Survivor Story: Adam Callei
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 you had a hysterectomy!” I replied with, “I did, I had it all removed because I had Uterine and Ovarian Cancer”.
As a transgendered male, there is always sense of pride, relief, and anxiety, when I am put in those situations. Pride because nobody questions my manhood, relief because it’s on the table, and anxiety because I never know what someone thinks of those who identify outside of their birth gender. So, when I was diagnosed not only with Ovarian Cancer in the summer of 2018 but with Uterine Cancer as well, those shock and awe moments only intensified.
Transgendered men often don’t want to accept the things that are going on in their female organs and I was no different. Hell, I was someone who didn’t even tell my primary care doctor that I was even transgendered. So, when I started having issues and concerns with my downstairs area, I drove 250 miles from home to a doctor in San Francisco that was familiar with transgendered health care. When my wife and I went to that appointment I was told my symptoms were normal for a transgendered male and that in a few weeks with a little medicine it should all go away.
That did not happen and less than four months later on July 3, 2018, I was in the emergency room with severe abdominal pain. At the hospital I had a CT Scan that showed a cantaloupe size cyst on my ovary. I was admitted and the next day I had a biopsy, when those results came back, the next day, it showed that I had cervical cancer. I stayed in the hospital until a gynecological oncologist could see me.
When he walked in to my hospital room he told me that he did not think I had cervical cancer and wanted to do another procedure. After all of that was said and done it came back that I had stage IB Uterine Cancer and I was scheduled for a full hysterectomy a week later. The surgery went well, and I was confident that all the cancer was removed. I was released from the hospital 5 days later and within a week my oncologist gave me a call.
He started the conversation by telling me my case has been unique and confusing from the beginning. He then said that pathology came back that not only did I have Uterine Cancer, but I had Ovarian Cancer as well. That pathology came back as two separate primary cancers. The plan was for me to do six rounds of chemo and then afterwards he would open me back up and stage me for the unexpected Ovarian Cancer.
I had my first chemo on September 13, 2018 and I had my last chemo on December 27th. My wife came to every treatment with me and supported me during my sometimes 7 hour infusions Chemo treated me pretty well, I only had to have one blood transfusion from low counts. I did have side affects like numbness in my hands and feet, loss of energy, and changes in taste of food. I also had some noticeable hearing loss as well from the chemotherapy medications.
I had surgery on April 1stto stage my ovarian cancer and I had a IP port placed in my abdominal to be prepared for any future treatment I may need. I am blessed to say that as of my first post treatment follow-up on the 1stof August, that I am NED and free to live without too much worry until my next appointment in a few months.
Ovarian cancer can affect anybody that has or previously had ovaries. Some of the symptoms are things you would not expect and can often go undiagnosed. As a transgendered male I was undergoing changes to my body that I didn’t ever think ovarian cancer as a possibility. I never had a doctor suggest that my issues could be cancer and now that I know all of the symptoms, I realize I was at risk for ovarian cancer.
Even though I am someone’s brother, father, grandfather, uncle and son, I am still an ovarian cancer survivor. I still must be tested every three months for the next four years for risk of recurrence. I hope that my story will help someone else who may have that guy in their life that is at risk for Ovarian Cancer. Ovarian cancer is a deadly disease that we must all consider as something that could happen to each of us.
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