Survivorship: anyone else struggling?

I honestly cannot believe your doctor doesn’t use one either. I was told it was not necessary also. I went to 4 gynecologists in two years going to the what I though were the best oncology gynecologists one was the head of his department before the last dr said she would use the speculum for me, I think to console me although she said she didn’t expect to find anything. She actually found the recurrence and did the biopsy in her office which came back positive. I went for a second opinion when I found out to stanford and the Mayo clinic and decide Stanford was the right fit for me since I live in California. I ended up having 28 sessions of radiation and 4 brachytherapy. Please INSIST they use a speculum it may save your life. Had I not I would not be here today. I am so tired of having to be proactive when we as patients rely and trust our doctors to do the right thing for us. All my doctors know that I have trust issues because of this and the fact that when I originally got my uterus cancer my gynecologist doctor didn’t even examine me I had to go back and insist she must have realized her mistake because she examined me and did the biopsy in her office something I wouldn’t recommend. The biopsy came back positive.
Good luck. It’s your life be proactive and have a long life. 😍

That is a wonderful way to look at the experience

"And the enthusiasm is of course, so welcome, but leaves us with a deeper feeling of being isolated with ongoing worries that we cannot express." Perfectly said!

I have my next cancer surveillance next week on Tuesday, September 5. I was diagnosed with endometrial cancer (adenocarcinoma, Stage 1a, FIGO Grade 1) in July, 2019. I had a hysterectomy in August, 2019 and then a recurrence in October 2021. The recurrence was found by my nurse practitioner who does a complete pelvic exam with a speculum. She found a little polyp-like (a few millimeters in size) on the vaginal cuff. I had 28 sessions of external pelvic radiation and 2 sessions of brachytherapy. Since the recurrence I have returned to my nurse practitioner every 4 months since the recurrence.

Cancer almost never leaves my mind from day-to-day. However, I did just return from a 3 week vacation in Canada. I was relaxed and happy the entire time and honestly did not think all that much about cancer. Now that I'm back home and have an appointment next week it's on my mind again. I figure I need to just let the thoughts and emotions be there as they come in waves. But it's not easy and no amount of wishing otherwise will help. This is my reality now.

Thanks for sharing your experience of recurrence, and I second (third, fourth) the insistence of a speculum exam during follow up visits. I'm a former nurse-midwife and though I was not involved in oncology, I was taught that a pelvic exam includes a speculum exam, so to hear that providers are skipping this is remarkable.

September is gynecologic cancer awareness month

So very true and well said. It's funny...I fear recurrence of the breast cancer (dx 2019 Stage IIIC) daily, and this recent one (vulvar, 2 surgeries, neg. lymph nodes) a lot less (probably because of the stages). Nevertheless, I was driving myself crazy! I have my follow-ups at cancer centers and stay really busy. Except for the actual check-ups (every 4 months with someone on the team for each of these cancers), I really am forced to forget about it. Striking the balance between reasonable follow-up and scans, and over doing both, has been the challenge for sure.