Getting sick of hospitals

As if what i had already been through wasn't enough!!

Sitting at home one night i had this incredible pain in my back - my husband was already in bed asleep and i really didn't want to wake him up. I took some panadene forte and hoped that things would improve, but after 45 more minutes and the pain only getting worse, i woke him up and we headed to the ER.

After explaining what i had been through the previous year, i was poked & prodded and given some morphine to ease the pain. I was then sent for a CT.

Once the results came back i had a massive cyst. The doctor on duty that night freaked me out and basically made me think the worst was happening and that my cancer had infact spread. They called my specialist from Hobart and sent through the scans for her to look at - she believed that it was only a lymphocyst, caused from the lymphedectomy and nothing to worry about. It was huge though!! The lymphocyst was so big that it was blocking my kidney function which was causing all of my pain (similar pain to having kidney stones). They called my regular gynae in and he put a large needle through my tummy into the cyst and drained almost 2 litres of fluid!!

I was sent home and advised to go back the next day for another scan. The next scan showed that the lymphocyst had again filled up and was almost as big as it had been the day before!!

I was then sent to my specialist in Hobart for her to deal with it. She sent me for a CT aided drainage - so they used the CT scan to find the exact area of the cyst and then put a drain in. I was kept in hospital for a few days until the fluid stopped flowing through into the drain. The i was sent home, hoping that things were finally going to get better.

But no, i spent many nights in and out of the ER and had loads of morphine & endone to deal with the pain. I was scheduled for a CT scan on Wed 2nd March 2011 - i knew the cyst was there and that it was absolutely huge again as i looked like i was pregnant. I had felt like crap and could hardly eat anything without vomiting. I was sent in for my CT and they made me drink some special medicine to help show things up on the scan - within about 20 seconds i had vomited it up everywhere!! How embarrassing!! After they finished the scan i was asked to wait until the had checked my results. I then found out that they were contacting my gp - i was unsure why. I just wanted to get out of there as it was my daughters first birthday that weekend and i had so much stuff to organise!!

When they finally came out to see me i was told to go straight to the ER with no further explanation. Once there i was seen almost straight away and advised that i would be being sent back to my specialist in Hobart as now both of my kidneys were being affected by the cyst which could cause massive complications.

So off we went to Hobart again - i was not allowed to eat or drink anything as i was supposed to be going into surgery later that afternoon or night. The hours ticked by and i was advised that there had been a massive car accident, so the theatre's were all being used for this, but my specialist was still trying to get another theatre opened for me - at 11pm that night i was told that it wouldn't be happening. I was allowed to have some jelly to eat and was put on an iv drip for fluids, but that didn't last for long as once again i would have to fast from midnight as my surgery would be the next day.

I had my surgery around lunch time on the Thursday where my specialist surgically removed the cyst and placed another drain in to make sure that it did not fill back up again.

When my specialist next saw me on the Friday i told her how important it was that i be able to go home for my daughters first birthday which was on the Sunday. She was not overly hopeful that it would happen, but she assured me that if all my obs were stable and all my test results came back good, mainly my kidney function, that she would see what she could do.

On the Saturday morning she rushed through my tests and in the afternoon i was told i could leave - i did still have to have my drain which wasn't great and i was on endone tablets, but i made it home for my daughters birthday.

The nasty C word

I had Cancer.

I was scheduled for an urgent CT scan to make sure my cancer had not spread to lymph nodes or further. I was advised that as long as the CT showed nothing abnormal that we should still be able to go ahead with the radical trachelectomy instead of the hysterectomy.

My CT results were fine, so my surgery date was set for early Nov 2010.

Even though all looked fine from the CT scan - i went into surgery still not knowing if i was having my trachelectomy or a hysterectomy. My specialist had samples sent off for a cold section pathology whilst i was under to make sure that all was ok. If she believed she had clear margins and my lymph nodes were not affected then she would go ahead with the trachelectomy.

I woke up from my surgery and the first thing i asked my nurse was if i had a uterus or not!! and the answer was YES!!!

For those that don't know a radical trachelectomy is basically removal of the entire cervix - the bottom of the uterus (with a tiny bit of cervix) is then reconstructed to make a new cervix. I also had a lymphedectomy (removal of my pelvic & abdominal lymph nodes) just to be safe. My cancer was stage as 1b

So my hope for another child were kept alive.

I spent a week in hospital recovering from my operation - i had a massive cut across my bikini line (a bit longer than what a caesarian scar would be) and a drain coming from another spot on my tummy. I was given lots of morphine and then went to endone tablets and finally panadene forte.

Once i was released i was on strict orders for no housework or lifting for the first 6 weeks and then over the next 6 weeks i had to ease into things (basically the same recovery as a hysterectomy). This meant that i was unable to lift my little girl!!

My family were all a huge support and i was never left on my own. I was lucky enough that my mum could take extended time off work to look after me through the day & my hubby did as much as he could of a night.

I had a follow up in January and all was perfectly fine.

But once again, my life was turned upside down.....