Have you ever heard about Lynch Syndrome? Share your Support in the Comments!
Over the winter, my periods had gotten out of control. The amount was way too much, and it was happening more than once a month. I finally convinced myself to head to the Gynecologist, it’s not really my favorite place in the world because I hate being poked, but I knew this was called for.
Luckily my OBGYN took my vague symptom description and knew exactly what to do. I had blood work drawn and she scheduled an ultrasound to see what was going on. She found some polyps, three to be exact. She scheduled a surgery to have them removed. A super easy procedure, they put me out and I don’t remember anything.
Read more: I was Left with one Ovary because of Cancer
Three days after the procedure, I get the bad phone call, “can you come down to the office right now? We need to chat” the doctor said. The doctor told me that I have Endometrial cancer. Me? I’m only 34. Luckily, I already have 3 wonderful kids, and I’m done with my uterus. I told them they can have it.
She sent me to see an oncologist, and there’s always something way scarier about going to an oncologist rather than a doctor. After I met the oncologist who started to ask me all kinds of questions about my family history, when I first got my period, etc. Apparently, she had a hunch that I knew nothing about.
I guess it’s rather rare for someone my age who is of a normal BMI and not diabetic and has 3 kids to have endometrial cancer. She thinks that it is something called Lynch Syndrome. I had a genetic blood test and she was absolutely correct. I’m MLH1 positive to be exact.
This means that my DNA is lacking the portion that has the ability to detect when something is going wrong in my cells. Basically, my body does not recognize cancer. This means I am at a much higher risk of developing more cancers.
Read more: My Life worth PCOS
Pause for a moment. Can you see how this whole thing started as something minor and quickly snowballed out of control? Can you see how if I hadn’t talked myself into going to the OBGYN, and if she hadn’t taken me seriously, I would have never gotten to this point?
My moral of the story is that if you think something is going wrong. Go get it checked! I’m extremely lucky that I did, and I want you to be extremely lucky too.
The way the story ends for now is that I am two weeks past my total hysterectomy. I opted to take my ovaries out too in order to remove any future risk of ovarian cancer. I’m on an estrogen patch to reduce menopause symptoms. I’ll save those for another post on another day.
I’m recovering well. Everything worked out for the best-case scenario for me. I hope you’ll take away from this how important it is to catch these things early.
