‘I’m afraid that tests have shown you do have cervical cancer,’ said my consultant.
Suddenly, my ears started ringing and I started having an out-of-body experience. I felt like I wasn’t really in the room; I couldn’t make sense of what was happening.
Luckily, my husband was there, and he was able to get the information from the consultant; I certainly wasn’t in any fit state to take anything in. I couldn’t stop thinking about my children – at the time, I had a three-year-old and a six-month-old – and it was all so scary.
Because, while I had had symptoms, I only realised these were indicators that something was wrong in hindsight. I’d never seen them as anything to worry about; and my cancer was only picked up after a routine cervical screening.
I had my second baby in November 2018, and in the months following, I had noticed some bleeding. It was more like spotting, just bits of blood when I wasn’t expecting my period. It only happened two or three times; and, of course, I put it down to the fact that I’d had a baby a few months previously.
Cervical cancer symptoms
Cervical cancer is cancer found in the cervix and symptoms include:
- Pain during sex
- Abnormal vaginal bleeding – including spotting/bleeding between periods, after the menopause, after sex, or heavier periods than normal
- Pain between hip bones, in your lower tummy, or lower back
- Discharge changes – including pale, watery, brown, blood-coloured, pink or unpleasant smelling discharge
Had it happened at any other time in my life, I might have thought: ‘This isn’t right’. But given what my body had recently been through, I wasn’t concerned. It takes time for everything to get back to normal after childbirth, after all.
Once I was diagnosed, though, I realised that bleeding between periods is a major symptom of cervical cancer.
I’d actually had a large bleed during my pregnancy too; there was enough blood that I was terrified I’d lost the baby, so I went to the hospital but as the baby was fine I didn’t think any more of it.
After my diagnosis, though, I wondered if that bleed could have been another symptom.
But it wasn’t just the blood. I noticed pain during sex after giving birth, too. This is another key symptom of cervical cancer – but again, my body had recently been through a rough ride – I didn’t think of this pain as anything strange.
I had a check-up with my doctor after giving birth, but I didn’t mention either of these (what I now know to be) symptoms. Given the context, none of it felt important.
Now, I would tell each and every person who’s noticing any blood or pain that’s even remotely out of the ordinary – whether you’ve just had a baby or not – to see a doctor immediately.
But I didn’t know.
When I went for my cervical screening in April 2019, I wasn’t the slightest bit worried. I’d never missed a screening and I had no idea there could be anything wrong.
A few weeks later, I had a letter saying they’d detected abnormal cells in my cervix, and that I’d need to go for a colposcopy (where your cervix is examined in greater detail).
I didn’t panic. I just thought: ‘OK, I’ll get it checked, and they’ll tell me it’s fine.’
At my colposcopy, though, they decided to take a biopsy because of what they saw. It was a shock, and things started to feel a bit serious.
Three weeks later, I got a phone call asking me to come into the hospital and ‘discuss my results’.
At that point, I knew it wasn’t good news. They wouldn’t be wasting their time seeing me if it was.
I went to the hospital, and I got my diagnosis.
In less than a week I’d had an MRI to check if the cancer had spread. It hadn’t, which was – of course – a huge relief. We were lucky we caught it when we did, and my consultant had a plan. No chemotherapy or radiotherapy just yet. Instead, I should have a hysterectomy.
‘You’ve got two children already,’ he said. ‘We just need to get the cancer out.’
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I wanted to do whatever would give me my best chance – so I said yes.
I had my hysterectomy in September 2019, during which they removed my cervix and my womb. Luckily, I had ‘clear margins’, which meant the cancer hadn’t spread any further.
The procedure was all done internally, so I didn’t have any scarring, but it was still an incredibly hard few months. I couldn’t drive for eight weeks, and I couldn’t pick up anything that weighed more than ten pounds, which was difficult, because that included both of my sons.
I was trying to get over the surgery, while juggling the mental load of having children, and the other mental load of having cancer.
Looking back now, it’s like a fever dream. I don’t know how on earth we ever got through it – but at the time, we just had to get on with it. And we did.
I had the all-clear in October 2019, and for a while, I had three-monthly check-ups with my oncologist. Now, they’re every six months. I’ll be checked for 10 years after my diagnosis, which gives me huge peace of mind.
These days, I urge everyone to go for their cervical screenings. I know it’s not the nicest feeling, but it only takes around three minutes; and there could be far more invasive procedures further down the line if there is a problem.
And if you have any signs that something could be wrong – always, always get them checked. I thought there was a perfectly reasonable explanation for what I know now to be my symptoms of cervical cancer.
You really can’t ever be too careful.
As told to Izzie Price
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