Carol Lacey was diagnosed with metastatic cervical cancer, and survived, but in order to do so, she had to undergo a total pelvic exenteration.  This procedure resulted in the loss of several organs.  She needs to wear a colostomy bag, but maintains a sunny disposition. 

 

In 2011, Carol Lacey, of Boulder Creek, California, was 46 when she began experiencing pre-menopausal symptoms.  There was discomfort during sexual intercourse, the onset of pre-menopause.  She was seen by a gynecologist and subsequent tests revealed a mass.  The gynecologist immediately called for a biopsy.  About four days later, Carol received a call confirming the mass was indeed cervical cancer.  The doctor set up an appointment with an oncologist.

 

Crying, Carol called her fiancé at the time, told him she had cancer, and asked him to meet at the oncologist’s office.  Over the next three months, Carol had some pre-surgery chemotherapy, a radical hysterectomy, then post-surgery chemotherapy because alymph node was found that was cancerous. 

 

Carol Lacey’s diagnosis of metastatic cervical cancer was preceded in 2009 when a pap test came up positive for human papilloma virus.  Carol didn’t know a lot about HPV, but was told it was a common virus that often is vanquished by one’s immune system.  However, in Carol’s case, the virus was persistent, and that’s what caused her cervical cancer diagnosis.

 

After her post-surgery chemotherapy regimen, Carol avoided painful internal radiation, but was put on external radiation.  About ten months after surgery, Carol had a reoccurrence.  It was then that she was told her treatment option was a total pelvic exenteration.  Carol had no idea what this entailed, so she Googled it and learned that it calls for the removal of many organs within a woman’s pelvic cavity.  That meant her bladder, colon, anus and vagina. 

 

She went through the procedure and now wears both a colostomy and an ostomy bag, which each carry her waste.

 

The total pelvic exenteration was tough enough, but Carol also went through chemotherapy.  She could live with the hair loss, but even now she is battling tinnitus, a byproduct of her taking the medication, cisplatin, after her first surgery.  The cisplatin caused a hearing loss, which necessitates a hearing aid. 

 

Carol Lacey went through a tremendous challenge learning how to maintain her colostomy and ostomy bags; but with help from her partner and help from an outstanding ostomy nurse, she manages them as best she can.

 

Nonetheless, Carol says can swim, hike and hit the hottub the same way she could prior to her diagnosis. 

 

By way of advice, Carol says anyone diagnosed with cervical cancer should realize thet are not alone.  She says there are many support resources, including the one on which has relied and continues to rely.  It is Cervivor, and its address is https://www.cervivor.org.  Carol’s top of mind message for anyone diagnosed with cancer is that they are nor alone.

 

Additional Resources:

 

Support Group: Cervivor  https://www.cervivor.org