This year my immune system gave up. Threw in the towel. Called it quits. 18 years on immuno-suppressants can do that to a person. Since then I have had to limit my contact with those who are sick, and limit physical contact with people outside my immediate family. I don't even share drinks with my kids anymore.
About three months ago my energy dropped significantly. Exercise, eating well, and extra naps were not helping. I could not figure out what was wrong.
Then I got an infection that led me to visit my OB/GYN. That little infection turned out to be a major blessing and little miracle as the doctor found that the cyst on my right ovary had returned. She scheduled a ultrasound.
A couple days later, the ultrasound technician caught something out of place and did additional tests. We were contacted shortly thereafter and informed that I may have ovarian cancer. All the symptoms fit. Because of my other health adventures, they sent me to the top gynecologic oncologist in the State (though some claimed he is the best in the western U.S.).
Between these appointments, many of our closest friends and family fasted and prayed for me. Within days of their various fasts, I started to feel significantly better. My energy increased a bit, and things did not go as poorly.
When I visited with the oncologist, he ordered bloodwork. The new results indicated that the mass was now nothing more than a tumor. He gave us various options about how to deal with the situation, and we counselled with him, God, David, and my five other various specialist doctors. We opted for surgery.
This morning, I went into the hospital to have the problem and problem areas removed. The surgeon brought in four additional doctors to assist with the procedure. My hubby says it is because I'm special.
There were some slight difficulties in the procedure due to the scar tissue from my many other surgeries and to the physical anomaly of my blood vessals (3x the normal size). Once the doctors took care of those circumstances, they went to explore the area of the tumor. My oncologist became "extremely concerned" because (hopefully I explain this right) all of the tissue and tumor indicated that the cancer was malignant. They prepared to take everything, lymph nodes... etc.
They took out the tumor, and had the pathologist do a quick biopsy to see what it indicated before search out where it had spread, only to find out that it seems it was now a low-malignant-potential type of cancer tumor.
When explaining this afterwords, the Doctor seemed perplexed about the indicators, though he was very pleased with the results.
After some pondering and inquiring, here is what we believe happened: I had ovarian cancer. The faith, fasting, and prayers of family and friends stopped its progression and altered it to a non-dangerous state long enough for me to have a hysterectomy and remove the problem. That's how wee see it.
So, thank you to all those who have prayed for me, fasted for me, and keep up on the blog enough to know what's going on in our lives. Hugs from afar.
P.S. The doctor came in and just informed us that with how things are, they are going to do some additional tests, and they may send me back in to remove everything else in a couple months. But that is unlikely.
FYI: Aqua ribbons are for ovarian cancer awareness.
2 comments:
You are a wonderful survivor. Wahoo. With Love, Mom H.
What a blessing to have this all discovered and swiftly dealt with! Thank you for sharing this beautiful story of faith. Sending love from us here in CT <3
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