My story begins like most; with my parents and the beliefs they instilled in me as a child. My mother is a chiropractor and with a PhD. in biophysics, my father was an aeronautical engineer. With a PhD. in international business, my father taught me to always question authority because conventional wisdom can be wrong….
Last month, I had a colonoscopy because of my family history with Colon Cancer, and I am in the preop area and the nurse comes to my bedside and says, “Want to hear something really funny?” Of course, I replied with a yes and she says, “I was looking at your chart here and it says…
My name is Michele. I am a survivor of low grade endometrioid carcinoma. My story started like many others with complaints of bloating, weight gain, feeling very full quickly, excessive bleeding and back pain. My uterus was removed for fibroid tumors in June of 2014. My ovaries were left in. I was relieved and thought all…
My Story begins with my husband and I trying to conceive a child. We went to see an infertility specialist and was told that I had a tumor on my left ovary and that once removed, the whole process would be easier. I went through that surgery and come out fine and continued with the…
My survivor story started a long time ago when I was 15 years old, in 1976. As it was so long ago, and since I was a child, the memories are not crystal clear, and I only know the basics. Of course, it is from a child’s viewpoint too. My symptoms were mood swings and…
My mom noticed that I was getting a protruding belly and she became concerned since none of us had health insurance. She made an appointment for all 3 of us to go to Volunteers in Medicine. I was 26 at the time. The appointments were scheduled for the end of March, but the Lord kept…
On February 9th, 2005 I was diagnosed with stage 1C Ovarian Cancer during surgery to remove two ovarian cysts. All the cancer that could be seen was removed. I was fortunate that my symptoms directly led to a diagnosis. I was fortunate that I was referred to a surgeon who knew what to test and…
Tuesday April 10, 2007 I visited my internist complaining of a cough that had lasted approximately six weeks and exhaustion. I imagined that I would be told that I had bronchitis and would be out the door with an antibiotic. He did not hear anything abnormal in my chest but luckily felt that since I had been…
My journey with ovarian cancer began when I was 40. Because my dad’s mom had breast cancer twice, once around age 50 and again at age 82, I was always worried about getting breast cancer. I decided to go to a breast surgeon to discuss my chance of having the same fate as my grandmother….
In the summer of 2003 I was helping my oldest child get ready to leave for college 850 miles away from home. On and off all summer I would notice these twitches in my stomach, where my ovaries would have been. I had had a complete hysterectomy 10 years prior. I remember commenting to my…
