35F in Edmonton, Alberta
In February I began to have unexplained bleeding after a regular period. I had a routine & hormonal blood panel and ultrasound early March. The blood panel was normal and my ultrasound showed a cervical fibroid (3.6x3.1x3.1) and I was prescribed TXA while I waited for a regular gyno appointment. My last pap (consistently normal paps throughout my life and HPV immunization with no new sexual partners for 11 years) was 4 years ago... I was regular until then. I kind of lapsed because in the back of my mind I guess I considered myself low risk- not even my GP thought to remind me to schedule one. Upon my ultrasound and blood panel results, I asked him if he thought there was any chance it was cancerous and he said no, a tumor with those characteristics (no other detected irregularities, defined borders) matched with my normal hG, WBC levels and hormonal function all pointed to a benign condition that could be treated by a regular gyno.
Since March, symptoms seemed to worsen- more pain and pressure, nonstop bleeding and smelly discharge, all which seemed to correlate with a degenerating fibroid.
Last week, the TXA seemed to stop working and I started uncontrollably bleeding. On Sunday I presented to the ER and they stopped the hemorrhage and took a biopsy. They gave me the seriously scary news that I likely had cervical cancer rather than a fibroid but I felt way better the next day and found a clinical study that said that degenerating cervical fibroids always look like cervical cancer on visual inspection so I felt confident that it was a likely mistaken visual diagnosis.
On Monday night, my body physically expelled what looked like the tumor to me in 3 chunks- including a large pendunculated mass with a massive blood clot on the end of the stalk that seemed to indicate a natural expulsion of a benign cervical tumor. Since the expulsion, roughly 66 hours later, I have had a near-total resolution of symptoms- all bleeding, unusual discharge and pain/pressure is gone despite me discontinuing the TXA. I took my specimen to the lab for analysis but they wouldn't accept it. However, I am sure this was not just a blood clot- it was the same volumetric mass as my tumor on the ultrasound, you could see the biopsy site on the mass, and it retains shape and muscular texture after 66 hours in saline. It's still in my fridge in case someone wants to take it.
Last night, I got the results of the biopsy and it said positive. Needless to say I am shocked, especially after I expelled the mass and had a total reduction in symptoms. I quickly ruled out the possibility of a false positive via Dr. Google so I accept that my 'benign' tumor is 100% likely to be cancer, and I do not have any hope it's a false positive.
However, I am really confused about the medical event I experienced (hemmoraghe, biopsy, natural expulsion of a muscular mass, near-complete reduction of all symptoms, followed by the positive test for cancer). Physically, I feel better than I have since January. Mentally, I am in a complete fog of panic and I have no idea what the medical event that triggered the biopsy means in this context. Is it good? Is it bad?
I got an urgent referral to the Cross Cancer Institute and an additional blood panel. Lab results are... Interesting. Despite bleeding for months I have a robust hemoglobin read of between 140-150 on my blood panels from the last week, including a post-hemmoraghe read of 148hG. This to me is the *most hopeful* lab results since it seems to indicate there is no cancerous anemia or need for transfusions. My fibrinogen, auto WBC and neutrophil absolute levels were sky high during the ER visit and remain high days later (slight reduction). All other blood panel results were firmly normal. All the MDs I have seen and talked to from the ER visit to now have made reassurances in reference to my hG count as far as responsiveness to treatment goes and my GP even said I was a 'lucky statistical outlier'.
I am waffling between mostly fear and panic, confusion and like... Hope? I truthfully have no meaningful clinical way of assessing the mass I expelled myself but it seems clinically significant, especially since it coincided with total symptom resolution. I dunno if it would be good or bad if I was one of the rare clinical cases where a cancerous tumor was annihilated by the body's immune system, clotting factors, and mechanical contracting, but referring to all available clinical evidence and the integrity of the mass sample, I think it's possible.
What I would like to know today is; has anyone else here experienced a similar sequence of events related to a cervical cancer diagnosis? (Hemmoraghe, muscular mass expulsion, followed by a total reduction of previous symptoms)? If so, did you ever find out the medical reason behind the event? To clarify, even if this is a medically anomalous auto-expulsion if the tumor, I in NO WAY would think this negates the presence of cancer and still fully intend to pursue all recommended treatment options.
Thanks for being here, community... I will probably have more updates to come. I appreciate your attention to my post today; this is a scary as HECK time for me and so very unexpected since I went from a benign condition, to an acute and anomalous medical emergency, to a cancer diagnosis in the span of 1 week, as I am sure many of you have also endured. Please take care of yourselves, and best of luck on your health journey.