my story

In April of 2014, I was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Something had been wrong with me for a while, but cancer was never something that was on my radar. I had a Pap smear at the beginning of April. Two weeks later, my gynecologist started calling me. I ignored the first two calls, figuring it was a nurse in the office calling to say the Pap was normal, see you in a year. The third call I answered. My gynecologist herself was calling, and her words stopped my heart: "You have cervical cancer. You need to see an gynecological oncologist immediately." After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I went into problem solving mode. I spent a day and a half making phone calls between various practices and my insurance company before finally getting an appointment with a gyn oncologist at Sibley Hospital in Washington DC.
A week later, I went for my first appointment. Based on the lab results from my Pap smear, and an internal exam, my oncologist classified me as stage 1a1 - very early stage cervical cancer. The type of cancer was adenocarcinoma in situ. The first step to take was a cone biopsy, where my oncologist would biopsy a section of my cervix. Hopefully, he would be able to get clean margins, meaning that the biopsy removed all the cancerous areas. I had the biopsy done on May 5, and went home to wait for the pathology results.
The results came back, and they were not good. My cervix was riddled with cancer - no clean margins. My staging was upgraded to 1b1 - still early stage, but it was definitely not fun to get higher on the staging scale. During this appointment, my oncologist asked if I had children - yes, one son. He asked if I planned to have more children - nope! His recommendation was a radical robotic hysterectomy. I agreed instantly. The only thing I cared about was getting the cancer out of my body. We scheduled the surgery for June 16.
For those fortunate not to know, here's what my hysterectomy would entail: Laparoscopic incisions would be made in my abdomen. The DaVinci Robot (http://www.davincisurgery.com/da-vinci-surgery/da-vinci-surgical-system/) would sever my fallopian tubes from my ovaries, cut my uterus from the ligaments and tendons that held it in place, take samples for biopsy from my ovaries, the aforementioned tendons and ligaments, and remove lymph nodes. My uterus and cervix were removed from my body vaginally. Biopsy samples were taken from my uterus and vaginal canal as well.
The surgery went very well. When I woke up in recovery, my oncologist told me that, while we would need to wait for the biopsy results to confirm, from his visual perspective, all the cancer was gone. I was relieved, but only cautiously optimistic. So far, nothing had gone my way.
I went home the day after surgery. My mother, bless her heart, stayed for a week to take care of me and help with my son. The call finally came from my oncologist - the biopsies were clear, and no further treatment was needed. It was great news.
I had some complications from surgery, a hematoma and some blocked lymph nodes, that kept me in incredible pain and flat on my back in bed for the majority of the summer. But I healed. I am still healing. But I am getting there.
In September, I went for my 3 month exam, and was officially declared NED - No Evidence of Disease. My recurrence rate is 5%. I am incredibly lucky, and I thank God every day for allowing me to keep the precious gift that is my life.
I am in remission, but that doesn't mean that cancer is not still a huge part of my life. I have fears about it coming back. I worry that I didn't do enough. I cry. But I try to turn this experience into a positive one. Gyn cancer is not talked about enough, and I am here to talk about it - the good, the bad, and the ugly. I hope that you can take something away from this; I hope that I can teach you things I wish I hadn't learned the hard way.

thank you for reading.

xo jennie