Isabella

Isabella, 24 Years Old

Looking back, it all seemed to happen so fast. I got married in September 2005. Two months later I was pregnant already – talk about quick. We didn’t even try to get pregnant, it just happened. I had a pap smear done when the doctor confirmed my pregnancy. It was the first one I had done in three years. I am really embarrassed to say I had waited that long, but it was just something that made me really uncomfortable so I kept putting if off. I got a call from the nurse at my doctor’s office three days later. She told me that my pap smear was difficult to read and that I need to have another one done. She didn’t make a big deal out of it and scheduled my second pap smear to be done at my next doctor’s appointment, which was to happen in one month.

I was definitely bothered by this news, but I tried to not let it freak me out too much. I had enough to worry about. I was a newlywed and we were starting to get ready for our first baby. The morning sickness was really dragging me down at the time too. It seemed like I was sick all of the time. In retrospect, I had been bleeding a little bit during sex with my husband but I just figured we were being too rough.

The time came for my next doctor’s appointment. They did a more in-depth pap smear than the original one. The nurse told me not to worry that a lot of people have abnormal pap smears. I was also told that my pregnancy looked good. I left the doctor’s office that day not worried about too much.

So imagine my surprise when the nurse called again and this time said that my pap smear was bad. She actually sounded worried this time, which scared me. She told me that I would need to come in again for more testing. So one week later I went to the doctor’s office again, this time for a colposcopy. It didn’t really hurt, but it was really uncomfortable. They told me I would get my results in a few days.

Sure enough, I did hear back a few days later. However, it was the doctor himself who called me this time. He told me that the results showed that it could be something bad but he didn’t know for sure. He wanted to send me somewhere else for further evaluation.

Two days later I found myself in the oncologist’s office. Talk about being scared! The doctor told my husband and me that my biopsy results indicated I had invasive cervical cancer. However, she wanted to run more tests first to make sure.

A week later I checked into the hospital to have a cone biopsy. The procedure itself wasn’t so bad but it took a while to recover from that. When I called in for my test results, I got the news I had been dreading. I was told that I did have invasive cervical cancer. My heart just dropped with the news!

As if all that wasn’t bad enough, when I went in to actually see the doctor there was more to deal with. I was told I had to decide if I wanted to keep my baby or not. By this time I was 23 weeks along in my pregnancy. State laws did not allow abortions past 24 weeks. My husband and I decided I should keep the baby and risk delaying the treatment. The doctor did not want tot let me carry the baby past 26 weeks because the cancer had spread really fast already. I was really against inducing labor so early and we all eventually decided to wait until 29 weeks for me to have our baby.

My daughter, Anna, was born at exactly 29 weeks. I had to undergo a radical hysterectomy afterwards. I spent five days in the hospital.

I have been cancer free for over a year now. I am so lucky that it was caught in time. The reaction I get when people ask what kind of cancer I had really bothers me. The look embarrassed when I tell them. It’s like there’s some sort of stigma attached to it or something.

It bothers me that I had to have a hysterectomy in my 20’s. What if we had wanted to have another baby later on? We can’t do that now. I really wish there had been an alternative treatment available to me at the time.

On the bright side, my little girl is beautiful, healthy, and growing fast. My husband and I have a great marriage. He has been so supportive to me. I definitely don’t take life for granted like I used to. Having cancer gives you a totally new perspective on things.

Lesson Learned from Isabella’s Story

· Pap smears should be done regularly to detect any abnormalities. It is never okay to skip a pap smear.