MY SMEAR TEST WAS CLEAR – A WEEK LATER I WAS DIAGNOSED WITH CERVICAL CANCER

Receiving a reminder letter to have a smear test in September 2020 didn’t fill me with the dread a lot of women feel.

As a former nurse, I know how important the examinations are. I always went when requested, and so far, they had always been clear.

However, in July and August, I’d twice experienced bleeding during sex a month apart, so I wanted to talk about it when I went for my test.

The nurse wasn’t concerned and told me to wait for my results, which were taking around six weeks due to Covid delays.

But I felt as though something wasn’t right – I had a gut feeling I shouldn’t wait. The bleeding was so abnormal for me. I felt like something was wrong.

So I saw my GP two days later, and I was referred to a gynaecologist at Royal Stoke University hospital just to be on the safe side.

During my appointment two weeks later, the consultant removed a small polyp-like tumour on my cervix and took two biopsies. They told me they’d call if anything came up and if all was fine, I’d get a letter.

Two weeks later, the results of my smear test came through – all clear. I felt relieved and went out to celebrate my 31st birthday.

But just two days later, a nurse from the hospital called to make an urgent appointment. I started to panic, but it didn’t occur to me that it could be cancer. During my previous examination with the female GP, I was told my cervix looked rough and that it could be cervical ectropion – a normal condition where cells from inside your cervix are visible from the outside.

Plus, I thought a clear smear meant no cancer.

I was examined by a doctor during my appointment at the hospital in October. She explained she was trying to feel if my tumour was small enough to remove.

My stomach flipped. ‘Are you telling me I have cancer?’

I was in a daze as she told me my biopsy results had revealed cancer cells but my tumour was too big to remove as she couldn’t feel around the edges. I went completely blank.

She asked if I had children as treatment was going to leave me infertile – I would need a hysterectomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

I broke down in tears as I told her I didn’t and called my parents who insisted we’d get through this together.

Feeling angry that my life choices were being decided for me, I made the decision to freeze my eggs.

In November, I had CT, MRI and PET scans. But I was told I couldn’t have a hysterectomy as the cancer was too advanced and had spread to my lymph nodes.

Then in December 2020, I started treatment, radiotherapy five days a week for five weeks and chemo every week, all taking place during the same time period.

The first week of radiotherapy absolutely floored me. I suffered sickness and I lost weight.

I was given medicine, which got things back under control and I was willing to do anything to get better.

After five weeks of treatment followed by brutal brachytherapy, or internal radiotherapy, in February 2021, I rang the bell to mark finishing treatment.

Then I faced an agonising 12-week wait for a scan to see if the treatment had been successful.

But six weeks after finishing, in April 2021, I had pain in my hip. Within a week, it was agony to walk, so I used crutches before resorting to a wheelchair. Deep down, I knew the cancer was back.

A scan revealed I was right – it was stage four terminal cervical cancer, having spread to my bones. Incurable.

Any further treatment was going to be palliative options to prolong my life, but not to save it. Just six months after my initial diagnosis, I was being told to get my affairs in order.

It was a devastating blow – but because of how bad the pain in my hip had been, I’d already prepared myself to hear that the cancer had spread. I’d also looked up online about what that meant with regards to staging

My friends and family were amazing during this time, and really supportive. We cried a lot, but we never spoke about me dying.

I was referred to Birmingham Orthopaedic Hospital and in June 2021, I underwent surgery to replace my hip with metal. They told me I might not walk again but I was determined to.

I was discharged a week later and walked out of the hospital on crutches.

I’d had one round of chemo before my hip surgery so I’d started to lose my hair when I was in hospital having the surgery. 

I knew I wanted to shave my hair off before I lost it so I had already cut it short and donated it to the Little Princess Trust before it was damaged by chemo.

Within an hour of me getting home after being discharged from my hip surgery my dad had shaved it all off for me. I was pleasantly surprised with how it looked, I actually embraced being bald – the regrowth stage at the minute is definitely the most awkward stage.

Two weeks after that, in July 2021, I underwent six rounds of chemotherapy again.

I had 15 sessions of radiotherapy every day for three weeks, finishing in December 2021.

In January 2022, my consultant called me.

She told me there was no evidence of the disease.

I told her I was glad the cancer was stable but she said, ‘No, Charlotte. There’s no cancer in your body at all.’ I broke down, I couldn’t believe it.

My dad had stage 4 cancer when I was 15 and he took part in a clinical trial that cured him so I knew it was possible. My dad has always been my biggest inspiration and whenever things got tough, I had my dad in mind. If he’d beaten this then I knew I could too.

And I had. I’d beaten the odds and was ecstatic.

Now having been in remission for over a year, I am speaking out and sharing my story online as every day in the UK, there are nearly nine new diagnoses of cervical cancer.

It’s a silent killer. Smears are really important, but they only prevent cancer – they don’t detect it. They test for HPV, of which high risk cases can lead to abnormal cervical cancer cells.

The idea is that they prevent cancer by detecting HPV before it has the chance to start to change the cells. It can take 10 or 20 years for cervical cells with HPV to develop into cancer, so in theory a smear test every three or five years should detect any abnormalities before cancer develops.

Unfortunately that wasn’t the case for me and my previous smears are now being investigated to see if anything was missed as I have always been on time and my previous ones were clear too.

Even as a nurse, I thought a clear smear meant you are safe.

By the time the symptoms are there, it’s often too late. Women need to know their bodies and recognise the signs and symptoms which include any abnormal bleeding, pain or discomfort during sex or changes to vaginal discharge.

Looking back I was really tired around the time before my diagnosis. I remember telling my mum that I just couldn’t catch up on my rest and felt exhausted.

I presumed I was burning the candle at both ends and tried to slow down in day to day life – but apart from that I had no other signs at all.

So I urge women to know their ‘normal’ and, if they have any symptoms, to get them checked – regardless of previous screening history.

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