blue_ladybug's uterine cancer battle

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blue_ladybug

Senior Member
Feb 21, 2014
70,860
9,579
113
#1
**DISCLAIMER #1.) Long post alert, but please read it entirely!! Thank you!!

**DISCLAIMER #2.) Contains some personal, graphic information but I would like to keep it in my testimony so that the full impact and symptoms of uterine cancer are fully understood. If you cannot handle TMI, then please dont read this testimony!! I am sorry if it makes you uncomfortable, but it is needed for medical and testimonial purposes.

Hi everyone,

I am blue_ladybug. Most of you know me, others may not. First of all, I want to give credit to my great friend tashmeyer for encouraging me to pull my story from the confines of christian ladies forum, into Miscellaneous so that my story can be shared with all of you. I hope you find strength and courage in my story.
It was 2010, and I was 39. I had an appointment with my gynecologist, and I was telling him that I had been having very bad periods for quite some time. Heavy bleeding, alot of HUGE clots, and so on. It was so bad that I couldnt leave my house during my periods, and it interfered with personal relationships and daily activities. I questioned him about the possibility of maybe having an hysterectomy done to alleviate the symptoms. He informed me that as a general rule, they only do that IF the patient has cancer. I then asked him to do a pap smear on me, and he agreed.

About two weeks later, he did a combination pap smear and D&C. A D&C is a fancy name for scraping out the uterus of blood clots and such. It was a same-day surgery, meaning that I got to go home a few hours later. I waited for him to contact me with the results of the pap smear. Two weeks later, I got "the call." The dreaded call, in which he proceeded to tell me, on the phone instead of in his office like he SHOULD have, that "we found cancerous cells and need to operate as soon as possible." That information did'nt slap me in the face until I got off the phone with him. I went outside and waited for my mom, because we were going shopping. In the few minutes that I waited, a multitude of thoughts ran through my head: "Why ME? Why is it me, and not my sister who has smoked like a chimney for 30-something years!!" Why are you allowing me to get cancer, God? After all I've suffered through already with my periods, you dump this on me too?!!"

That was my mindset that day. Anyway, my mom came and we left. She asked me how I was and I started bawling and said, "the doctor just called and I have cancer"!! She kept looking at me and saying, "are you kidding?" I think she was in shock too. I asked her not to tell my dad, or sisters and brother. I wanted to do that myself. I dried my eyes because I was grocery shopping and didnt want everyone staring at me bawling. LOL. My dad took me back home and helped me bring my groceries in. I then told him I had cancer, and I can still remember the look on his face to this day. He told me it would be okay, they would do the surgery, and I would be fine. His words echoed my moms words almost verbatim. She told me the same thing. My dad then pointed to a picture of a person I have on my fridge door, and said, "do you believe in this man?" The picture, as you probably have guessed, was of Jesus, and I said, "of course I believe in Jesus." My dad then said, "then trust in him right now." I tried to, I really did, but it was hard because my head was full of what ifs?. What if its more than they saw? What if they dont get it all? I'm not one to trust people easily, but I have always tried to trust God. He alone is the great healer. Modern doctors and medicine are limited, but God is not. :)

Anyway, two weeks after I got the results, I had the surgery. It's kind of odd how everything happened exactly two weeks apart. Two is now my lucky number. LOL. :) The day of the surgery, the surgeon called me and told me to get to the hospital earlier than planned, because he had a surgery cancellation and was able to take me right there and then. I live in Vermont, the surgery was at Dartmouth-Hitchcock in New Hampshire, so it took about an hour to get there. My dad had a lead foot all the way down there!! LOL.

