As girlfriends we share advice – that’s part of our ‘job’ as a friend.

So, when asked to pass along this story, I thought it was important to all women and therefore great girlfriend advice. Please share with your friends. We need to take care of each other!

Ovarian Cancer, By Debbie Stevens

My mother was the healthiest & happiest she had been in a long while, even planning a holiday overseas with my father…what could possibly go wrong??

As days began winding down to departure, mum began noticing a few little annoying discomforts in her body, but be that most women will go through many changes over their lifetime, mum wasn’t extremely bothered.

My parents had retired when my father hit 65, and mum was only 55, and this trip their biggest venture. Mum was so excited mapping out each destination with her two girls looking on in absolute wonder & joy.

She went about her usual daily walks with her neighbor, the strange pain in her back became more prominent, so too the unusual swelling of her tummy? What was that? Had mum gained a few pounds??

The scales certainly didn’t show this to be the case and yet as each day went by, her stomach got larger, leaving her with a feeling of ‘fullness’.Many of her long pants and skirts didn’t seem to fit so mum increased the time she spent walking hoping she could shift whatever this was.

The backaches worsened, she complained once or twice of aching legs but I’d merely put this down to her increased amount of exercise.

One particular day, on one of our telephone ‘chats’, she joked saying she looked as if she were about six months pregnant. It was the strangest thing but we both agreed time to see what her Doctor thought about it.

March, 2000

His first prognosis was the possibility of a prolapsed bladder, but he wasn’t entirely sure so sent mum for further tests. An ultrasound followed by a cat scan-The cat scan warranted further investigation, the Doctors had found a mass on mum’s ovary. With the Ca-125 blood test, it would determine mum’s level of protein, a marker for tumors. Her levels came back high and so it was confirmed. My mother had Ovarian Cancer.

The signs of her illness were the signals we simply did not pick up on. WHY? The answer was simple. We had never heard of this cancer, we were NOT aware!

My mother was diagnosed March, 2000 and passed away July 3rd, 2000.

What do YOU know about Ovarian Cancer? Did you know that there is NO early detection test, such as that of a mammogram or ‘pap smear’? All we have to go on for now ARE the signs of the illness….learn to watch for these symptoms!

Ovarian Cancer has been silent for way too long and more women/girls need to be armed. Early possible warning signs are:

• Backache
• Bloating/swelling tummy
• Feeling of ‘fullness’
• Weight gain/weight loss
• Change in bowel habits
• Nausea/gas/wind
• Indigestion
• Painful intercourse

If you suspect anything you feel is out of the normal for you, please don’t hesitate to speak to your Doctor. The usual tests combine of Transvaginal Ultrasound, Cat Scan & CA-125 blood test. Be sure to get a referral to Gynecologist Oncologist immediately if Ovarian Cancer is suspected!

Thanks Debbie for sharing. Check out her site for more info.

Girlfriends – let’s help take care of each other and share what we’ve learned about ovarian cancer.

Girlfriendology, the online community for women based on girlfriend inspiration, appreciation and celebration

Tags: Cancer, Gynecologic, health, Ovarian, Ovarian cancer, women's health

This entry was posted on Monday, April 13th, 2009 at 12:45 pm and is filed under Be a Better FRIEND. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.