It’s been a hot minute since I’ve posted about what has been going on with my health since my treatments. If you’re new to the page, in 2019 I was diagnosed with Stage 3b1 cervical cancer. I completed 5 rounds of chemo, 25 rounds of external radiation and two rounds of brachytherapy ( which is 4 blasts of internal radiation, 2 each appointment ) After completed treatments, I’m currently NED. ( no evidence of disease )
I’ve shared a few of the issues I’ve been developing along the way after treatments completed. Issues like rheumatoid arthritis, and medical menopause. I get to share a few new experiences with you, and the urology clinic is one of them.
Prior to the last month, I hadn’t ever been to this department. Tbh, didn’t even know it had its own department. But here we are. I’ve been meeting with a Dr out of St Joseph’s hospital. When I do go there, I’m definitely out of place. The waiting rooms are typically full of elderly men. So that in itself, can make you feel… out of place. I am a 36 year old female. Have yet to see a women in that department.
Don’t get me wrong, everyone I’ve met has been very welcoming. They are telling me I look so young, stories about their wives that passed away from cancer, or they just don’t care for life anymore and are waiting for their day. 💔 I share my story with them, and there face goes white, every single time. Speechless. They can’t believe it… and well, neither can I at times.
With my first appointment, it was pretty straight forward… I showed up at the wrong date / time and couldn’t be seen. 😂😂😂 Sometimes you just don’t get the call that your appointment was changed. 🙃
Next appointment I went to was a straight forward consultation with my new doctor. We talked about my past experiences, cancer and the difficulties I was facing. My difficulty was it’s becoming difficult to pee. And not in a infection sense either, because it doesn’t burn or anything like that. It’s like trying to force water out a tied balloon so to speak.
From there the consensus was that we would start to set up appointments to navigate the issue.
We had 3 appts set up. The first is a flow test. The next is a cystoscopy. The last is an ultrasound. I’ll share the other appts in different posts cause there’s a lot I didn’t realize and you may learn too. I’m hoping by sharing more about these appointments, that less women will fear taking their own health serious. As moms, we put our kids first always. But because we do that, and forget that we too are important, we put our health at risk. We need to be around for them. No one is going to check in and make sure you’re advocating for yourself. It’s on you. So make your appointments, and show up for yourself ❤️
If you want to learn more, watch for my upcoming post where I share more on the flow test visit and my cystoscopy procedure 🙏🏻