They took me right in and hustled me into surgery. I was glad they took me earlier because that morning, out of extreme stress, I had started my period AGAIN!! It had ended only two weeks earlier. I thought they wouldnt be able to do the surgery now because of it, but they did anyway. The doctors, who are both gynecologists AND married to each other, disputed whether I would be there only overnight or for a couple of days. Well, I HATE hospitals, so that entire night, I took my IV and walked up and down the hallways all night!! There was no way I was gonna give them an excuse to keep me for two days!! :)

That ordeal was almost exactly four years ago. It will be four years on July 7th. I made it through my ordeal with cancer. I did not have to do chemo or radiation, nor would I have done them. It did not make sense to me why I should make myself SICKER to make myself BETTER. Doctors did not heal me. Medicine did not heal me. GOD healed me!! He gave me cancer for a reason, and I'm blessed enough to know what that reason is. I am not being prideful, or presumptuous when I say that. God gave me cancer, to alleviate the symptoms of my periods. I went through unimaginable horror with them, and every month I would say, "please Jesus help me!! I cant take this anymore"!! It took several YEARS, but God finally answered my prayers by giving me the gift of cancer. Yes, I consider my cancer to be a gift. I didnt consider it a gift at the time, of course, lol, but looking back now, I see that it was.

I know some of you are reading that statement in shock. Shock that I can consider something so horrible as a wonderful gift!! Well, then you will really be shocked to know that I am also truly GRATEFUL for getting cancer!! It's crazy, but getting cancer SAVED my life.

Please dont leave any replies saying "how dare you say something like that!! That's blasphemous!!" It is not blasphemous to ME. It is the God's honest truth. Only someone who has stood where I was in this, can truly understand those two comments of gratefulness and gifts. I'm alive today by the grace of God. Thank you God, for letting me live to share my story with these people. :) I hope you will be given hope and strength by reading my story. If you know someone who is going through something similar, please encourage them to read this. Sorry so long, thanks for reading this and God bless you all!!


 

Toska

Senior Member
Nov 16, 2013
1,857
22
38
#2
Thank you so much for sharing your story. If this testimony pushes just one woman who is going through what you went through to the doctor sooner instead of later, you may save a life. I truly admire that you are willing to share this story for all to see and I pray that people realize that their health is not something to take for granted. You are a very brave woman and I respect you even more than I already did.

I am glad that you had your faith to help you through this terrible trial in your life. Your parents sounds like amazing people. You have been blessed in so many ways. I agree, God is the One who healed you. The doctors did the surgery but, He was in that room with you the entire time--guiding them as they performed the surgery on you. Making sure that they had the wisdom and ability to take care of you--His child.

I will be honest, I never would have imagined someone considering cancer a gift. But, the way you tell it and the passion you use--I know that it was a gift for you. I don't see how anyone can read your words and not agree with you. I am so thankful to Him that you are completely healed, that you survived. I cannot imagine having not ever met you now that I have gotten to know you.

Keep telling your story, so many are afraid to talk about things like this but it needs to be heard.

God Bless
 

blue_ladybug

Senior Member
Feb 21, 2014
70,860
9,579
113
#3
Thank you so much for sharing your story. If this testimony pushes just one woman who is going through what you went through to the doctor sooner instead of later, you may save a life. I truly admire that you are willing to share this story for all to see and I pray that people realize that their health is not something to take for granted. You are a very brave woman and I respect you even more than I already did.

I am glad that you had your faith to help you through this terrible trial in your life. Your parents sounds like amazing people. You have been blessed in so many ways. I agree, God is the One who healed you. The doctors did the surgery but, He was in that room with you the entire time--guiding them as they performed the surgery on you. Making sure that they had the wisdom and ability to take care of you--His child.

I will be honest, I never would have imagined someone considering cancer a gift. But, the way you tell it and the passion you use--I know that it was a gift for you. I don't see how anyone can read your words and not agree with you. I am so thankful to Him that you are completely healed, that you survived. I cannot imagine having not ever met you now that I have gotten to know you.

Keep telling your story, so many are afraid to talk about things like this but it needs to be heard.

