My Ovarian Cancer Story
A friend of mine recently posted this quote by Bob Marley. It reminded me of when I first found out that I might have cancer, I was so scared about dealing with everything I was glad to find My Ovacome this is an online forum for women and their families who have or are going through diagnosis for ovarian cancer. Ovacome also fund a nurse led helpline as well and I have rung them many times.
I started feeling 'out of sorts' around Christmas 2010 whilst I was visiting family in Manchester at the time I was living and working in Hampshire.
At first it was just a bit of stomach ache, feeling sick and I had gone off my food a little bit. I was also getting a bit out of breath when I did any sort of exercise more than I usually would so I just put it down to overindulgence over the holiday period.
The symptoms continued to get worse throughout January and February 2011. I was feeling bloated all the time. I had to buy some new clothes as my old ones didn't fit me properly, I was gaining weight even though I was on a diet. I was also suffering with really bad acid reflux, I would get full very quickly and I was always feeling sick.
I was also finding it really difficult at work because I could not sit comfortably at my desk and I was constantly having to go to the toilet to wee. I also started to suffer with chronic constipation even when I did move my bowels it didn't feel like I had completely emptied them. I was starting to wonder if this was a really bad flare up of IBS as I have had similar symptoms before.
By the end of February I was feeling really poorly and miserable. I thought this couldn't be right so I decided to book an appointment with a GP. I always get a bit nervous going to see a doctor because I feel like I am wasting their time and sometimes it can be hard to explain why you are there.
As I walked into the surgery there were posters up on the wall for ovarian cancer month listing the three most common symptoms:
- Persistent bloating
- Feeling full very quickly and nauseous
- Changes to your bowels
That was the first time I considered that this might be something really serious. As scary as that was those posters helped me focus on those symptoms, which helped when talking to my GP.
My GP examined me and straight away ordered some blood tests which I had to come back for the next day. The following day I got a phone call from the surgery at 4 pm asking me if I could come and see the doctor at 5 pm. I was surprised that they had the results back so quickly and I was really scared. My GP sat me down and explained that my blood results were not normal. There was a marker in the blood that was used as an indicator for general inflammation in the pelvic area and mine was quite high. I was later to learn that this was called the CA125.
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