The Beginning

Hi!  My name is Kelly and I was diagnosed with cervical cancer stage 2 in May 2010.  I had no idea what I was in for!  You hear the word cancer and you have two choices:  curl up in a ball or you fight.  I am not a doctor but want to share my story from the patient point of view to help others.

I was 41 years old at the time of the diagnoses.  I am a single mother of triplets.  And I was scared.  My symptoms were constant bleeding.  During the same time, I needed a left knee replacement.  I decided to do the knee replacement first so that I could get walking without pain.  Then on May 19th, 2010, I went in for a hysterectomy.  I went home the next day.  Around 5 pm, my gynecologist called and broke the news.  I broke.  I broke for my children, my Mom and myself.

I was sent for a combined PET/CT scan.  Luckily, the cancer had not metathesized.  I had to wait for the hysterectomy to heal before I could begin any treatments.  I had to find a gynecological oncologists and a radiation oncologist.

I met with the doctors and they told my the plan.  Radiation treatments are the workhorse in cervical cancer.  Chemotherapy is used to boost the effects of the radiation.  Treatments began 6 weeks after my hysterectomy.  The day before chemo began I had a mediport put in my chest for the doctors to give me the chemo.  I also began 5 days a week radiation - planned for 6 weeks.

Cisplatin was the chemo and it doesn't make you lose your hair - so  I was happy about that.  But three weeks into it, my gynecological oncologist did not like how my mediport was healing so he took it out in his office!  Radiation and chemo took me down pretty quickly.  I couldn't retain any food no matter the medications they gave me.  More later -