Vulvar Cancer: Anyone else?

Thank you so much for your reply. I’m sure I will know more after the appointment with the surgeon tomorrow and, hopefully, will be less stressed after I have an idea what the plan forward will be.

I had a radical vulvectomy with sentinel lymph node removal, on both the right and left sides, on September 11. My cancer is invasive. The lymph nodes on the right side showed positive on the PET scan before surgery. The testing of the nodes showed they could only be detected microscopically, however. Due to this, my oncologist said they wouldn’t do radiation now. I have a follow up appointment in December, and every three months going forward.
I know the waiting for your appointment is difficult. I don’t know what the protocol is in your case, but I’ll send good thoughts your way.

I had a radical partial vulvectomy on October 25 and 6 lymph nodes tested/removed. At the time the lymph nodes appeared to be negative for cancer but the later testing on the frozen tissue showed one of the lymph nodes positive with metastatic carcinoma. I have a post surgery appointment with the surgeon and assume she will discuss this finding. Has anyone else had this experience?

In my case, the pain from the biopsies were the worst for the first two days. After that, they were painful, but tolerable. Laying down helped me. I spent most of my time laying on the couch or the bed. Hope you are feeling better today.

Thank you for asking. I am doing as well as expected (lousy area to get a biopsy!). It has been a little over 24 hours and I feel like eating again. My doctor told me the biopsy results should be available on Monday. Dealing with the biopsy site keeps me from thinking too much about why I had the biopsy.

@tally9004, how did your biopsy appointment go? How are you doing?

@tally9004 Oh, like you I like to get these procedures done early in the morning. I’m not an early morning person anymore but for a procedure I’ll do it. I’m thinking that like a colonoscopy you will be talking with your doctor ahead of time and afterwards. So you can ask when you will know about the results. Some pathologists turn these results around really quickly like in 24-48 hours. Also, the surgeon might give you some preliminary impressions before the tissue is analyzed in pathology.

Will you let me know how the procedure goes tomorrow? I’m wishing you a compassionate medical team that listens to you and provides you with excellent care.

Hi, It is the case where I will get a call from the surgery center after 3 pm today to tell me when to come in. I think the fact that my doctor wanted to do it in as a minor surgery with drugs like in a colonoscopy is not real comforting. The not knowing for sure until the results come in is awful. I hope it is early in morning since I can't eat after midnight. I am a get up at 5 am and have breakfast at 5:30 kind of person.

@tally9004 Welcome to our support group. The emotions of calm to panic sound about right to me. It's a shock to get this information and nerve wracking while you await the biopsy. When I heard the word "cancer", in my case uterine cancer, my whole consciousness shifted. In fact, I made a wrong turn on a road I'd driven many times on my way home from the gynecologist's office. I was in an unfamiliar neighborhood and once I "woke up" I easily corrected my route but it was an unsettling experience for me. I knew why it happened but I felt like I was existing in another world as I absorbed the information.

What time is your biopsy tomorrow?

I go from feeling calm and resigned to total panic. Not knowing is pretty nerve wracking because my life could change completely once I get the results in. Thank you for sharing. I get home from everyone who has come out on the other side of their diagnosis.