Little update: I am home after 8 days in the hospital! For those of you who don’t already know, I had a bad pap-cervical cancer and had to have a radical hysterectomy and LND. Thankfully, my doctor was able to do it laparoscopically. For anyone who may have to do this, I can tell you the anticipation is worse than the reality. I would also recommend having someone stay with you the first night, because it is impossible to move even in bed without help. The second night, I was able to use my elbows and get up to use the bathroom every 2 hours! Waah.
I was worried that the nurses would be shy about pain meds but they pretty much responded to requests for more and they didn’t even hassle me when I asked for a sleeping pill! I was going to go home day 3 but spiked a temp to 102 and was in on IV antibiotics for a while. I was hallucinating that hands were coming down from the ceiling so I had to sleep with the light on at night like a baby! They thought I had appendicitis, and ct scanned my belly. Then they though I had an infection/ fluid collection where old utie used to be. Fortunately, over the weekend, the antibiotics worked and I didn’t have to go for more surgery. No one seems to know where the fever came from but it doesn’t matter. I was about 2 mm away from having to have chemo and radiation going in to this, and it turns out my pathology reports shows I am now cancer free! woo hoo! The best news ever!
I feel like I have been given a second chance, so I am very grateful. And if any of you haven’t had your yearly yet, get off the computer and call to make an appt now! A friend of mine urged me to do it a few months ago and probably saved my life! I skipped a year, and if I would have skipped another, I would have to go through chemo, radiation, and who knows? :smack:
Glad you’re home and better! I have been a very very bad girly-patient. After I had my son in 1999, my OB/GYN stopped practicing (he was promoted to big-head-guy-over-women’s-stuff-doctor at the hospital) and I just didn’t like anyone else. I didn’t have a pap for uhm…7 years – until this year. I finally went, and was more than a bit nervous, but all turned out fine. I agree, it’s the easiest thing to keep oneself healthy that is also the easiest to skip, since it’s so icky.
Congratulations on your successful procedure, Nevermind and for being cancer-free!!! You must be feeling great right now - at least emotionally 
I’ve been on The Pill since I was 18, and that requires me to see my gynecologist at least once a year. I guess I’m “lucky” that I am required to go - keeps me in check!
I’m 46, and I’ve never been to the gynecologist.
Congrats, BTW.
OH MY GOD BOB WHAT IF YOU HAVE UTERINE CANCER!!!
I’ve always been a regular GYN patient because they’ve found the trick that gets me back - not refilling my birth control prescription! Although I just had an IUD installed in May, so that need is gone. But now it’s just habit, so I’ll keep on going. It’s pretty much the only doctor I see regularly, so it’s good to at least keep one foot in the medical field, I suppose.
LOL
I hope by the sound of your name that you are male! If not, I may have to ocme over and slap the snot out of you!
Emotionally yes!
But your point about the pill brings me to another good point. Part of my reasoning/rationalization for blowing off the pap, was that I wasn’t very ‘sexually active’ and if I did anything, I used a condom. So I took it for granted that I was okay. I wasn’t worried about Birth control , or about STD’s so I figured, ‘why bother’? Wrong! I also recently have heard that some insurance companies/Kaiser in particular have a policy that if you have had 3 negative paps in a row, then you don’t have to go for one every year!!! (Info from a friend on Kaiser). Shocking, since this is one of the most preventable cancers, that is really a disease of neglect.
::checks inside my drawers:: Yup, I’m still a dude…
It never fails to crack me up to come home from the pharmacy with a prescription, and there’s one of those little warning labels stating “Do not take this medication if you are pregnant”.
Glad to hear all went well!
And I’m another who says all women should see a gyn at least 1x/yr. esp as you get older.
Nevermind- yeay! Good news!
BTW, annual smears are NOT necessary for the vast majority of women, and certainly not for women under 25 . In the UK most women have a smear every 3 years. If you have always had normal smears, going to 3-yearly smears is a perfectly reasonable move.
Easy way to remember - schedule your yearly with a date - like your birthday - even though it’s a sucky present.
At least my Gyno runs the warm water over the spec first.
Wow. I am not an expert but I would have to disagree. If one is exposed to the high risk HPV then goes for 3 years without screening, cancer will have had plenty of time to advance to a stage, where a cone is not enought to take of it. I am an example of one of those people. I had always had negative paps, missed one year and boom-“adenocarcinoma” Level IA2, you are having surgery! I was very close to having to have chemo and radiation. My primary care physican told me a story of a patient of his very similar to mine. It seems to me only logical that since we know 80% of women have been exposed to hpv at one time or another, and it is linked to cervical cancer, that waiting 3 years only compounds your risk. Irishgirl, even though that may be protocol where you live, please research your options and consider doing it more often, esp if you are sexually active.
Speaking of the whole who needs them and who doesn’t – when I went for my 7 year exam, the doctor was very nice. I’d never seen him before, but he came highly recommended, and with good reason (he’s very personable and a good doctor). I asked him about my daughter – I have been sexually active since I was 13, so I know the importance of the annual pap, but my daughter is still a virgin – he stated that the only women who actually need an annual exam are those who are sexually active, have a family history of cancer or who are on birth control for one reason or another.
I will note that daughter is most definitely getting her HPV vaccine as soon as marching practice is done so we can schedule it.
Congratulations Nevermind, I’m glad your news was good.
That’s what my PCP/Gyn told me too. I got two clean ones and am not sexually active so I don’t plan on going back. If I had HPV from sex 14 years ago, it would have shown up by now.
I’m happy everything turned out well for you! My friend had ovarian cysts and then ovarian cancer stage 1 and had the hysterectomy. She did move rather slowly for awhile but what a relief not to have the regular pain of cysts, and of course to be cancer-free.
Nevermind, I’m so sorry about the infection and hallucinations- that must have been dreadfully frightening. Glad it only took a couple of days to reverse that.
How has the settling in thing that other posters referred to in your previous thread? Organs shuffling around to fill in the empty space? And how about bladder issues? Still same sensations and “empty me!” alerts?
I’ve recently been for my first smear in a 6 year while. I’ll have another next year and then go three yearly - unless I change partners or start indulging in risky behaviour (or both 
)
Hope the rest of your recovery goes smoothly.
I suppose that would explain the sudden stabbing pains that would occur for no reason, and I am still on anibiotics for a bladder infection, but other than that, no probs!