My Life Story with Cancer
by Mary Walker  

Vocabulary Words

Anesthesia (local): loss of feeling induced by chemical agents affecting a limited area

Anesthesia (general): loss of feeling induced by chemical agents affecting the entire body

Check-up: physical exam which usually includes a pelvic examination with a pap test

Cone biopsy: removing a cone-shaped piece of your cervix to examine for cancer.

Hysterectomy: an operation that removes your uterus (womb.) Sometime your tubes or ovaries are also taken out.

Pap test (pap smear): the nurse or doctor wipes a swab on the cervix inside your vagina to take a few cells.  A lab will check these cells for cancer or other problems.

Scraping: taking cells from your cervical canal

Surgery: also called an operation. A doctor does this in a hospital to remove cancer from your body.  

Tubular Pregnancy: a pregnancy that is in your fallopian tubes rather than your womb