My name is Dulcely. I'm 23 years old and I am a cervical cancer
survivor.
Looking back at my journey - it
really felt long, and very exhausting, but I'm happy to say that I conquered cancer.
At first I was dealing with my
diagnosis on my own. I didn't tell my partner, nor my family. I was having a hard time dealing with it, and
I could only imagine how much it would hurt them if I told them about my cancer. Ultimately I decided to tell them and the
support and love they gave me was incredible - they never left my side.
My Diagnosis
My story started on June of 2014, I
had a Pap smear that revealed some abnormality, but all the doctor did was give
me the HPV vaccine, and said that they would monitor it, and check back in a
year. In April of 2015, I was discharging every day, I would get my
monthly period, and afterwards I would still discharge blood. When I had
intercourse I would bleed even more.
I went to my primary care doctor and
they had me go in for a transvaginal exam, when the results came back they said
I was bleeding because I had a cyst. I
wasn't too convinced and in June of 2015 I went to a gynecologist and I brought
up my concerns. As soon as he examined
me he saw a lesion. The GYN conducted a biopsy and called me back with the
results about two days later.
Unfortunately the pathology came back
revealing that I had cervical cancer and he referred me to a GYN-oncologist at Columbia
Presbyterian Hospital in New York, so I can get more information on my status,
and decide what procedure or treatments I was going to need.
On July 1st, 2015 I went to my first appointment at Columbia with my GYN-oncologist,
he had my previous pathology results, but he conducted another biopsy for
specifics. My results came back confirming the bad news, this time they told me
the name and stage of my cancer. I had squamous
cell cervical cancer stage IB2. Thank God we caught it at this stage, but it
was big enough to be seen and hard enough for me to battle.
Immediately I got set up for an MRI
and a PET-CT Scan. I went in for both my exams and my doctor called me back and
said they saw a couple of lymph nodes that
caught their attention because they were lit up. The doctors wanted me to have
surgery to remove the lymph nodes and test them to make sure they had not
spread elsewhere.
Alternative Medicine
 |
| My Parents & Brother |
I met with a nutritionist who was an
advocate and believer in alternate treatments since he himself had changed his diet
completely and survived cancer. He put me on a 21 day diet. I couldn't eat
anything with salt or sugar. My diet included vegetables, fruit juices, and soups.
This was so hard for me since I was not use to this kind of eating, but I was willing to do anything believing that this would lead
me to a cancer free status. I was so afraid of what was happening to me, and afraid of getting any
kind of surgery.
Doctors had given several options
depending on what my lymph nodes revealed.
Option # 1: Get a radical hysterectomy.
Option # 2: If the lymph nodes came out negative, I would get
chemotherapy to reduce the tumor in size and then removing it without having to remove my uterus.
This was a big deal to me because I was 22 years old and I wanted to have my own children in the future.
Treatments
I came back from the Dominican
Republic and doctors, family and friends strongly recommended on having the
surgery as the best option to beat the cancer. On August 25, 2015, I got my
Lymphadenectomy to remove my lymph nodes.
Luckily the pathologist tested the
lymph nodes and they were negative, meaning the cancer had not spread
elsewhere. Now the doctors came up with
a plan -- I was going to get 3-4 chemotherapy sessions, each of them 3 weeks
apart. After that they were going to do an MRI and a vaginal exam to make sure
the tumor was small enough to go with option #2.
 |
| Getting my Chemo |
I went through chemotherapy which
was extremely hard. After each treatment I felt weak, my bones hurt and at time I used to faint. There was nothing we can do, but to let about a week go by for me to feel
better.
Finally after my 3rd chemo
treatment, I was excited to go back to the doctor to see if the tumor had
shrunk. I got my vaginal exam and my
doctor said it had gotten smaller, but not enough for surgery. I was heartbroken
because I felt like my odds to have my own kids were diminishing.
My doctor decided to give me one
more chemo treatment to see if the tumor will shrink enough to have the surgery
to remove it. If that did not work the option was to give me
radiation treatments and do a radical hysterectomy.
There it was!! the option and the words I dreaded to hear -
a radical hysterectomy. I cried so much,
but I believe in God and I believe that whatever my destiny was - it was going
to happen. I got my fourth chemo treatment
and my doctors were happy that the tumor was much smaller, but unfortunately not
small enough to remove it. The MRI results
had showed that the tumor was too close to the uterus, so that was a concern in
itself.
So the decision was made, and I got
scheduled for my surgery which was going to be either a radical hysterectomy or a trachelectomy depending on how far the tumor was from the uterus.
December 11, 2015 I was ready for my
surgery and I had prayed so much. I ask God to grant me the opportunity to have my own
baby or to give me the strength to accept it, if this was not going to be an
option for me.
I Believed
My doctors came in to see me before
the surgery to go over everything and make sure I didn't have any other
questions. My surgeon stated that after reviewing all the finals test - they
had come to the conclusion that there was only a 2% chance that I would get a trachelectomy,
so therefore they were leaning on performing a radical hysterectomy. It didn't matter how small or big the
percentage was for any of the outcome -- I had faith and believed that God would answer my
prayers, and that everything was going to be OK.
Finally after waking up from
surgery, I couldn't wait to know what had happened to me in the operating room.
I was still under anesthesia, but I was able to listen to the doctors say that they
didn't have to do a hysterectomy. Yay!!!
God is good and he answered my prayers.
I felt so blessed. I was more
than happy as well as my whole family. I
was so grateful to my surgeon, Dr. Burke and my GYN-oncologist, Dr. Buckley.
The whole time during this process they were caring and sensitive to my needs
and concerns. They worked hard in planning
the best way to accomplish the best results.
Dulcely Tavarez is 23 years old. She has an Associate of Science in Criminal Justice. Currently she works at a Home Care Agency as an intake coordinator. She helps patients get the best home care service they deserve.
Dulcely has many goals to reach, one of them is to one day become a Mom. She also wants to become an advocate of this disease. Share her story to help other women understand that this disease does not discriminate, and that it is necessary for them to always have their annual woman wellness exam.
Editor's Note: I am a member of the NY Presbyterian Hospital Woman to Woman Program. A program where survivors mentor newly diagnosed gynecologic cancer patients. Dulcely was referred to me through this program. We connected right away, and I was able to offer her support and encouragement through out her journey. I am so very happy of her outcome, and wish her all the very best in all her future endeavors. God Bless....
No comments:
Post a Comment