God Bless

Toska, that is exactly what I hope my story does. Push people to go to their doctor, whether its woman or man, no matter what kind of cancer. I will admit it, I hate hospitals, I hate doctors and procedures!! I didnt even want to really have the pap smear done, but I'm glad I did, because I would never have known I had cancer until it was too late!!
Thank you. Now I'm blushing-lol..Your admiration and respect mean alot to me. Everyone's does. :) I'm just glad I'm here to share my story. I wont say I'm lucky, because there is no such thing as luck. I will simply say, I am blessed. :)
 

tourist

Senior Member
Mar 13, 2014
41,243
16,252
113
69
Tennessee
#4
That was an absolutely courageous testimony. I am glad that you had the support of your family during this horrible ideal. My late wife was at the same hospital that you were and she said it was top notch. I find your story to be full of encouragement and hope to those who are suffering from this and other serious disease and sickness. As two is your "lucky" number I give your brave and touching story two claps of my hands. I think the real gift is you and how hard you try to comfort others with the love of God in your heart. I like the number two also.
 

blue_ladybug

Senior Member
Feb 21, 2014
70,860
9,579
113
#5
That was an absolutely courageous testimony. I am glad that you had the support of your family during this horrible ideal. My late wife was at the same hospital that you were and she said it was top notch. I find your story to be full of encouragement and hope to those who are suffering from this and other serious disease and sickness. As two is your "lucky" number I give your brave and touching story two claps of my hands. I think the real gift is you and how hard you try to comfort others with the love of God in your heart. I like the number two also.

tourist, yes, Dartmouth-Hitchcock IS a very top-notch hospital. That's why us Vermonters go to New Hampshire for surgery!! LOL!! :) I dont believe in luck, so I will say that 2 is my BLESSED number. :) Thank you for clapping at my story. I am truly humbled and honored to share it here with all of you wonderful people.
 

Toska

Senior Member
Nov 16, 2013
1,857
22
38
#6

Toska, that is exactly what I hope my story does. Push people to go to their doctor, whether its woman or man, no matter what kind of cancer. I will admit it, I hate hospitals, I hate doctors and procedures!! I didnt even want to really have the pap smear done, but I'm glad I did, because I would never have known I had cancer until it was too late!!
Thank you. Now I'm blushing-lol..Your admiration and respect mean alot to me. Everyone's does. :) I'm just glad I'm here to share my story. I wont say I'm lucky, because there is no such thing as luck. I will simply say, I am blessed. :)
I can understand your dislike of hospitals, doctors, and procedures. When I was in my early 20's, I kept having pap results with pre-cancerous cells. I had so many pap smears and procedures done that it makes me want to cry thinking back about it.

When I was 23, I had a very fast growing tumor that had to be removed surgically. I thank God it was benign. But, it was huge--the size of a volleyball. I was very thin at the time and noticed a slight bulge (for want of a better word) in my lower abdomen that was not right. In less than 3 weeks, I looked like I was pregnant........that is how fast it was growing. My doctor even made me take a pregnancy test even though I knew 100% that I was not pregnant. I had to laugh when the results were negative and he assured me that I would not be charged for the pregnancy test. The bad news was that the tumor crushed both of my tubes and one of my ovaries.

By the time I was 27, things had gotten so bad that I had to have a hysterectomy. My paps kept coming back with pre-cancerous cells and they were getting worse. My doctor had tried everything he could to avoid a hysterectomy since I had not had any children but, my health was not good. I was in almost constant pain, had terrible periods (very similar to the ones you described), and we were worried about the cells turning cancerous. So, into the hospital I went. I will tell you that in one way you were lucky. I had mine in 1997 and had to stay in the hospital for 5 days afterward. I begged, cried, and pleaded but the doctors would not release me even though I had been up and walking since the day of my surgery. They kept telling me I was too 'important' of a case to be allowed to go home.

Anyway, I thought I should go ahead and add my story to this. I am not trying to take away from your testimony--I honestly hope you do not think that. I am hoping it will be kind of a double (notice the 2) warning to people to go to the doctor if anything seems wrong at all.

