So here is where we stand as of Friday evening:
- I have Adenocarcinoma Cervical Cancer and I am at stage 1B1 . . .
In stage 1B the cancerous areas are larger, but the cancer is still only in the tissues of the cervix and has not usually spread. It can usually be seen without a microscope, but not always. In stage 1B1 the cancer is no larger than 4 centimetres (about 1.6 inches). In stage 1B2 the cancer is larger than 4cm across.
Stage 1 cervical cancer is generally treated with surgery or radiotherapy. But if you have stage 1B2 cervical cancer, your doctor may suggest combined chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
- Treatment : radical hysterectomy and bilateral lymph node dissection, results in a cure rates of 85% to 90% for patients with small volume disease. The size of the mass is between 3 to 4 cm. A randomized trial reported identical 5-year overall and disease-free survival rates when comparing radiation therapy to radical hysterectomy.
- They will send everything she removes to a pathologist. Who will let us know if the cancer as enter my lymph nodes.
- If it has entered my lymph nodes I will have to have a combined approach of chemotherapy with radiation therapy. I will not know this until around 5-7 days after the surgery.
- I will stay in the hospital for about 3-5 days, then come home with a catheter for 7 days. Yippee . . .Happy Birthday & Merry CHRISTmas to me! NOT!!!
- Recovery time will be a minimum of 6 weeks.
- Praise the Lord . . . My daughters do not have a risk of getting Adenocarcinoma Cervical Cancer from me.
Positive things:
- I got to pick the hospital: Saint Joseph's Hospital of Atlanta
Why? Because my Uncle (AKA . . . Unkie) was treated there for his cancer & for my extended family and friends who are Catholic, they should be proud to say Saint Joseph’s is Atlanta’s oldest and only Catholic hospital. Also, my mass is a vascular one (Tom & I got to see it (digital pictures) . . . no wonder I am bleeding like I am.) Saint Joseph’s performs approximately 1,600 vascular surgery procedures per year – more than any other hospital in metro Atlanta and Georgia.
For all my HISTORY / American Girl students at Timothy Ministry . . . click on this link to read about it's History: http://www.stjosephsatlanta.org/about/history.html I thought it was a cool story about caring for others. Kind of like what we do each session at Timothy through our service projects.
Things I am happy about and I hope that you will smile right along with me:
- I am going to have a pain button . . . every time I feel pain, I can just press it and I will receive some gooooood drugs! :)
- I am going to have cable for a few days . . . for you who don't know . . . we don't have cable at home. It is always one of the families highlight when we go on vacation.
- Go ahead be prepared to laugh . . . . At the end, I had one last question for the Doctor . . . she leaned forward, thinking it was an intense question . . . then I said "Does the Hospital have wi-fi in the rooms?" Then the room was filled with laughter :) Got to have my lap top.
Tom and I are so grateful for your support through your prayers . . .keep them coming. We will update you more after Monday when we will be given the date of the surgery . . . it will be with in the week.
Resting in HIS arms,
Trina
