suspicious for cervical cancer

beth20anne said:

hi everyone, i am just replying to you all bc i dont know who i should reply to...anyway, my name is beth and i am 25 yrs old. i was diagnosed with cervical cancer in june of 2003...2 weeks before my 25th birthday. i would love to discuss any issues, questions or concerns with any one who would like to. i might be able to help others and i am hoping others will be able to help me. please be well and be in touch when/if you can! take care!

Hi beth,
I do have alot to talk about. I really have questions about pre diagnosis. I haven't been diagnosed yet but have been having weight loss with out trying, some bleeding in between periods, extended periods,whereas the bleeding is not heavy but just a pink stainging on tissue after going to the bathroom. My story is long and confusing. I haven't been feeling well for about a yr. now. My family dr.ordered a cat scan of chest,abdomen and pelvis. due to my family history of cancers. The radiologist is saying it looks like I have cervical cancer. The cervix is very enlarged and the uterus is very enlarged but no mass is seen. I did have an abnormal ultra sound last yr. where an mri or a biopsy was suggested. My dr.chose to do the endometrial biopsy,which turned out to be clean. I never further investigated the problems I was having because my gyno wasn't really concerned at this point because of the clean biopsy. My paps were normal too. I did have abnormal paps in the past though. In the late 80's. I had a colposcopy performed which turned out to be good. Then a couple yrs.later I started bleeding again between periods and had very heavy bleeding at my period. They found a bartholin cyst, a polyp and cysts on the ovaries plus the tube. The entire left ovary was practically destroyed from the cytst, plus there were multiple cysts on l/tube. The dr.told me he had no choice but to remove the tube and left ovary. Infection was setting in at this point. Then one office visit to follow up with all the problems I was having, he told me my pap came back abnormal with mild endocervical atypia and moderate squamous maturation. He told me he'd take care of it by freezing the outer layer of the cervix. From what I can recall, he put a chemical on it to freeze it. I totally forgot about this incident in the yr.of 1998. I had been going through divorce at this time and now upon reflection, I felt like I was losing my mind. I vaguely remember things. So I didn't really follow up with a 3 month apt.or a 6 month apt like I was supposed to. Plus I had been through different jobs frequently which was always making me wait to be eligible for insurance and drs. were always changing too. I feel no one is really listening to me. the dr.s that is.
I am feeling soooo weak at times that it interferes with my job and my the regular chores of running a house hold. Last yr.when symtoms started I weighted 128 lbs. I now weight,110 lbs. with out trying to lose weight. I have an old scale which I took from my mothers house after she passed away this past december 2003. I don't' know if it's correct and I'm beginning to get really frightened. the scale is telling me I'm weighting 105 now. My clothes are hanging off me. When my family dr.called me at the end of nov. with the possibilty of having cervical ca till now, I haven't had any diagnostic testing yet. I had a bad experience with the first gyno,who was new to me, she lied to me and I since then fired her. I then found a new dr.in dec.who set up surgery for jan.22 which I postponed so I could get the expertise of a gyno oncologist,who really didn't listen me and I had a bad experience with him. He told me he had to see the films of the mri and that he didn't believe the cat scan results. He thinks mri's are better. I was furious at this point because I had to wait a month to get in and then I had to wait for 2 hrs.to see him. THis was during working hrs.mind you. why didn't they tell me to bring the films to begin with. you know how they make you fill out the medical history sheet and they ask you questions? one of them asked if I was ever depressed. I checked it yes. Little did I know this would open a can of worms. He made it such a big issue asking me when was the last time I ever saw a physiciatrist,that he made me feel uncomfortable. I wasn't there for therapy! I asked him what my mental status had to do with an enlarged cervix. He made me feel like I was making up all this stuff and that it was all in my head. I wanted to flee at this point. It was a horrible appointment. I'll never go back. So I called the regular gyno's office back to reset the diagnostic surgery like we had orinally planned. It is now set for this month. on feb.24th to be exact. I'll get a D&C, a hysteroscopy,they'll check my bladder,because I'm having problems with voiding for almost a yr.now and they'll do a cone biopsy. The dr.doesnt feel anything abnormal in there according to the pelvic exam and the oncologist said that all woman have enlarged uterus's due to childbirth. I've had four children. I'm 43 yrs.old. my youngest is 14 and the oldest is 21. I've read my reports of the all the tests I've had and I can see the uterus enlarging within the past 2 yrs. my last child was born fourteen yrs.ago. wouldn't the uterus have been enlarged then? Not now in the yr.2004? For some reason I'm not really putting my whole trust in the medical proffesion. They're not GOD. they're only human like us all and I don't put them on pedestals. I used to listen to every thing they said and never questioned their expertise. Not anymore I don't. especially since I found out my first gyno lied to me and told me a certain test was negative when in reality the test needed to be performed again due to the fact the speciman fell apart upon exam. I found this out when I had the actuall report in my hand because I asked for a copy of it from the secretary. I then called the lab where it was supposebly tested only for them to tell me it was never tested because it was insufficient tissue. It was too small and fell apart. why didn't my dr.tell me the truth? She's young, has a child and is over worked. She was telling me how many surgerys she had set up and that she never gets to spend time with her daughter. she was really stressed out. what dr. tells her patients this? she wasn't very proffesional. We had a screaming match over the telephone while I was at work. I have never met a nut case like that before. and she delivers peoples babies? Anyway, I really apologize that this letter is so lengthy. This is the second time I've been on this web site and didn't realize that people have responded to my first letter. Thanks for taking an interest and reaching out to me. It's saturday morning here on the 14th of February. Valentines day. If you have the time,please tell me about yourself and your story of how you wound up here.
Sincerely,
Linda S.