I Have Cancer

Those are pretty shocking words to hear, let alone say. If you are a friend and have not heard, yes, I have cancer. There are so many things floating around in my head about the experiences I have had in the last 5 weeks, that I will have plenty of blogging material. I think that for now, I'll give the low-down on my cancer and where we are at with it, and save the emotions, spirituality, and life lessons for future blogs.

In late August, I had surgery to remove some uterine polyps. I had a very easy recovery, but when I went for my follow up visit a week later, my doctor dropped the Cancer Bomb. I must say how lucky I consider myself. First, for having a doctor who listened to me and told me that what was going on with me was not normal. Second, that he still did an ultrasound after the biopsy of my uterus came back normal. Third, that he decided to do a D&C along with getting rid of the polyps. That is where they found the cancer. As I sat in the exam room waiting for my dr. at my follow up, I thought, "why am I even here?" "I'm doing great!" All of a sudden, it occurred to me that I was going to get my pathology report, and something in my gut just knew that he was going to say cancer. He told me that I had endometrial (uterine) cancer, that I would need a hysterectomy, and he was referring me to a dr. at UCI who specialized in this.

On Tue., Sep. 14, the hubby and I went to see my specialist at UCI - a gynecological oncologist. Is that a mouthful, or what? We talked about the cancer and my need for a hysterectomy. Then "wham, bam, thank you ma'am", I was in surgery 4 days later. A really cool robot did a complete hysterectomy on me laparoscopically. So... now I am 2 weeks post-op, and I am getting ready to start 6 rounds of chemo on Monday.

My prognosis is very good. Even though the cancer had microscopically metastasized onto my cervix and an ovary, making me technically Stage 3, those came out in the hysterectomy. Also good news was that of the 30 lymph nodes they took out, every one came back clear. My chemo is now the "just in case" kind. I will lose my hair, and I may move a little slower than I'm used to for a while, but I believe down to my toes that I will be ok. I feel eternally grateful to have a dr. that my hubby and I feel comfortable with and trust completely. I'm also thankful for my hubby, who has taken on the roles of mom, dad, cook, cleaner, laundress, and carpooler, in addition to all of his regular duties. I love him with all my heart and could never get through this without him. I am everyone else's "rock", and he is mine. I'm thankful to all the friends who brought us dinner over the last couple of weeks. I'm thankful to my girlfriends (that includes my family girlfriends) who have cheered me up, watched my kids, cleaned my house, and just been there to make me laugh.

When the chips are down is when you find out who your true friends are, and I have found out that I am truly rich in that department. I will keep blogging to keep everyone updated. I'm going to start my chemo next week, so I'll let you know how that goes! Take care!