Survivor Story: Heather Franz

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 telling her to get me in sooner. I was able to be seen on the 5th but, you’re only able to see the nurse on your first visit. My blood pressure was very high for someone who is 5’ tall and weighed 98 pounds. She told me I would have to come back the next day to see the doctor.
When I saw the doctor my blood pressure was still high and the doctor told me I was probably anemic, had high blood pressure, and was constipated. The nurse that we saw the day before didn’t feel right about his decision and ran out to tell us that if we weren’t happy, we should go to the ER.
When we got home my 9-year-old brother was running a fever and had a bad cough. My parents decided they would take both of us to the ER. He had bronchitis and when the nurse took my blood pressure, he about had a heart attack. My blood pressure was 210/168 and my pulse was 136. He took us to a room immediately.
They started running tests ASAP. They told me I was pregnant, and I told the doctor that it was impossible. He didn’t believe me but decided to perform an ultrasound. He came back and apologized and told me I was correct. They said I had a huge tumor and transported me to Memorial Health in Savannah, Ga where I had emergency surgery. They removed my left ovary, appendix, lymph nodes and an 11-pound germ cell tumor. Dr. Purinton told my mom that if they didn’t bring me in to the ER when they did, I wouldn’t be here today. He said that the lymph nodes and the wash looked normal but they were sending it off to be sure. While still in the hospital Dr. Purinton came by saying that I might have to have some blood transfusions before I could go home. I had been in renal failure, anemic, calcium was high, temperature was high, and my oxygen level kept dropping. Friday night they gave me two blood transfusions before I was discharged.
Two weeks later I had my post op appointment with Dr. Purinton. He said that they found cancer cells in the wash and my pelvic wall where the tumor was sitting. I would need 3 cycles of chemo and was diagnosed as stage 2C. On April 4th we arrived at the Anderson Cancer Institute in Savannah where we met with Dr. Bala, my chemo doctor. He told me I would have to see the nephrologist before starting chemo since I had stage 4 kidney disease and the Cisplatin that they wanted to use would put me on dialysis.
They kept delaying my chemo because I had to gain some weight since I was down to 81 pounds and then I found out that I had kidney stones blocking both ureters and kidneys. That had to be removed first before starting chemo. I never had any pain with the kidney stones I only had pain where my incision was.
On May 7th I started my first round of chemo. My first round of chemo landed me in the ICU in Hardeeville. My white and red blood cells were low, so they gave me 2 blood transfusions. Before I started my second round of chemo, I had a Power Port placed which I still have today. On my second round I had to have Neupogen shots for 4 days to make sure my white blood cells wouldn’t drop.
My third round of chemo was a doozy. I couldn’t get off the couch because I couldn’t catch my breath. The pain was excruciating, and nothing helped. We called my chemo doctor and they wanted to see me ASAP. When I got there the nurse wheeled me to the ER. The ER doctor ran all kinds of tests but couldn’t find anything wrong with me and sent me home. This was on the 17th of July.
By the 20th I was so sick that my dad took me back to the hospital in Hardeeville, SC and I had 0 white blood cells and only 300 red blood cells. They wanted to put me in ICU but my mom told them NO.
They transported me back to Memorial Health in Savannah, GA where I spent a week on the oncology ward. I was getting Neupogen shots every day, the mouth sores were so bad that I couldn’t even keep water down and I had 4 blood transfusions. I was finally able to go home on the 26th.
On the 28th of August I was cancer free. I still have long term side effects from the large watermelon size tumor and the chemo. I have Gastroparesis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Rhaynaud’s, chronic pain, Stage 3 kidney disease and the list goes on. I’ve had over 20 surgeries and procedures since I was diagnosed with cancer. My mom and I travel 2 hours each way to my doctors’ appointments 1 to 3 times a week. I never stop smiling. God is Good.
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