PHEW!

My sigh of relief is much deserved, but you should know that this post is about to get grossly personal, so if you are easily disgusted or have any kind of propriety, I think it would be best if you found an alternative form of reading material.

This ought to give you some kind of an idea as to just how personal things are about to get...

I would like to make it clear that this is a generic internet photo. I would never dream of leaving my socks on while baring my business to the gynecologist. How embarrassing.

Anyways, my sigh of relief is not due just to the fact that I can proudly say that I would never be caught wearing socks in the OB/GYN stirrups, it's mostly because I received the results of my last exam in the mail today. I can proudly announce that my test came back NORMAL! Not gonna lie, I've kind of been holding my breath since December 8th. 

For those of you who aren't aware, my last pap smear yielded abnormal results, which led to a coloscopy (a fancy word for a biopsy of my cervix) which led to the discovery of my cervical cancer. That's right, cervical cancer. I was 24 years old at the time. It sounds ominous, I know, but apparently it was contained and in the really early stages. Not that such information made me freak out any less, but my doctor was confident that a simple LEEP procedure would rid me of my disease. Don't you worry, after the surgery the nurse actually said to me over the phone that "the procedure was successful and it looks like we managed to remove most of your disease." Congratulations, you just made it sound like my affliction was leprosy. Sheesh.

I was mildly distraught at the idea of having cancer at such a young age, so my doctor offered up his best theory. He believes that it was a combination of a lot of things, my over-all lifestyle if you will. The fact that I was working graveyards and not really eating or sleeping properly definitely played a part in how my immune system was performing. The fact that I was mostly surviving off of Redbulls and cigarettes was certainly a contributing factor as well. So he recommended that I quit smoking and strive for a healthier way of living in general. Yeah. That was pretty much it. Take it or leave it kind of a thing.

So on February 8, 2010, I checked into the hospital for surgery. To be blunt, I was going to be put under so that my doctor could use a laser to remove the cancerous cells that were thriving in an isolated area on my cervix. It was a very short procedure, I was in and out of the hospital in about four and half hours. I took a few days off of work to recover and hoped for the best.

I quit smoking in March, and because I quit working graveyards in April, my Redbull habit was kind of obliterated as well. I had to exercise like there was no tomorrow just to keep from gaining all the weight that came along with ending my nicotine dependency, and I did a week long detox that included lots of fruits and vegetables and water to try and jump start feeling better in general and to increase my chances of successfully keeping the cancer from growing back.

To be honest, my follow-up pap was supposed to be scheduled for something like June or July, but I kept putting it off. I finally got around to making an appointment (which ended up being almost exactly a year to the day after I was first diagnosed) and I've been crossing my fingers ever since I walked out of the doctor's office. Now I'm supposed to have tests done every 6 months for the next year just to be on the safe side, but if they all come back as cancer-free as this one did, then I can resume having check-ups on an annual basis like before.

So there you have it. A piece of much needed good news during a particularly difficult time in my life. I'd say at least one of my prayers has been answered today.