Sisterhood of Survivorship
Sharing, Caring, Surviving
Jullette M's Story
Year Diagnosed: 2007
Type of Cancer: uterine carcinosarcoma/rhabdomyosarcoma metastasis
Message of Hope:
I was diagnosed on august 26, 2007 with uterine sarcoma (mixed mullerian tumor/carcinosarcoma). I was 42 at the time and I am the mother of three beautiful girls. Katharine is 19 and my twins Sarah and Elizabeth are 17. I had a total abdominal hysterectomy with a lymph node sampling. At the time of the surgery, there was lymphovascular space invasion but not lymph node involvement or detectable distant metastasis.
This odyssey began in June with a few weeks of abnormal vaginal bleeding that I thought was due to noncompliance with my oral contraceptives. My longtime gyn found a cervical mass that we all thought was an prolapsed endometrial polyp. I had an D & C and the pathology came back suspicious for sarcoma but further testing was deemed negative. My six week follow-up showed a recurrent mass and off to Texas I went for a consult. I began hemorrhaging on the friday before my tuesday consult.
So, after my surgery and poor prognosis due to pathology type, I began 27 treatments of pelvic radiation with two high dose vaginal cuff treatments. Upon completion of my radiation in November, I was so overwhelmed that there was nothing else to do but wait that I walked around the hospital looking for a social worker to talk to openly crying...luckily she was available.... A December CT showed suspicious lung nodules. I had a PET scan which was negative for any obvious cancer. My incredible CT surgeon insisted we repeat CT scans in a month. Growth of the suspicious nodules was on the order of 1mm! He wanted to do a lung resection and after really fighting it (for 1 hour) I agreed and sure enough on January 21, 2008, 2 out of 8 nodules were positive for rhabdomyosarcoma. I had a bilateral subsegmental lung resection. I went to Sloan Kettering for a consult two weeks later and began an aggressive chemotherapy regimen at the end of February. Three inpatient days every 21 days for six cycles. I have been cancer free since January 2008 with CT scans every 3 months and last one on friday July 16, 2010
My two year prognosis was less than favorable and here I sit almost 3 years post diagnosis cancer free and so incredibly thankful for my time on this earth. Prognosis and percentages are there for a reason, but there is no substitute for fighting and a positive attitude realizing we all have very dark days.