Monday 23 March

The gyneacologist calls up and informs me that the new pap smear and tissue taken on Wednesday show that there is no doubt: I do have cervical cancer. Fred and I are both shocked and shaken.
This time I do a little websearch to find out about survival rates (depends on stage - may cite numbers later, when I know my own stage and related chances). I also look up my cousin's first letter and read that she was diagnosed with third stage ovarian cancer in November 2004, so something different altogether. At the time of diagnosis she knew there was only 30% of survival in the first 5 years. She died within 4 years.
That same afternoon I have an appoinment with a cardiologist at a 'regular' hospital nearby. The anethesiologist had recommended me to have it checked out as it was 25 years ago since the last time. Right there and then an echoscopy is made and the images explained to me. There is indeed a heart murmur but that is just a 'functional' sound. In addition, there still appears to be a hole between left and right atrium, but it is very tiny. This has no consequences for any surgery. If I want to know more about the hole, I could later opt for echoscopy: swallow a small camera so the heart can be seen from the oesophagus.