I was diagnosed with cervical cancer in July 2013. It was stage 2 and I had months of chemo, radiotherpy and brachytherapy. Treatment was hell but I was lucky and in January 2014 I got the all clear.
In August 2014 I had a routine scan. I didn't for one second think there would be a problem so I was devastated to be told that the cancer had returned. Things were a lot more serious this time around. I was referred to the a London hospital for treatment. I have young dc and telling them and my elderly mum that the cancer was back was the worst thing I've ever had to had to do.
The treatment was to be an operation to remove all of my reproductive organs, bladder, bowel, colon, and vagina. Before going to London I had an op at my local hospital to take biopsies. On my next visit my consultant told me that the biopsies had come back inconclusive. However, he told me not to get excited because I did still have the disease. He said how sorry he was and I cried buckets with my dh and specialist nurse.
I was told I had a 35% of survival. I began to make memory boxes for my children. I was so scared, not only of dying but of life after such a major operation if I did survive.
The hospital is 80 miles from my home and I had to go weekly for 4 weeks while they carried out tests. In late October I went in for a small operation to take biopsies and which would help my surgeon plan the big op which I was told would happen in November.
That night after my op my surgeon came round to see me. He told me that a scan taken a few days previously had shown that the nodules had shrunk. He also said that he could find no physical sign of cancer. He decided not to go ahead with the op but to do a further scan a month later.
The next scan was completely clear.
So I should have been ecstatic and I was. But six months later I find I'm obsessing with knowing what happened. Nobody has told me what happened, did they make a mistake or did my body somehow miraculously cure itself?.
I see my consultant every 3 months and all he has said is he is baffled and I am very lucky. My specialist nurse was amazed, she said she has never known this happen in her 20 years nursing.
I don't care if they made a mistake. I'm not going to sue or anything. I'm so grateful to be alive and would rather they made a mistake in my favour than the alternative. I would just like some answers. Dh says I need to try and move on. He doesn't think they will admit they might have made a mistake but I'm really struggling.
I just wonder if anyone has any advice or has been through anything similar.