It all started in the October of 2020 when I noticed small amounts of blood when I went to the toilet, not every time but now and again. As we were in the middle of the Covid pandemic, there were no face-to-face GP appointments, but I did phone them straight away and was told it sounded like a urine infection and I was prescribed an anti-biotic.
The anti-biotics did not help however, and the bleeding became more persistent. I also started to get some pain in my pelvic area. As the situation progressed, and I could still not get a GP to see me face to face, I started to become very anxious. I am a firm believer that we all know our own bodies and know when something is not right, and I knew deep down that something was wrong. I had lost my Mum in early 2020 so was aware that I was still grieving and put a lot of my anxiety at the time down to that.
After numerous phone calls with my GP surgery, asking for some help, I was eventually sent for a cystoscopy (camera procedure to look at the bladder) and x-rays of my bladder. I didn’t feel it was a bladder issue but went along anyway and experienced what was possibly the most painful procedure I have had to date. The cystoscopy was extremely painful for me and showed there were no issues with my bladder, yet the GP surgery still insisted I had a stubborn urinary tract infection. I suffered with a lot of urine infections whilst menopausal and I just knew this was different.
By the end of January 2021, the bleeding was happening almost every time I went to the toilet and was getting heavier. The pelvic pain was also getting worse. I phoned my GP one day in floods of tears and just begged them to see me. They said I could go straight down to the surgery which I did. A smear test was carried out and they then told me that the bleeding was, in fact, coming from my womb.
After that I was put on the two-week cancer fast track and was seen in the hospital three weeks later for a biopsy of my womb. Everything went scarily fast after that. The biopsy showed a thickening of my womb lining and was sent to the labs for analysis. Four weeks after that on 4 March 2021 I was called in to the hospital and told I had endometrial adenocarcinoma – which translated as womb cancer, grade and stage 1.
Despite being given a cancer diagnosis, there was an element of calmness about me. It had been such a struggle to get seen, to be believed that I knew something was not right, that finally having a diagnosis and a plan to tackle it, calmed me down and made me realise that I was not over-reacting or being dramatic.
I DID have cancer and I think I had always known that deep down although had only ever vocalised the fear to my husband.
I was in the hospital having my full ‘hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy’ on 31 March 2021, less than 4 weeks after diagnosis. It was a time of abject fear, pain and uncertainty. I thought about dying and leaving my loved ones, I thought about my son and how telling him had been the worst bit of the whole experience even though he was a grown man of 33, and I thought about my Mum a great deal and how I wished she was here to talk to about everything.
My surgery went well and was carried out through laparoscopy which meant small scars and a quicker recovery time. I was in hospital for 4 nights, the first night in Intensive Care for monitoring. Once I got home, I recovered fairly well. The pain was bad but well managed with tramadol, and I did have a brief 3 night stay in hospital three weeks after my surgery due to an infection. I was ready for a return to work 3-4 months after my surgery.
The day they phoned to give me the results from the surgery has to be one of the best days of my life. I was told the cancer was contained in less than half of the womb and they were confident they had got it all out in the organ removal. This meant I did not need any further treatment such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy. It was a huge relief and I felt euphoric and tearful for a few days afterwards. It was great to tell my family and loved ones the good news as I knew they had been concerned for me.
The strange thing about a cancer diagnosis however, is that the euphoria doesn’t last forever. It is now 3 years on from my diagnosis and surgery, and I still constantly worry about recurrence. Cancer surgery has left me with lymphedema in my left leg which causes recurrent episodes of cellulitis. This is painful and debilitating and severely affects my mobility. I have since also had further surgery to remove my thyroid when a lump was discovered and thought to be cancerous – luckily it wasn’t but this surgery has also left its scars and after-effects.
Although I am still thankfully cancer free at this time, it has affected my life greatly, and I am both grateful to still be here and have come through it, as well as angry at the changes it has made to my life. I don’t think anyone really understands all the emotions associated with a diagnosis like this until you have experienced it yourself. It is not the death sentence it once was thanks to research and dedicated medical professionals, but it is life changing and terrifying all the same. I have been very lucky so far and so many people are not as lucky and that is sad and heartbreaking. We still lose too many people from this awful disease so I hope the research and good work continues.
I found the Womb Cancer Support UK group really helpful, and the Facebook page informative and also a great source of comfort as it makes you realise you are not on your own in this journey – and it is a journey.
The best advice I could pass on to anyone going through this is to advocate for yourself until you get answers. If you think something is wrong, shout and scream until you are heard. I should not have had to wait 4 months to be seen by a GP. Also, educate yourself. I had never really heard of womb cancer and yet I always checked my breasts for breast cancer.
There definitely needs to be more awareness of gynaelogical cancers, especially when you read the statistics of how many women are diagnosed each year.
Spread the word and let other women know what signs to look out for – together we can make a difference.