In the Beginning

It all began with a blood clot! Around October of 2008 I began having severe pains that sent me to the Emergency Room a few times. Finally, in December, an ER doctor decided to send me for an MRI. It revealed something extremely startling (mostly because the pain was on the opposite side of what was discovered). I was told that my ovary was enlarged (approx. 5 cm). I decided I needed to know what the doctor was thinking (NOT recommended). What I found scared me. I went to my husband looking like I had just seen a ghost. I found out that an enlarged ovary meant that I had terminal ovarian cancer. The information I found stated that if they ovary was already 5 cm or more the cancer was already spread.

I was VERY relieved when I went for an ultrasound and found out the ovary was normal. The images showed an enlarged ovarian cyst (about the size of a large grapefruit). This I was okay with as I had the same thing almost 20 years ago (age 18) on the right side that resulted in a right oophorectomy (removal of the ovary). The reason the ER doctor thought it was the ovary is it was overshadowed by the cyst.

The discovery of the cyst prompted the first of three surgeries. The first surgery was February 2, 2009. This resulted in a complete hysterectomy and a tummy tuck. Because I have a number of drug allergies, this was a very difficult surgery to recover from. I was in the hospital a couple of days longer than expected because of allergic reactions. Everything seemed to be going well until the morning of Valentine's Day. During the night I had a nightmare that I was being strangled, which, of course, woke me up in a cold sweat. I was so afraid to go back to sleep. Eventually I fell asleep again. About 8:00 a.m. I woke up gasping for air. My husband took me to the Emergency Room. I thought I was there for an allergic reaction. After MANY tests the ER doctor sent me for an abdominal CT. Once again, the results were shocking. I was told that I had a blood clot in my right lung. They also told me that they saw something in my right breast that they felt could just be scar tissue as I had a lump removed when I was about 22 years old.

By this time my husband had left to get ready for work and my mother had shown up to sit with me. When the doctor gave us the news and said he would be admitting me to the hospital I could see my mom trying hard to fight her emotions so she didn't upset me. She immediately picked up the phone and called a friend who immediately put my name on prayer lists. My mom left the room to have her conversation while I talked to the doctor, but I knew she really left because she needed to cry. While she was gone I used the time to have a little one-on-one with God. By the time my mom returned to the room I felt totally at peace. I felt that God was totally in control and I had nothing to fear. I just knew everything was going to be okay.

Miraculously, two weeks later, after starting blood thinners, the clot was totally gone. This was definitely God as it takes a number of weeks for a blood clot to completely disappear. The doctor put in a referral for a mammogram just to be sure there was nothing going on with the spot on the CT scan. I didn't schedule the mammogram right away as I still had six weeks to heal from my first surgery.