Shannon’s Story: Confronting Ovarian Cancer
My name is Shannon. I am from Charlotte, NC. I am married.
In July of 2009, I had just returned from my dream vacation to France. Not even a month later, following a few trips to the gynecologist with complaints of abdominal pain, I was sitting in the office of a gynecologic oncologist. I had never even heard those words used in a sentence. I was being prepped for surgery to remove a cyst.
One week later, I was diagnosed with Stage IIa clear cell carcinoma, a form of ovarian cancer considered rare in younger women. Within two weeks of being diagnosed, I had a radical hysterectomy and a few weeks later, I began six rounds of chemotherapy. I was 32 years old and approaching my three year wedding anniversary.
My husband and I thought we had plenty of time to have kids naturally and so not only was having cancer a big shock, but coming to terms with never being able to ‘feel’ a baby grow inside me was also a lot to take. I started looking for more information on my cancer. I mean, this was the first time I had ever heard of ovarian cancer. The information I found was scary. My doctor told me to stay off the Internet and so I did. I asked him what my color was and he looked confused. I knew pink was for breast cancer and so I almost immediately thought, Oh my, what’s my color? And I’m not going to lie, I hoped the awareness color designated for ovarian cancer went well with my skin tone. By the way, it does.
Having heard ab...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Cancer Caregiving Women's Health Source Type: blogs
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