Welcome

 I have written blog posts before, not sure why I didn’t think about it until now. My life has changed dramatically since 2021, not only did Covid change our entire lives, my own little tiny world got flipped upside down. 

I had been having severe stomach cramping, bleeding almost every day for multiple years. I literally lived off ibuprofen, taking it every 6 hrs because the minute the cramping started I couldn’t handle it. I never knew when I’d bleed so life was always surrounded by that. But one day I finally decided to go to the OBGYN. I was 29, this was my first appt, I never went because my mom always made it seem like I didn’t need to go until I started having sex, well she died of pancreatic cancer, and I didn’t have sex until 2021. 

My other friend that has been telling me for about a year to go had similar issues, she just had a thick lining and it was all good. I thought that’s all this was too, I was convinced I was fine, it was endometriosis, fibroids, thickened lining. So I finally went, decided on a IUD to help control the abnormal bleeding! 

Two weeks later, I go for the IUD, not my favorite experience, actually I cried for 30 minutes in my car from embarrassment that I was bleeding all over the place, but they also decided to do a biopsy which was fine!!! I made it through that and I wouldn’t have to deal with the IUD for 7 years! I felt like I was going to be normal, that finally If this actually worked, I would be able to have a normal life, maybe I’d be comfortable to go have a sex life (because how do you explain that you have to wear a pad everyday because you never know when you might bleed since you bleed almost everyday). 

A couple weeks later the biopsy comes back. I was at work when I decided to check my online health account which told me I had the results! Yay! I couldn’t wait to put it behind me and just keep going. Well, I opened them at like 2am, for them to tell me foci of Adenocarcinoma was found. I literally laughed and froze because this was a joke, this wasn’t really what I thought it was, it couldn’t be. I had always told myself I wasn’t going to get cancer, it just wasn’t going to happen. But surely a couple days later, the OBGYN called and told me what it found and that I was going to be referred to a gynecological oncologist. 

This is just the start of my story. Although I have alot more to fill you in on, I am going to stop here. This all happened in November 2021. It is now June 2022. But I want to write my story out. I want to share what has happened!

Welcome to my cancer journey. I’m Catherine, I’m 30 years old, and I never thought I’d be diagnosed with cancer.