Survivor Story: Linda Bezner

In the fall after returning from college drop off, the twinges continued, and I decided to get it checked out.  I was speaking with a co-worker who had just recovered from getting her gallbladder removed and I asked her if my stomach was bothering me, what type of doctor should I go to?  She replied, I would go straight to a gastroenterologist rather than a GP.  I did.  I made an appointment and I sat in the doctor’s office and she asked me what was going on.  I remember telling her I was either a hypochondriac or I had cancer or somewhere in between.  She ordered a CT scan.  Within a couple of hours of having the scan, my doctor called me.  She told me there was a mass on my ovary.  I replied to her, I don’t have any ovaries!  She said, then I want this scan to go to your gynecologist and let him look at it.  I gave her his info and she said she would send it over.  He called me that weekend on a Sunday night while I was out to dinner with my family.  It’s never a good sign when your doctor calls you on Sunday night. He told me he didn’t like what he saw and wanted to send my scans over to a colleague.  I asked what type of doctor he was, and he replied, a gynecologic oncologist.   I got in to see this doctor, and while I was terrified, I was still reassured by his calm and matter of fact demeanor.  He told me we were going to operate, and if it’s cancer, we will remove it.

Well, it wasn’t quite that simple.  It turned out the tumor was wrapped around an artery and I had to have a colon resection (that surgeon was grabbed by my gyn-onc in the operating room) and my appendix removed.  There was some question about the type of cancer.  I had paperwork that said colon cancer, cancer of the appendix…the results did not come back until I was home recovering.  Ovarian cancer.  I didn’t even know to ask what stage.  But I later learned it was IIIC.  I also had no idea what my CA125 was.  Again, ignorance.  I was told going in to my second round of chemo that my CA125 was 3.  I then learned about CA125 and asked what it was before.  All I know is that it was 90 after surgery. 

I had 6 rounds of carboplatin and taxol and responded well.  I had a second look surgery after, which used to be SOP.  As I was going in to surgery, my gyn onc told me he wanted me to have more chemo.  I was disappointed, but glad he told me BEFORE surgery and not after.  No cancer was found in second look surgery and I had four rounds of taxol only.  

Life was good for six years.  I managed to go an entire year without a scan, and then I got a call that there was a spot in the same place after my scan.  I did the same routine, carboplatin and taxol.  Again, I responded.  When I was diagnosed, I remember telling my oncologist that my daughter was graduating from law school in May and my son was graduating from college the following weekend. She replied, You’ll be there.”  And I was.  I was wearing my “cranial prosthesis” but I was there.  Two graduations two weekends in a row.  

The next time I went less than 3 years and I had a recurrence.  This one got everyone’s attention and we threw the kitchen sink at it.  Surgery again.  Chemo and radiation.  Then chemo after.  This time carboplatin and Doxol.  This month I am six years cancer free since the last time.  15-year survivor total.

I do not have the BRCA mutation. When I was in my early 20s, I had surgery for endometriosis.  My oncologist says some doctors consider this a precursor for ovarian cancer.  Because I had a hysterectomy at 34, I was on hormone replacement therapy for 10 years.  I was never on the pill because it triggered my migraines.  Had I known more about ovarian cancer, I would certainly have done things differently.  There is no history of ovarian cancer in my family.  

I was and am blessed with a good support group because that is just as important.  I am always in fear that this will return.  I try not to worry about it.  If I see an article about a new type of treatment that sounds promising, you can bet I read it.  I want to find that cure!

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