Womb cancer charity founder outlines the main symptoms
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Dawn French described visiting her doctors after she developed problems with her “lady pudding”, as she called it. She said: “All kinds of hell [was] kicking off in here, where I keep my lady plumbing. I eventually went to hospital, and my doc was so convinced I had uterine cancer, that he ordered a second biopsy to be sure, when the first one was clear.”
Uterine cancer is cancer that affects the womb, specifically starting in the endometrium.
One of the main treatments for the disease is surgery that removes the womb and cervix–known as a hysterectomy.
However, it is always the patient’s choice as to whether they consent to the treatment.
French was quick to make her decision.
She said: “Even before the result of the second one, I decided to be done with my old enemy, my defunct reproductive stuff. It was curtailing my life.”
French became committed to losing weight, which is known to help lower the risk of problems during the procedure as well as aid recovery.
According to the NHS, you can be in hospital for five days after your procedure and full recovery generally takes between six to eight weeks.
French said: “So my womb and I parted company. Goodbye. When I was due to have my hysterectomy the doc told me that if I could lose some weight before the op, they would be able to do it via ‘key-hole’, and I would recover in three weeks or so.”
Although shedding the weight–a total of seven and a half stone–helped reduce her recovery time, she described it as “grim” when she recounted her weight loss years later.
She said: “No magic wand, just tiny, joyless low-cal eating and lots more walking for weeks and weeks. It was grim.
“I lost seven and a half stone.
“I could have the keyhole surgery. Great. That’s all it was, practical”.
According to the NHS, the treatment chosen depends on a variety of factors, such as:
- The size of the cancer
- Where it is
- If it has spread
- Your general health
Other surgeries may also involve removing the ovaries and the fallopian tubes if cancer spreads there.
Alternatively, it may remove the lymph nodes in the pelvis or the upper part of the vagina that connects to the cervix, or bladder or rectum–all depending on where cancer has spread.
The main symptoms of womb cancer include:
- Bleeding or spotting from the vagina after the menopause
- Heavy periods from your vagina that is unusual for you
- Vaginal bleeding between your periods
- A change to your vaginal discharge.
One in 36 UK females are likely to be diagnosed with uterine cancer over their life, yet 34 percent of cases are preventable, suggests Cancer Research UK.
Although the greatest risk factor is aging, there are many other factors that can be controlled.
One study found that the risk of having uterine cancer increases as BMI increases.
Another found that the risk is 16 percent higher per every five kilograms of weight gain during adulthood.
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