God Bless
 
T

ThePottersClay

Guest
#7
An amazing testimony Ladybug! Thanks for sharing this with the CC. On the subject I think many people can relate, men and women all who have had the unfortunate experience of Cancer be it at early stages or later stages... its good to read something this positive it instills hope in many!

Love you for your heart!!! God Bless
 

blue_ladybug

Senior Member
Feb 21, 2014
70,860
9,579
113
#8
I can understand your dislike of hospitals, doctors, and procedures. When I was in my early 20's, I kept having pap results with pre-cancerous cells. I had so many pap smears and procedures done that it makes me want to cry thinking back about it.

When I was 23, I had a very fast growing tumor that had to be removed surgically. I thank God it was benign. But, it was huge--the size of a volleyball. I was very thin at the time and noticed a slight bulge (for want of a better word) in my lower abdomen that was not right. In less than 3 weeks, I looked like I was pregnant........that is how fast it was growing. My doctor even made me take a pregnancy test even though I knew 100% that I was not pregnant. I had to laugh when the results were negative and he assured me that I would not be charged for the pregnancy test. The bad news was that the tumor crushed both of my tubes and one of my ovaries.

By the time I was 27, things had gotten so bad that I had to have a hysterectomy. My paps kept coming back with pre-cancerous cells and they were getting worse. My doctor had tried everything he could to avoid a hysterectomy since I had not had any children but, my health was not good. I was in almost constant pain, had terrible periods (very similar to the ones you described), and we were worried about the cells turning cancerous. So, into the hospital I went. I will tell you that in one way you were lucky. I had mine in 1997 and had to stay in the hospital for 5 days afterward. I begged, cried, and pleaded but the doctors would not release me even though I had been up and walking since the day of my surgery. They kept telling me I was too 'important' of a case to be allowed to go home.

Anyway, I thought I should go ahead and add my story to this. I am not trying to take away from your testimony--I honestly hope you do not think that. I am hoping it will be kind of a double (notice the 2) warning to people to go to the doctor if anything seems wrong at all.

God Bless
Toska, wow, the size of a volley ball?!! O_O I'm so glad it was benign too, although I didnt think benign tumors grew to be that large. I'm glad you went to the doctor when you did!! I also would have been like, "doctor I am NOT pregnant--I'm 1000% sure of that"! LOL. :) But I suppose that is one of the things they try to rule out right away. It's probably good that you had to stay in the hospital for so long, just on the chance that something went wrong with your recovery. I'm so glad your okay. :) Thanks for adding your story to mine. Of course I dont think you're trying to take away from mine!! Now people will get a double dose (there's that blessed 2 again) :) of hope and courage, instead of one. Thank you for sharing your story, Toska.
 

blue_ladybug

Senior Member
Feb 21, 2014
70,860
9,579
113
#9
An amazing testimony Ladybug! Thanks for sharing this with the CC. On the subject I think many people can relate, men and women all who have had the unfortunate experience of Cancer be it at early stages or later stages... its good to read something this positive it instills hope in many!

Love you for your heart!!! God Bless
Tash, thank you so much for encouraging me to write this in the first place!! You are a wonderful person and I love ya!! At least now EVERYONE can read it and be given hope, and I hope anyone who reads my story and knows someone who is going through cancer right know will direct them to my story and have them read it. I hope they will draw comfort and hope from my story, and realize that cancer does not always kill. I believe part of my recovery was my positive attitude. I think attitude plays a big part in whether you live or die when you have any type of disease like that. Alot of people heard the word "cancer," and just give up right there and then. Others, like myself and Toska, fight with everything we have. :) Even if cancer had ended up taking my life, that would have been okay too. I'm ready to go home, and death on earth really isnt death at all, its simply the beginning of a wonderful new life with Jesus. :)
 
R

Raine

Guest
#10
Blue Ladybug!

That was so beautiful! It brought me to tears! And what an amazing revelation that God gave you in perspective of cancer in your situation. As a nurse, I was so surprised but deeply moved by your statement about cancer. What a beautiful testimony! I am so blessed by your story and thank you for sharing this. <3
 

blue_ladybug

Senior Member
Feb 21, 2014
70,860
9,579
113
#12
Blue Ladybug!

