Does any one have any experience of early stage cervical cancer?

[Notquitemanaging]

morning! In a bit of a state of shock today and looking for information - even the nhs sites feel a bit bewildering. Ive signed up for the Jo’s trust forums too but not got confirmation yet so wondering if anyone here has been in this boat and can help.
I was told yesterday cancerous cells were found when they did an llez for abnormal cels during my colposcopy earlier this month. The consultant was completely lovely, emphasised it looked like a very early stage and and that there were lots of treatment options. Next step is an mri week after next and apparently is possible that the cells have all been removed and if not we will discuss options. Things moving quickly which am hugely grateful for but also a little unnerved by.
Everything made sense at the time but I now have loads of questions.

1. Some people seem to get a CT scan instead or in addition to an MRI - any idea if it is relevant or matters that I think we are just doing an MRI?


2. I understand the MRI is to stage the cancer - is this to confirm it hasnt spread because if it is just the size of the cancer couldn't that be told from the biopsy? She did say was very early stage but didnt give a number as such…


3. i havent told anyone real yet. My dh is amazing as are my parents and friends and i know how lucky i am for that but this doesnt feel real and if I tell them then it is real. I have had a number of coloposcopies over the years and naively really didn’t anticipate this news at the appt yesterday so went alone. Ive just told him we met to discuss future smear / coloposcopy schedules and he seems convinced. I dont want everyone worried and talking to me with a tilted head when it seems like it genuinely might be largely ok in few weeks. I feel absolutely fine and my parents are elderly and dont need this. Is trying to keep it to myself until i have to share it just daft?

thanks so much for reading this far and i hope anyone else in this boat is getting good care and support.
xxxx

You need to share, at least with DH. You’re in shock right now and when that shock comes down the stress hormones will cause you to emotionally crash and you need support in place ready for this. It doesn’t matter from that perspective whether you’re all sorted in a few weeks or not, you need support but also he needs to know. Can you imagine for a minute how he will feel if he finds out a year down the line his wife had cancer and didn’t tell him? Parents can probably wait until after staging so that you can be factual in the severity (hopefully minor) when you discuss it with them. Jo’s trust is amazing! Most of your questions and support will be found there. Good luck in your treatment.

I'm so sorry you've had this news. I've just finished treatment for early breast cancer and I think it's fine to keep the news to yourself until you're ready to share it. That's exactly what I did - I felt I needed to have everything clear in my head before I shared it with anyone else. I would have found it more stressful to be fielding my DH's questions and worries before I had the answers for myself. In this situation you have to do what feels right for you, and your loved ones need to understand that. I really hope you have some reassuring news soon.

Thanks guys - i think it is exactly the fact that he is understandably going to want answers I dont yet have that makes it feel unfair telling him before i know a bit more myself so am going to call jo’s helpline when it reopens next week, get some more understanding and then talk to him. Thanks all.

And i really hope both of you are well
and cared for - really appreciate you making time for this.