Posted On 30 May 2024 by Naomi West
My Ovarian Cancer Journey: From Diagnosis to Recovery
In June 2023, I noticed that I had started gaining weight in my stomach area. I just dismissed the weight gain thinking that if I bought bigger clothes to hide my stomach area that would solve the problem; it didn’t occur to me at all that anything more serious was going on. As time went by, I felt that I was looking more bloated than before and decided to remove wheat and dairy from my diet. I again thought it was nothing serious and maybe I had just developed an intolerance.
It was then that people had started to ask me, to my face, “When are you due?”, and “How many months pregnant are you?”. This, of course, massively hurt my feelings, but I tried to make light of the situation and just thought it was due to my diet.
Fast forward to November 2023, after months of hiding my stomach from my partner, he took one look, felt my stomach, and told me that I needed to go to the doctors as my stomach was hard and something was obviously not right. Coincidentally, that same day I had started spotting and so I phoned the doctors and got a same day appointment.
To my embarrassment, my GP even asked me if I was pregnant – which I was not. My GP then referred me to Musgrove Hospital for an urgent ultrasound. This was where it was confirmed that I had a (very big) cyst which measured 20x18x17. I got placed on the two-week pathway to Gynaecological Oncology.
After a contrast CT scan, my Oncologist was certain that it was a borderline serious ovarian tumour (not malignant) which needed to be removed.
My surgery was scheduled to take place on 8th January 2024. However, I received a phone call on 16th December saying that they had moved my surgery to 19th December.
Prior the surgery, I had a womb biopsy and smear test, and both came back clear. This meant that I could keep my womb and that, at a later date, if I wanted to, with the use of donor eggs I would be able to carry my own child.
My surgery was performed on 19th December as planned. I was informed after the fact, that although my biopsy was thought to be clear they had made the decision to remove my womb. Whilst in surgery they had seen a node on my womb lining, so for the best results, they removed it. I am glad that my surgeon made the decision to remove my womb, although, it was very hard to come to terms with.
At the age of 33, I was surgically put into menopause, I had a full hysterectomy, oophorectomy and my omentum (layer of fat over your organs) removed. I spent three days in hospital recovering after my surgery and my surgeon told me that they had sent everything they removed off for histology and I would find out in a couple weeks if it was cancerous.
On 4th January 2024, I received the dreaded phone call from my surgeon that, unfortunately, I did in fact have cancer. The mass that they removed was a borderline serious tumour, however, small amounts of disease was found in my left ovary and small amount of microscopic disease was found in my omentum.
This gave me the stage of low-grade stage 3A2 ovarian cancer and I was told that I would need chemotherapy.
After another contrast CT (which is the baseline, that they use at the start of chemotherapy) and blood tests to check my CA125, I started chemotherapy on 26th January 2024.
Chemotherapy took its toll on me, not only physically but mentally. I had chemotherapy every three weeks and felt so envious about the things I knew I was missing out on. Chemo affected me more than I ever thought it was going to; I was not prepared for the way that my body reacted and the way that my life, and my family, were affected.
When you are diagnosed with cancer, you feel like your life is ending. Cancer has a stigma, no one really talks about how life is after cancer and that you can recover from cancer. They now classify being cancer free as no evidence of disease (NED) and this comes before being 5 years into remission.
I am delighted that, having completed my chemotherapy (after 4 cycles) and after another CT, I am classed as NED at the moment. There is still a chance that the cancer can come back, despite having the major surgery that I had to remove everything. This also means that I am on medication for the foreseeable, as my cancer is hormone fed. Hormone fed means that I can’t take anything with oestrogen as it will fuel the cancer and could spark the disease to come back. I will never be allowed HRT because of this which means that I am going through menopause without the tools a lot of women use to help ease them into menopausal life.
Ovarian cancer is not spoken about nearly enough. It is known as the silent killer. Symptoms can be passed off as IBS, or like me thinking it was just my weight and diet. Doctors don’t necessarily check for ovarian cancer like they do cervical cancer, the only way ovarian cancer can be confirmed is by a histology report, and CA125 blood test.
It important to note that even with this blood test being carried out, it is not 100% accurate due to many factors which can make your CA125 rise. I am happy to share my story in the hope that it encourages other women, who may have the same mindset that I did back in June 2023, to get help. It is scary but we are not alone and hearing other women’s stories about their battles with ovarian cancer has helped me through this.
I hope my journey inspires others to seek help and support. I am truly thankful to Pardoes Solicitors, for their incredible support.
They are kindly hosting an Ice Bath Challenge fundraiser on Tuesday 25 June to support me and my other colleague who have faced our journeys with cancer.
Please, if you could kindly donate, it would make a significant difference in our lives.
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/pardoesplunge/
Thank you for your support!
