Timeline of Events, Pre-Diagnosis
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.
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 frequently used as a cancer marker. It was called the CA125 test. I'll get into this more on a separate post. Hindsight is 20/20 but I feel like this is where it started to go downhill.
After getting CA125 results back as "normal" we decided to monitor the size of the tumor rather than remove it. Removing it would significantly affect my ability to have children. Again, hindsight is 20/20. I was told to come in for ultrasounds every 3 months to monitor the size.
June 2016 - June 2017 - Monitoring
Monitored the tumor consistently, every 3 months. The size was always the same, and I was never advised to do anything other than continue with regular monitoring.
August 4, 2017 - Pain Started
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 frequently used as a cancer marker. It was called the CA125 test. I'll get into this more on a separate post. Hindsight is 20/20 but I feel like this is where it started to go downhill.
After getting CA125 results back as "normal" we decided to monitor the size of the tumor rather than remove it. Removing it would significantly affect my ability to have children. Again, hindsight is 20/20. I was told to come in for ultrasounds every 3 months to monitor the size.
June 2016 - June 2017 - Monitoring
Monitored the tumor consistently, every 3 months. The size was always the same, and I was never advised to do anything other than continue with regular monitoring.
August 4, 2017 - Pain Started
It was a Friday night, and I just finished eating half of a Board & Brew wrap. My stomach hurt a little, so I thought I just ate too much or something. Continued to hurt all night, and I woke up a few times to change sleep position. No other symptoms (no fever, no weird bathroom issues, no nausea). On a scale of 1-10, it would hover between 5-7.
August 5, 2017 - Pain Worsened
Continued pain. It came in waves. Now it was hovering between 6-8. Still no gastrointestinal issues, but now my stomach was tender to the touch. I thought to myself "man, if I ate something bad, it should've *ahem* resolved itself by now" but that was about it. I barely ate, out of concern that my stomach would potentially crawl out of my body and strangle me. It hurt, so I was babying it.
That night, I did some yoga poses to relax my muscles and get blood flowing. Digestive stuff is weird, right? I was still convinced it was a GI tract issue, because what else could it be?? I started googling "severe abdominal pain, no other symptoms" and the top result was Appendicitis. Only hangup was that appendicitis usually is accompanied by a fever. I didn't feel feverish, but couldn't find my thermometer. #lazygirlissues
I did not sleep. Constantly in pain, readjusting my sleeping position, took some medication for pain and for upset stomach. I was miserable.
August 6, 2017 - OMG THE PAIN (alternate title: ER Visit and Surgery)
I woke up and did a few more google searches. It was a Sunday, and I wasn't convinced that the severity was bad enough to merit a trip to the Emergency Room. I didn't want to go to the ER and have them tell me I had gas because at that point, I would have died of embarrassment. So I was doing everything I could to avoid it.
The pain was consistently 8-9. I couldn't function. I caved in and called Kaiser's Nurse Advice Line. She advised me to proceed directly to the Emergency Room, do not pass Go, do not collect $200. She even told me to call 911 for ambulance transport if I didn't have anyone available to take me. I think my direct response was "well, that sounds terrifying! Haha... Ha?" She said she didn't want to scare me, but it sounded serious. I figured she was probably overreacting in order to cover her own ass; like giving me worst case scenario. But I went anyways, because she sounded juuuust calm enough to make me think that maybe she wasn't a chronic over-reactor.
I am going to have an entirely separate post for my ER visit because it was quite the event and I feel like it deserves its own place here. To make a long story short, the tumor ruptured and I had to have emergency surgery.
When I woke up, they told me that they tried to save as much of the right ovary as they could in order to help with fertility. So my left ovary was still intact, right ovary was about 50%. The surgeon said they were going to send everything off to pathology, which is routine. Remember, nobody knew it was cancer yet. We just thought it was an old run-of-the-mill benign cyst.
That was it! I was sent home, and had a post-op appointment scheduled for about a month out. We thought this was the end of the saga. Jeff even said "well, on the plus side, now you won't have to go in every 3 months to measure the size of the cyst!"
