Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share 087: Rachel Rump survived cervical cancer | menopause | osteoperosis | ureters | internal radiation
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
087: Rachel Rump survived cervical cancer | menopause | osteoperosis | ureters | internal radiation
On today’s segment of the @CancerInterviews podcast, Rachel Rump tells host Bruce Morton how she overcame a lot to survive cervical cancer. A blend of external radiation, internal radiation and chemotherapy enabled Rachel to achieve survivorship. However, survivorship has come at a price. She tires easily, her hair has thinned, and she found herself going through menopause at age 32. Rachel also acknowledges that she is still around to raise her young son, which she considers a blessing.
For Rachel Rump of South Bend, Indiana, her cancer journey began on March 28, 2021. That’s when she noticed pain tied to irregularities with her menstrual cycle. Her physician sent Rachel to a gynecologist. During an exam, she saw him make a face and that’s when her heart sank. The exam revealed a four-centimeter tumor. The gynecologist sent Rachel to an oncologist, and that point she knew a cancer diagnosis imminent.
It was decided Rachel would under go 30 sessions of daily external radiation sessions, six weeks of chemotherapy, followed by three internal radiations sessions. As if this wasn’t tough enough, her regimen took place while there were numerous COVID-related implications. There were mask requirements and space requirements, which prevented anyone from being with Rachel when she was undergoing chemotherapy treatments.
At this difficult time, Rachel was dealing with other issues having nothing to do. Her car’s transmission gave out, her dog died and a pipe that ran under her kitchen and bathroom burst. Meanwhile, Rachel was undergoing treatment for cervical cancer.
She suffered a lot of the things people experience when on chemotherapy. She lost a lot of hair, didn’t eat much, was on anti-nausea medicine that she had to take and keep track of. There was also a great deal of fatigue. Rachel had cognitive problems and said one good thing about COVID was that she worked from home, which reduced the number of times in which the cognitive issues were noticed by others.
Eventually, her health changed for the better. Her radiologist said the tumor continued to shrink. Assessing her health as approximately 70 percent of what it was before her diagnosis, She had continued problems with her kidney. Rachel had two ureters, or tubes, coming out of her kidney, and they started to shrink, causing a fluid backup, which could have caused kidney disease. She had to go through a lot of treatments to get the problem under control. Rachel also says her bones are sowing signs of osteoperosis, which is common with menopause.
That said, when Rachel contemplates an upcoming task she won’t say she :has”to” perform, but that she “gets” to perform it, because she is still alive.
Additional Resources:
Support Group: Cervivor, Inc.
https://www.cervivor.org
View all episodes
By Jim Foster
5
22 ratings
On today’s segment of the @CancerInterviews podcast, Rachel Rump tells host Bruce Morton how she overcame a lot to survive cervical cancer. A blend of external radiation, internal radiation and chemotherapy enabled Rachel to achieve survivorship. However, survivorship has come at a price. She tires easily, her hair has thinned, and she found herself going through menopause at age 32. Rachel also acknowledges that she is still around to raise her young son, which she considers a blessing.
For Rachel Rump of South Bend, Indiana, her cancer journey began on March 28, 2021. That’s when she noticed pain tied to irregularities with her menstrual cycle. Her physician sent Rachel to a gynecologist. During an exam, she saw him make a face and that’s when her heart sank. The exam revealed a four-centimeter tumor. The gynecologist sent Rachel to an oncologist, and that point she knew a cancer diagnosis imminent.
It was decided Rachel would under go 30 sessions of daily external radiation sessions, six weeks of chemotherapy, followed by three internal radiations sessions. As if this wasn’t tough enough, her regimen took place while there were numerous COVID-related implications. There were mask requirements and space requirements, which prevented anyone from being with Rachel when she was undergoing chemotherapy treatments.
At this difficult time, Rachel was dealing with other issues having nothing to do. Her car’s transmission gave out, her dog died and a pipe that ran under her kitchen and bathroom burst. Meanwhile, Rachel was undergoing treatment for cervical cancer.
She suffered a lot of the things people experience when on chemotherapy. She lost a lot of hair, didn’t eat much, was on anti-nausea medicine that she had to take and keep track of. There was also a great deal of fatigue. Rachel had cognitive problems and said one good thing about COVID was that she worked from home, which reduced the number of times in which the cognitive issues were noticed by others.
Eventually, her health changed for the better. Her radiologist said the tumor continued to shrink. Assessing her health as approximately 70 percent of what it was before her diagnosis, She had continued problems with her kidney. Rachel had two ureters, or tubes, coming out of her kidney, and they started to shrink, causing a fluid backup, which could have caused kidney disease. She had to go through a lot of treatments to get the problem under control. Rachel also says her bones are sowing signs of osteoperosis, which is common with menopause.
That said, when Rachel contemplates an upcoming task she won’t say she :has”to” perform, but that she “gets” to perform it, because she is still alive.
Additional Resources:
Support Group: Cervivor, Inc.
https://www.cervivor.org