Well, it has been confirmed. I do have advanced vaginal cancer. Stage IV. The doctor at MDAnderson was puzzled that it had never shown up on annual exams and pap smears during the past 10 years. Interesting. But it is what it is, and there is nothing to do about that. I was certainly also misdiagnosed here in Granbury.
Anyway, I think I have a great team of doctors at M.D.Anderson. They have recommended three Chemo treatments of three different drugs (Paclitaxel, Carboplatin and Bevacizumab [Avastin]) three weeks apart and then back for another CT Scan to see the results of the treatments. I had my first 7 hour Chemo treatment yesterday. It was a long day, but not painful and no bad reactions to the chemo drugs. They first gave me a combination of drugs first for anti-nausea which most people say put them to sleep. Not me. They kept me awake for the entire time. (Ha Ha) We drove home from Houston after the treatments.
This morning, I feel fine. Perfectly normal in fact. I did take my anti-nausea pill which I take every 8 hours for three days. I guess it is doing its job.
After the diagnosis I was devastated. Crying, praying, crying, praying. Debating whether to have the treatments or just forget everything. My husband was talking with a lady at MDA. He came and got me and said you need to talk to JoAnn. I didn't want to talk to anyone, but I finally did. She had almost the same cancer and same diagnosis 6 years ago!! She answered so many questions that I had, and many I didn't know I had. After talking to her, I felt so much better about my decision to go forward and fight to Live.
I just wanted to give all you great supporters an update. So far, so good. Thanks for being here. Just knowing I had someone to talk to during this ordeal has helped me a lot already.
Henri
