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B次元官网网址業B次元官网网址檇 rather be anywhere elseB次元官网网址

With cancer treatment set to begin, Chilliwack Progress reporter Jessica Peters has a few words of advice.
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This may sound a little over-dramatic, but IB次元官网网址檓 currently dying.

I mean, (spoiler alert) technically we all are. But at the moment I have cervical cancer, and am just finishing all of the tests required before treatment starts. ItB次元官网网址檚 a personal cancer, with intimate details of symptoms. ItB次元官网网址檚 a cancer that begins with invasive screening, and when itB次元官网网址檚 hopefully cured, some very privately heartbreaking side effects.

All of it may be too personal for print, although in my opinion it shouldnB次元官网网址檛 be. But suffice it to say that I have been diagnosed with 2B cervical cancer, with involvement of at least one lymph node. This is going to take more than a few visits to the gynecologist to clear up, but IB次元官网网址檒l be okay in the end.

As my symptoms worsened, it got harder to be at work. So IB次元官网网址檝e been at home for the past month. IB次元官网网址檝e been preparing for chemo and radiation, which will take about six or seven weeks once it starts. IB次元官网网址檝e been resting and spending time with my family, and napping. And IB次元官网网址檝e been kicking myself.

I am acutely aware that IB次元官网网址檓 in this situation because I willfully neglected my regular pap smears for a few years. Okay, many years.

I had been to the doctor for countless other reasons. IB次元官网网址檇 even been through a breast cancer scare, but still no pap smear. ItB次元官网网址檚 hard to know how long IB次元官网网址檝e had this tumour. Even as I was getting more and more ill over the past seven or eight months, the thought of cervical cancer never crossed my mind.

Honestly.

Over the past month, I havenB次元官网网址檛 just been sitting around waiting for treatment. IB次元官网网址檝e learned things about the disease that every woman should know. We donB次元官网网址檛 talk about cervical cancer like we do about breast cancer. Perhaps because when we go to the doctor and do the routine screening, itB次元官网网址檚 caught early enough that we barely have to miss a day of work. Cervical cancer is a slow-growing one, after all, with no early symptoms.

From chatting with friends, IB次元官网网址檝e learned IB次元官网网址檓 not alone in forgoing that annual or bi-annual exam. For this reason alone, IB次元官网网址檓 eager to share what IB次元官网网址檓 learning with everyone, because as the commercials currently on TV right now say: B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檇 rather be anywhere than here.B次元官网网址

And B次元官网网址渉ereB次元官网网址 so far in my journey is countless, painful internal exams, multiple trips to the ER, endless imaging appointments including MRIs, CT scans and even a PET scan in Vancouver. ItB次元官网网址檚 meant consults and hospital tours, all in AbbotsfordB次元官网网址檚 beautiful cancer clinic. ItB次元官网网址檚 included days spent in bed, hours spent in a hot bath in agony from the inside out, thousands of trips to the washroom, a binder that grows with medical paperwork by the week, medication IB次元官网网址檝e never heard of, and arms and hands covered in bruises from injections and blood work.

ItB次元官网网址檚 given me my first tattoos, three tiny marks around my hips and pelvis to line me up with the radiation machine.

ItB次元官网网址檚 involved tears, but also love and warmth from friends and family. ItB次元官网网址檚 included access to fast testing, immediate results, and caring doctors and nurses. Each note of positivity, each card in the mail, each kindness to my family, has given us reasons to smile in a time when we could easily retreat into darkness. Yes, this is a world I want to stay in, for as long as possible.

In a few months, I will be post-treatment and looking toward a long life once again. But it didnB次元官网网址檛 have to be this dramatic, this fraught with emotion and risks and side effects. It could have been caught sooner had I been more pro-active.

So please, book your screening and talk to your doctor about other cancer risks.

Jessica Peters is a reporter with The Chilliwack Progress



Jessica Peters

About the Author: Jessica Peters

I began my career in 1999, covering communities across the Fraser Valley ever since.
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