Cervical Cancer Awareness Month- Meganne's Story

Meganne turned 21 on June 12, 2010.  

She was in a committed relationship with a nice young man. She had health insurance thru her employment. She was generally healthy.  In September she and some friends started planning a cruise to Mexico for the spring of 2011.  In November, about the same time she paid for her cruise, she began complaining of random pelvic pain, nausea, unexplained bleeding and changes in her digestion.  She was busy being 21 and chalked the symptoms off to polycystic ovarian syndrome. Both her sisters had been diagnosed with PCOS and she just didn’t have time to deal with doctors and diet changes.  Besides, her symptoms were not all happening at the same time, they were not happening every day, and they were not severe enough to keep her from working and planning her wardrobe for the cruise.  

In January of 2012 she noticed her daily bowel habits were changing. She was trying to lose weight for her cruise so she tried using laxatives without any real results.  Her pelvic pain was frequent and she also had pain in her lower back. She began living with a heating pad, switching it from front to back and back to front.  She spent many evenings soaking in a hot bath to ease the discomfort she was feeling.  She also began having vomiting episodes that would last for a few hours and subside after a night’s sleep. Her periods were “weird” and she had discomfort and bled profusely when she and her boyfriend attempted to be intimate.  

She began missing work sporadically but refused to go to the doctor, too focused on her cruise! The randomness of bad days was the bulk of her argument to not go to the doctor.  Also, the standard is if you “have symptoms that last more than 2 weeks, seek medical attention.” Her symptoms came and went; she was not generally sick 2 days in a row.  

She went on her cruise in April, 2011, and had a great time!  When she returned she was still in the same pattern – heating pad, hot baths, random vomiting, pelvic pain. 

The first week in May she did a random check of her blood pressure while we were at Walmart. It was very high – but she was feeling good that day, she hadn’t even been on the heating pad! 

The second week in May, she called me from work asking for a ride home because she was vomiting. I said, “Sure, but we are going straight to doctor. This has gone on long enough.” 

Her blood pressure was elevated and the doctor did blood work and sent us on our way. Before we got home they called noting that her blood test indicated an infection and she was prescribed and antibiotic.  She was also scheduled appointments with a kidney doctor and stomach doctor. 

A few days later she woke up with a fever. We made another trip to the doctor. High blood pressure, vomiting, pelvic pain – we were instructed to go on to the ER so more tests could be run.  She was admitted to the hospital for enlarged, infected kidneys.  It was quickly determined that her ureters (both sides) were blocked, not allowing her kidneys to drain to her bladder.  

While in the hospital she was asked if she had ever had a pap smear. She was not taking birth control so was not under a gynecologist’s care.  As far as she knew, she had a pap smear the year before at the health department. We found out that unless the doctor at the health department “saw” anything suspicious they would not have performed an actual pap smear. If a patient is under 21 they don’t perform a smear unless there is an issue or evidence of an issue. This is one question we never got an answer to – did she get a smear or not? 

In the course of that first week in the hospital the biggest question was “Why are her kidneys infected?”  She had what seemed like every antibiotic known to man administered via IV fluids; pneumonia set in; she received 4 blood transfusions; an infectious disease doctor was consulted (due to the cruise taken in early April); a urologist placed stents to allow drainage of her kidneys to her bladder and a gynecologist was called in by the urologist.  The gynecologist confirmed what the urologist suspected - a large tumor on her cervix.  When the urologist came to see us after he placed the stents we heard the word cancer mentioned for the first time. The walls closed in … our lives changed forever.  

She was subsequently diagnosed with stage 3B cervical cancer.  She passed away April 2, 2012, from complications caused by the cancer treatment - a ruptured bowel. It was just 11 months after her first visit to the doctor.