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In November 2016 I was diagnosed with endometrial cancer, I have no idea how long I had it but I had some bleeding that was happening. Friends and family were all saying the same things "oh it’s just change of life" or "You’re probably fine," "it’s probably nothing" It didn’t feel like nothing to me, so I called the doctor.
We started with tests: the ultrasound - a little suspicious but not abnormal looked like it could be OK. Pap smear results came back normal then the family practice said Well you know what we should try to do is this thing called a punch biopsy and they tried it four times. The family practice doctor said you know we’re obviously not getting this biopsy right now we want to refer you over to the OB/GYN specialist because they do this procedure all the time.
So, I waited, and I waited. Finally, two weeks later I called them back and I say I’m still waiting here I haven’t heard anything back from the OB/GYN person do you know if my referral got made transferred over to the OB/GYN specialist. The receptionist response "Oh my God, we are so sorry it must’ve gotten dropped." I finally I get connected up to the right group and then they say to me all right well it’s going to be probably two weeks before we get you in if there’s any cancellations do you want us to call you I said yes call me right away I’ll be right over as it turns out two days later they got a cancellation so I was finally seen by the right people it was done on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving it was around the same time that Gwynne Ifill from PBS died I remember that doctor telling me it’s probably nothing but this way we will check and I said jokingly said I’m sure they said the same thing to Gwynne Ifill but she died and then they said yeah you’re right well as it turns out I got a call a day later it was Wednesday Night the day before Thanksgiving.
The doctor is calling me and tells me that I need to call them back now, it is not good when the on-call doctor who tells me we are so sorry it’s cancer it seems to be slow growing, but we won’t know for sure until you have your surgery and are treated, we won’t know how invasive it is. I go upstairs and tell the rest of the family that I’ve had tests done and that I’ve been just diagnosed with cancer.
Even if it was slow growing. I want to deal with it immediately; Christmas plans were cancelled and arranging for time off from work to get the surgery scheduled. The earliest appointment that I could get set up for this cancer surgery was 22nd of December 2016. I was fortunate that my cancer was in its early stages and not moved outside of the primary site. I did not require any follow up treatment beyond the surgery. Eight years later, I am still cancer-free.
