It's Not a Tumor!

Good news everyone! Good news! It's NOT a tumor! Last week I received a call from my doctor's office. Shelly called me and left a message while I was at work. On my way home I listened to her message and ran through many different scenarios before calling her back. This is how it played back in my mind:

Shelly? Who is Shelly? Normally I hear back from Giselle. Why would Shelly be calling me? Is she the cancer nurse? The nurse who gives the bad news?

But at the end of the message she said I could speak to either her or one of the other nurse practitioners in the office.

Oh! Good! If she were giving me bad news I don't think she would just pass me along to someone else. It's probably not cancer then!

So I called Shelly. She did have good news for me. The doctor has classified the persistent cyst as endometrioma.  Endometrioma is just a fancy term for endometriosis that has formed a cyst on an ovary or ovaries. So there ya have it! It's not a tumor. It's endometrioma and a diagnosis that I can handle. I am so relieved. I've never wanted to hear the word endometriosis as badly as I wanted to hear it then.

The MRI went better than I had thought. I actually got to go in feet first again. My head was still in the MRI machine, but at least I knew it was towards the opening. The machine clunked and clanged and made the same noise it made when I first had my breast MRI, which was strangely comforting. I just closed my eyes, thought about where I wanted to go for dinner, made plans, and kept myself distracted. It didn't seem to take too long. The contrast was a piece of cake, and I was outta there within 45 minutes. Not bad.

I am so relieved. I was so nervous. I am so thankful that I am able to have these tests and ease my mind of all the horrible cancer thoughts. Now on to more important things!

- J.

Persistent Cyst

Hey! What did you call me?! Oh, you're not talking to me, you're talking to that little annoying cyst just hanging out on my right ovary. Yeah, that cyst sure is persistent.

I had an ultrasound in October and my gyno saw a cyst on my right ovary. I had a followup ultrasound last month and he said it's still there. Just hanging out. So now I have to go for an MRI so he can "classify" it. It could be anything! And that's a little frightening. It could be a benign ovarian cyst which so many women get throughout their lifetime. It could be endometriosis, which I suspect is throughout my body making my life miserable. And then it could certainly be a cancerous tumor. Ah, life, you sure like to keep me on my toes.

My CA-125 has remained stable throughout all my blood work checks so that gives me some hope that it's not cancerous.  My MRI is scheduled for next week. I'm not super stoked about hanging out in a tube while contrast gets shot in to my body, but what can ya do? I've never gone in head first to an MRI machine, just feet first. Does anyone have any tips / tricks to help me pass the time while I find out if I'm claustrophobic or not? Last MRI I tried to rap along with the loud banging and thumping of the machine, but that only passes a short amount of time. I'll take any suggestions!

- J

Another Cancerversary Down!

Guess what everyone?! It's my 3 year cancerversary!! That's right, 3 years since I was diagnosed and I'm still going strong.

Actually, this day almost passed me by without any notice. I've been busy. Changes are coming as I close up my last week of work and begin a new job on January 20th. I'll never forget my old job though, my coworkers were tremendous as I went through my whole ordeal. I was lucky to be where I was in my life at that moment I was diagnosed. Does that even make sense? But now it's on to bigger and better things!

I still have my worries, my health concerns. My OBGYN is keeping a close eye on my high (but stable) CA-125. A little wrench was thrown into the mix when he told me he saw a cyst on one of my ovaries after an ultrasound in October. I'm going back this month for another CA-125 and ultrasound to check up on everything.

I'd be lying if I didn't admit I am a bit scared. I try to fool myself into thinking that I don't care, that everything is fine, and how unfair it would be if things got any worse than the breat cancer. It would be unfair! But in reality it could happen. Anything can happen. Anything does happen! But thank god I have amazingly capable doctors in my corner. Doctors I trust. They monitor me closely and I trust that if anything should arise they'd be just as capable to take care of me.

It's always been a big scary world out there, but I'm happy to say, that today, I am 3 years cancer free!

- J.