Hi everyone! My name is Whitney Serpas, I am 22 years old and a resident of a small town near New Orleans. This post is about my journey of being the youngest patient my obgyn has seen with Endometrial Cancer.
After having an immediate laperoscopy and D&C on January 13, 2014 I received the results on January 17, 2014 of the sample that was taken. It came as a huge shock to hear the words “cancer” uttered from the mouth of my obgyn. He had told me before surgery he didn’t think it was anything serious and he was 99% sure the biopsy would come back normal. Who would’ve known it would actually be cancer?!
The next week I met with the obgyn oncologist and we discussed my options and I already knew what I needed to do. One of the things I was fortunate enough to have was the option of retrieving some of my eggs to cryopreserve them. I will have access to them in the future and will be able to use them with the help of a surrogate. That was a rough thing to go through. I was pumped with hormones for 2 weeks – injections every day – I was absolutely miserable with myself. I was emotional beyond belief, bloated, and felt like my ovaries were the size of softballs. It took a lot longer for my body and ovaries to take to the injections but even though we had to wait longer they were still able to retrieve 9 eggs.
Within the same week of the retrieval I had a complete hysterectomy (February 25, 2014).
I was 21 when I had the complete hysterectomy, not even an entire month before my 22nd birthday. The surgery wasn’t too bad, I was in the hospital overnight and then sent home the next afternoon. I was very uncomfortable and bloated for months before my stomach returned to normal. My body was immediately sent into menopause, the hot flashes began that week after surgery. My oncologist warned me about all of the consequences of having a complete hysterectomy at such a young age.
I don’t regret any of the decisions I have made, if I had to do it again I would make the same decisions I made months ago.
In March I was cleared by my oncologist and will return on the 16th of this month for my 4 month check up. Since my diagnosis I have had a positive outlook on everything. I had been struggling with female issues for a long time and this gave me answers. It is still very hard for me to say I had cancer because it doesn’t feel like I did, it doesn’t feel real. I was fortunate enough to not need chemo or any kind of treatments after the complete hysterectomy. The cancer was contained in my uterus and had not spread outside of the walls.
Today, I am dealing with the side effects of menopause, mainly the torturous hot flashes every hour and the emotional roller coasters which result in monthly meltdowns.
After my diagnosis I was forced to put my life on hold – I had to quit my job, take a semester off of school, leave my apartment, and move back home with my parents. Everything stood still for a while but now I am ready to get things back to normal. I am returning to school and to a new apartment next month (August) and should recieve my Ceramics degree in about a year and a half.
Life is funny with its twists and turns but it’s up to you to work your way through them. I’m proof that life doesn’t stop after a diagnosis. I did what I had to do and that was it, I didn’t dwell on it or ask why me? I did what I had to do to survive and defeat the chances of it returning. – “It’s not about bravery, it’s about doing what I need to do to win.”
I want people to know about Endometrial Cancer, I want women to know that age doesn’t matter that it can happen to any woman at any age.
Please take care of yourself ladies and do whatever you have to do to win!
