I am a 43, widowed with 3 boys.. I've always gone in for regular check ups, but twice now I have had cancer, and twice they have failed me. I have read some of the stories on here and it is amazing what the doctors miss! I had st 3 cervical cancer 3 yrs ago, went through radiation and chemo. I am still fighting side effects from that. Last Aug I had a mammogram and ultrasound done on a lump I had found in my left breast 6 years ago. It was cancer, even though for years they had said it was fibrocystic breast disease and breast cancer didn't hurt! This time, I had the surgery, chemo and am getting reconstruction lined up. I have vowed to be a voice in all of this. You can't go by what the doctor tells you. You know your body better than anyone. You have the right, and the obligation to your family and yourself, to speak up until you are heard. Don't take no for an answer. If you don't like what you hear, there are plenty of doctors out there willing to listen. No one will stand up for you if you don't stand yourself. Life is too precious to throw away on someone elses opinion. Things like needle biopsies, MRI, PET scans, all of these are fantastic diagnostic tools that are out there. Don't ever just sit back and say, oh, the doc says its ok when they only do a pap or a mammogram or ultrasound. Insist, loudly if you have to, that more testing be done!
I will beat this again. I am strong. I have my faith. I have my family. And I will never sit silently in a doctors office again!
Jackson, MI