown at it. I was one of the 1% of people who have this happen. Six rounds of chemo, radiation, and two years of immunotherapy. I asked when we could get started. One of the doctors in the practice who I'd worked with previously was available to put in my port the next Tuesday. I started chemo on August 29th, nine months after the beginning of this journey.

At this point, I am angry that it all took so long. Did the cancer spread because of all the delays, or would it have spread anyway? I did get a second opinion from a cancer center, and that didn't happen until September 18th even though they advertise as getting patients in right away. How do you deal with this? I really am striving for a positive outlook and good mental health.