September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. The color for Ovarian Cancer is Teal. Ovarian Cancer doesn't get all the huge hype and support that Breast Cancer does, but it is just as devastating or more so.
There are no screening tests for this dreaded cancer. Unfortunately it is usually discovered after it has spread. Many women may have feelings of bloating or fatigue, but will just pass it off as being tired or indulging in some unhealthy foods.
When mine was discovered in April of 2018, I was just feeling blah. I had stomach aches after eating, no matter what I ate, healthy or junk, I had pain. It was like gas pain, but it wasn't that. I wasn't sick or vomiting, but I did have stomach pain. I went to a doctor who told me it was acid reflux, even though I said I didn't have any of those symptoms. She prescribed some antacids and pain killers. It hadn't improved with the meds I was given so I went to Walk In Clinic and there Dr. Tanous listened to everything I said. He ordered a CT scan and labs. It was on the scan that we saw the huge mass inside me.
Thinking back to that late afternoon, seeing that huge mass, so large we couldn't see what ovary it came off was scary. I also had fluid where there shouldn't have been any. The next day I met with a surgeon who said my mass was beyond her capabilities and referred me to 3 different large hospitals. Dr. Maria Bell of the Sanford Women's Cancer Center in Sioux Falls got my case. After more scans and a biopsy, I was told I have stage 3C ovarian cancer.
I started googling ovarian cancer. I read everything I could find on it. I was learning terminology I never dreamed of. I was reading statistics that are scary. So I began my battle with cancer. And I fought. And I still fight. My ovarian cancer is High Grade Serous Epithelial cancer. Epithelial cells are everywhere in our bodies so while my ovaries were removed, I still have epithelial cells.
Once I was declared NED, No Evidence of Disease,( the word remission is not used), I then got CT scans and CA 125 blood tests every 3 months. I was NED for all of 14 months, I hadn't been feeling good and I just knew it was back. Sure enough, in my September scan, there is was, this time in my liver and 2 nodules on my lungs. I started over with chemotherapy and all the ugly side effects and more. I added to my cancer and chemotherapy vocabulary.
This Friday I have another CT scan, I am hoping I will be declared NED once again. If not, well, I just keep fighting.
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