I have never blogged before but since there are so many people I want to keep posted and not all of you are on FB, here goes... This has all happened so fast and I didn't have many answers prior to today so please accept my apologies for not sharing this information sooner, most of you are unaware so let me start by woo-hooing to the mountain tops that, as my gut has been telling me, I am fine and my prognosis is excellent! So, now that my mental celebratory back flips and yee-haws are under control, let me catch you up on the details! And again, please accept my apologies for not filling you all in sooner...
On January 4th I was diagnosed with "Cancer of the Uterine Cervix", as it is written on my charts more commonly known as cervical cancer, with adenocarcinoma the type of cancer identified. On January 14th I had a robot assisted radical hysterectomy at Kaiser in Downey, CA (I know, how cool and sci-fi is that?). And this morning, January 28th, I had an anxiously awaited follow-up appt with my oncologist to go over the pathology from my surgery which indicates my stage (1B), additional steps of treatment that are needed (combination radiation & chemo therapy), and my prognosis (excellent with little chance of recurrence).
If I understand everything correctly, there were 2 indicators used to determine the additional steps; 1) the type of cancer that I have, adenocarcinoma, is a less common type and I am gathering that it must be a little trickier to treat and 2) the histology showed that although the cancer had not spread there is evidence that it could travel in the bloodstream. So, I will see a radiologist @ Kaiser in L.A. sometime in the next week or so to put a game plan into place that will involve chemo to allow the radiation to work better but that will NOT cause major side effects or hair loss (a little thinning at the ends maybe but no loss). Most likely the treatments will be 3 days a week for 2-4 weeks @ Kaiser in Ontario. I have now been instructed to continue to rest to allow my body to heal from the surgery (still very swollen and a tad sore) and be strong and ready for the upcoming treatment which is predicted that I will sail right through due to how healthy, strong, and thin I am (yes, my doctors said "thin" more than once!). I am now going to quit kicking myself for carrying this extra 15-20lbs, I still plan to lose it through healthy diet and exercise as soon as the doctors give me the ok to do so, but for now I am not going to kick myself anymore! I am healthy and thin! :^)
There really is so much more to tell in how I even learned I had this cancer and the steps that lead to today but I'll save that for a later date as I am so relieved but also drained at the moment...
In the meanwhile, I'd like to express my overwhelming gratitude to my mom for urging me to see the doctor even though I kept insisting I was just experiencing perimenopause symptoms, Jeanelle Coffey for sharing her experience with ovarian cancer with me and echoed my mom's wisdom, our dear and terribly missed friend Tim Brown who brought Jeanelle & I together, Dr. Estrick who referred me to the specialist, Dr. Moore, and Dr. Moore who found and diagnosed the cancer and referred my to the oncologists, Dr. Tewari & Dr. Shah, and my dear friend and old room mate, Lisa Lindley, OBGYN, for calming my nerves and explaining everything to me, the Bruno, Jacobi, Umana, and Henry families for taking care of and entertaining Jillian in this time surrounding my surgery and all her friends and our extended family who have kept her busy with talent show planning, skypeing, etc. - she has had so much fun lately that this whole process was a breeze thanks to all of you! (I've included a few pics of Jillian with friends just for fun!) Thanks for all your love & well wishes, after this I'll be even stronger & better than ever! :^)
