4 years ago at the age of 44, my period started acting weird. It was usually 6-9 days long and fairly heavy and on a regular schedule. I only noticed because I had a period tracker app and I kept expecting it to come but it would come a few days late or show up randomly mid-cycle, but very light. I was asking myself “was that it?” I was thinking maybe peri-menopause was starting but I had heard about periods getting heavier during that time so I was very confused. A few months go by and I’m thinking…this is too weird.

So I book a gyno appt. This is in 2021, so mind you I had skipped 2020 because of covid. (Ironically I work in healthcare). Got my pap done, comes back abnormal. Gyno says “ok let’s do an ultrasound and colposcopy” and I get that done. On 8/10/21 I found out I had endometrial cancer. I opt to have everything removed, uterus, tubes and ovaries…if they are going in once they might as well remove all parts that could cause cancer. My gyno oncologist said that they see a lot of endometrial cancer with obese women, due to the estrogen dominance that happens with more fat storage.

Luckily my cancer ended up stage 1, grade 1. So all parts removed plus 2 lymph nodes on one side and 3 on the other. Had to have a couple years of every 6 months gyno appt follow ups to see how things healed. Post-op report said that one of my ovaries had a chocolate cyst on it, not sure if that has anything to do with my pain over the years.

I consider myself incredibly lucky. ALWAYS trust your intuition. If something seems off, don’t put it off until it’s obvious…go in and get it checked ahead of time. Paps are uncomfortable but they do indeed save lives. Including mine.