That was so beautiful! It brought me to tears! And what an amazing revelation that God gave you in perspective of cancer in your situation. As a nurse, I was so surprised but deeply moved by your statement about cancer. What a beautiful testimony! I am so blessed by your story and thank you for sharing this. <3

Raine, ty so much!! I did'nt mean to make you cry!! LOL. :) I know that as a nurse, you can understand my viewpoint on the cancer at that time. You are welcome, and ty for the reputation comment!! :)
 

Hanady

Senior Member
Apr 20, 2012
141
4
0
35
#14
Amazing testimony :)!! Thank you for sharing this. I am happy for you
 
J

jer2911

Guest
#17
You reminded me of my sister, she had a cervical cancer. She went through the same agony whenever she had her periods. She wasn't able to undergo chemo or radiation because when she had her surgery, after 5 hours, she died in the hospital. While writing this, tears flowing from my eyes. How I wish my sister had the same courage like you do now. But then, I believed God has his reasons for allowing things.

Blue_ladybug, in Revelation 3:7-13 I hold on to God's words in here dearly because of consecutive deaths in my family.

He knows your deeds, Blue_ladybug. No one can open the door of hope, not the doctors nor the medicines. And he can be the only one to shut the door of prayers. He knows that you have little strength, yet you have kept his words and have not denied his name.

May God keep you from the hour of trial that is ongoing to test the whole world.

Please, hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown... Princess.

I am inspired by your faith and will continue to pray for one another. Thanks for sharing your ordeal.

I love you, sis.

Your sister in the Lord,
jer2911
 

blue_ladybug

Senior Member
Feb 21, 2014
70,860
9,579
113
#18
You reminded me of my sister, she had a cervical cancer. She went through the same agony whenever she had her periods. She wasn't able to undergo chemo or radiation because when she had her surgery, after 5 hours, she died in the hospital. While writing this, tears flowing from my eyes. How I wish my sister had the same courage like you do now. But then, I believed God has his reasons for allowing things.

Blue_ladybug, in Revelation 3:7-13 I hold on to God's words in here dearly because of consecutive deaths in my family.

He knows your deeds, Blue_ladybug. No one can open the door of hope, not the doctors nor the medicines. And he can be the only one to shut the door of prayers. He knows that you have little strength, yet you have kept his words and have not denied his name.

May God keep you from the hour of trial that is ongoing to test the whole world.

Please, hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown... Princess.

I am inspired by your faith and will continue to pray for one another. Thanks for sharing your ordeal.

I love you, sis.

Your sister in the Lord,
jer2911
jer2911, I'm sorry that your sister lost her battle with cancer. Just rest assured that she has an eternal, pain-free, better life now with Jesus. :) I try very hard to keep my faith, but it's an every day battle. Jesus IS my strength!! He IS my hope, my courage, my everything. :) I have struggled very hard to get where I am today with my faith and with God. I'm glad my story is inspiring so many people!! :) God bless you, jer. :)
 
W

wantstogiveup

Guest
#19
Thank you for sharing. I try to be positive, speak life, and keep my faith but you blue_ladybug are a good example of that. You are joyful and positive in every post. Cancer is a gift wow it would be really hard to look at it like that. You are blessed and highly favored!
 

blue_ladybug

Senior Member
Feb 21, 2014
70,860
9,579
113
#20
Thank you for sharing. I try to be positive, speak life, and keep my faith but you blue_ladybug are a good example of that. You are joyful and positive in every post. Cancer is a gift wow it would be really hard to look at it like that. You are blessed and highly favored!
"willnotgiveup", thank you so much. :) I'm so glad my story helped you. Yes, I always try to be joyful and positive in my posts. :) I think life is too short to NOT be joyful and maintain a positive attitude. Yes, I know some people would have a hard time seeing cancer as a gift, but it truly was. You are blessed and highly favored as well, my beautiful sister. :)