Cervical Cancer Awareness Month

"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." Romans 12:12

January is Cervical Cancer Awareness month and I would like to take a break from my own story as an ovarian cancer survivor to highlight some of the other gynecologic cancers. Also, I will have a guest blogger who will be sharing her story as a cervical cancer survivor. You can read her story here later this month.

There are five main types of cancer that affect a women’s reproductive organs: cervical, ovarian. Uterine, vaginal, and vulvar. As a group they are referred to as gynecologic cancers. Each gynecologic cancer is unique, with different signs, symptoms, and risk factors. All women are at risk for gynecologic cancers, and risk increases with age. When gynecologic cancers are found early, treatment is most effective.

Gynecologic cancer is any cancer that starts in a woman’s reproductive organs. Cancer is always named for the part of the body where it starts. Gynecologic cancers begin in different places within a woman’s pelvis, which is the area below the stomach and in between the hip bones. Ovarian cancer for example begins in the ovaries which are the reproductive organs on both sides of the uterus while cervical cancer begins in the cervix which is the lower, narrow end of the uterus.

Both Ovarian cancer and cervical cancer are often confused with one another. While they do share similar symptoms such as vaginal bleeding and pelvic pain most of the other symptoms differ. For starters, ovarian cancer is much more complex in nature and its symptoms are usually more vague and hard to detect. Its symptoms are usually confused and overlooked because unlike cervical cancer they do not simply effect the gynecologic region. Usually the symptoms are things such as urinary frequency or urgency, bloating, feeling full quickly, and changes in other bathroom habits. Cervical cancer on the other hand has symptoms such as pain during intercourse, vaginal discharge and for older women bleeding after menopause has occurred. Outside of the obvious differences in the symptoms the major difference is cervical cancer is usually stated to be preventable and can be detected by a pap test. The Pap test, which is part of a routine pelvic exam, is an effective diagnostic tool for ob/gyn physicians to detect cervical cancer, but it does not detect ovarian cancer. Cervical cancer is the only gynecologic cancer that can be prevented with routine screening. Currently, there is no screening method for ovarian cancer.

I would like to focus more on the other gynecologic cancers in the coming months and would like to know if anyone of you or anyone you may know has been personally affected by one of these cancers and would like to share your story. If so, please contact me at jasmine@tealweovercome.org.