She Can Laugh Without Fear

When I got that phone call, the world stopped.  I was not paying attention, yet I was hanging onto every word.  But then I couldn't recall everything.  It was a weird juxtaposition.  Is that even the right word??  I have no idea. The surgeon told me that it's rare and she doesn't have much experience with it, so she would refer me to the Oncologist.  Her understanding was that I wouldn't need chemo or radiation; I would need one more surgery to remove the rest of the affected ovary that we were trying to preserve and that should be it. Ok, not bad.  I can handle this. August 29, 2017 - Oncology and Intro to Chemo Appointment with Oncologist, Dr. R.  This is a different doctor from before.  This will now be my official oncologist handling my case.  There are 3 oncologists on the team, and I had met with one previously when we first did that MRI 2 years ago.  So now I've met 2 out of 3, and that ain't bad. Dr. R said we'd schedule my second surgery a

The "Timeline" post indicated that I'd be making a separate post just to detail my ER visit.  Well, here it is.  Settle in and get cozy, cuz this adventure was action-packed.  Also, it is not advised to read this if you're squeamish.  It's not like it's the latest installation in the SAW franchise, but I still had to put a trigger warning for my more delicate friends (ahem ahem, Jeff). As a reminder, I showed up to the ER after having a day and a half of gnarly abdominal pain and under the advice of the Kaiser Nurse phone line.  I decided against the ambulance because it seemed like overkill. Upon arrival at the ER, I saw about 10 people waiting ahead of me.  The intake nurse asked me some general questions and told me to take a seat in the waiting room.  I explained that I had called the Nurse Advice line and they told me to go straight there.  She said there were no beds available because of all the ambulance patients. Funny how that worked out; I w

Alright, you wanna know how we got here?  This is dry and boring, but here is the timeline of how I became acquainted with a disease whose voice started off as a nagging murmur and gradually crescendoed to a deafening alarm.  God, it is SO ANNOYING how much it has taken over.  UGH.  Ok, here we go. December 2015 - Mass Discovered Mass discovered in right ovary during a doctor visit.  It was contained completely within the ovary, but showed some abnormalities.  I was referred to Radiology to get an MRI. MRI showed abnormalities but was still inconclusive.  I was referred to an oncologist.  This process took foreverrrrrrrrrr. March 2016 - Consultation with Oncologist My first oncology appointment with Dr. S.  I remember him telling me that yes, the mass looked odd, but I was young, didn't have any family history of it, and didn't fit the typical profile of someone who would have more to be concerned about.  He did say there was a blood test he could run that was