August 15, 2017 - Cancer Diagnosis
The call came in around 9:30 am. It was an Irvine number, but I didn't recognize it. I had been at home on bed rest recovering from surgery and figured it was either work related or medical. "Hmmmmph.... " I thought, and considered not answering at all. I hate talking on the phone, especially when I'm not quite alert yet. Don't judge, you'd sleep in too if you could. Also, Vicodin.
At the last possible moment, I answered groggily.
"Hello?"
It was my surgeon. She asked about recovery and we made small talk about post-operation limitations. Then she got to the point of while she was calling. Pathology was abnormal... Granulosa Cell Tumor... Malignant... Oncology Department...
"Malignant?" I interrupted. "So... a malignant tumor... is this cancer?"
"Yes, it is a type of cancer" she hesitated. It seemed like she was trying to avoid the C-word by calling it its clinical name. There's no downplaying this as a "type" of cancer. It's either cancer or it's not.
It's cancer. Shit.
August 5, 2017 - Pain Worsened
Continued pain. It came in waves. Now it was hovering between 6-8. Still no gastrointestinal issues, but now my stomach was tender to the touch. I thought to myself "man, if I ate something bad, it should've *ahem* resolved itself by now" but that was about it. I barely ate, out of concern that my stomach would potentially crawl out of my body and strangle me. It hurt, so I was babying it.
That night, I did some yoga poses to relax my muscles and get blood flowing. Digestive stuff is weird, right? I was still convinced it was a GI tract issue, because what else could it be?? I started googling "severe abdominal pain, no other symptoms" and the top result was Appendicitis. Only hangup was that appendicitis usually is accompanied by a fever. I didn't feel feverish, but couldn't find my thermometer. #lazygirlissues
I did not sleep. Constantly in pain, readjusting my sleeping position, took some medication for pain and for upset stomach. I was miserable.
August 6, 2017 - OMG THE PAIN (alternate title: ER Visit and Surgery)
I woke up and did a few more google searches. It was a Sunday, and I wasn't convinced that the severity was bad enough to merit a trip to the Emergency Room. I didn't want to go to the ER and have them tell me I had gas because at that point, I would have died of embarrassment. So I was doing everything I could to avoid it.
The pain was consistently 8-9. I couldn't function. I caved in and called Kaiser's Nurse Advice Line. She advised me to proceed directly to the Emergency Room, do not pass Go, do not collect $200. She even told me to call 911 for ambulance transport if I didn't have anyone available to take me. I think my direct response was "well, that sounds terrifying! Haha... Ha?" She said she didn't want to scare me, but it sounded serious. I figured she was probably overreacting in order to cover her own ass; like giving me worst case scenario. But I went anyways, because she sounded juuuust calm enough to make me think that maybe she wasn't a chronic over-reactor.
I am going to have an entirely separate post for my ER visit because it was quite the event and I feel like it deserves its own place here. To make a long story short, the tumor ruptured and I had to have emergency surgery.
When I woke up, they told me that they tried to save as much of the right ovary as they could in order to help with fertility. So my left ovary was still intact, right ovary was about 50%. The surgeon said they were going to send everything off to pathology, which is routine. Remember, nobody knew it was cancer yet. We just thought it was an old run-of-the-mill benign cyst.
That was it! I was sent home, and had a post-op appointment scheduled for about a month out. We thought this was the end of the saga. Jeff even said "well, on the plus side, now you won't have to go in every 3 months to measure the size of the cyst!"
August 15, 2017 - Cancer Diagnosis
The call came in around 9:30 am. It was an Irvine number, but I didn't recognize it. I had been at home on bed rest recovering from surgery and figured it was either work related or medical. "Hmmmmph.... " I thought, and considered not answering at all. I hate talking on the phone, especially when I'm not quite alert yet. Don't judge, you'd sleep in too if you could. Also, Vicodin.
At the last possible moment, I answered groggily.
"Hello?"
It was my surgeon. She asked about recovery and we made small talk about post-operation limitations. Then she got to the point of while she was calling. Pathology was abnormal... Granulosa Cell Tumor... Malignant... Oncology Department...
"Malignant?" I interrupted. "So... a malignant tumor... is this cancer?"
"Yes, it is a type of cancer" she hesitated. It seemed like she was trying to avoid the C-word by calling it its clinical name. There's no downplaying this as a "type" of cancer. It's either cancer or it's not.
It's cancer. Shit.
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