Why did I have this appointment? Well about two months ago I had some bleeding, you know down there. This wouldn't have been a concern except I had not had a period since like 2023... Dr. Fealko and also my oncology doctors had said if you go 12 months without a period you are in menopause. Cool. I know from my friend who had bleeding after menopause that it is NEVER normal and should always be evaluated by a medical professional. It can be a variety of things, one of them being uterine cancer.
One of the possible side effects of taking tamoxifen is an increased risk in uterine/endometrial cancer. So when this happened I was totally freaking out!!! It was on a Sunday and I called Dr. Fealko's office first thing Monday morning. They were able to get me in for an ultrasound and exam on Tuesday. How cool is that! I was totally freaking out, but also it had been about a month since I had quick taking tamoxifen... so I knew my hormones were probably a little wacky from that and hoped maybe it was related. But pretty much everything I searched on on the internet said once you go 12 months without a period that's it... it won't come back and you should have no bleeding, ever.
I went to my appointment that Tuesday. They did a vaginal ultrasound which showed I had a cyst about 5 cm on my left ovary and also my endometrial lining was thicker than what they consider normal. I can't remember exactly, but it was like if it's more than 5 mm what's going on? And I think mine was 12 mm or something like that.
So, Dr. Fealko wanted to do a blood test for FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) which if the test was positive would show that I was not actually in menopause and still producing this hormone which stimulates ovulation. She said she'd seen this in patients who'd taken tamoxifen before. She also did an endometrial biopsy which they can do right there in the office and get results in just a couple days. This would show if there were any abnormal (like cancer) cells or just normal tissue. Holy crap-o-la... just to warn anyone who ever gets to have that fun procedure, it is not pleasant, even with the most gentle and caring doctor like I have. I had to employ some serious breathing techniques the best I could. Luckily it didn't take long at all but yeah... it was not fun.
That being said, I was extremely thankful it could be done. My doctor said the only other way to get that kind of tissue sample would be a dilation & curettage (D&C) which has to be done in a hospital under sedation... so a few minutes (maybe less than a minute even) of intense pain right there in the office was ok. Not to mention only feeling the stress of "not knowing" for a couple days versus however long if you had to wait for a hospital procedure = priceless. Dr. Fealko felt pretty confident it would be benign so I left feeling hopeful. And thankfully they called the very next day to say I was positive for the FSH, meaning I wasn't in menopause and so this was likely just my period returning... surely related to no longer taking tamoxifen. The day after that they called to say the biopsy was all normal cells, so no cancer! They scheduled me to come back for a follow-up on January 8th to check the cyst and make sure all looked good.
Which brings me back to driving down there today... realizing it was near the anniversary of my surgery. Then tonight, I was home working on setting up this new laptop and when I clicked on my "Home" link it took me to my blog... which I never look at anymore because I don't keep it updated. So then I clicked into my cancer blog here and decided I would look back to verify that my surgery had been on January 7th. I found my post from January 7, 2015 only to discover that it was the day before my procedure... meaning the anniversary of my surgery was actually TODAY, January 8th. Anyway, that is the synchronicity part... how I was driving to basically the same place, realizing it out of the blue, then randomly being directed to my blog... the universe it just weird sometimes.
For anyone who doesn't know what synchronicity means... it's like when you are thinking about a friend you haven't seen in a while and then you walk in a store and that friend is literally right there... which also is exactly what happened to me last weekend!
Anyway, I asked AI to tell you what synchronicity is (I don't know why it's doing this weird highlighting but I'm not going to fix it).
Synchronicity, a concept by Carl Jung, describes meaningful coincidences where unrelated external events align perfectly with internal thoughts or feelings, suggesting a deeper connection beyond mere chance, like thinking of a friend just before they call. It links the psyche (mind) and matter (world) through "acausal connecting principles," often appearing during significant life moments as guidance, acting as a bridge to the unconscious mind and universal patterns, differing from simple coincidence by its profound personal meaning.
So, that is my little story and update. I'm very thankful it turns out my body is just doing it's normal thing and I'm going to try and keep taking good care of it so it can continue doing it.
