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Samantha Lockwood  Submitted on 03/25/2005 |
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I was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer two weeks ago. It is stage 2C. I'm 30 years old.
Here is my story. I have been sport rock climbing regularly for about 3 years now and finally had gotten a membership to a rock gym in Philadelphia called Go Vertical. Having recently moved within 1 mile of a gym and going through a divorce, I was eager to start climbing more regularly and make new friends. I was going 3-4 times a week for the past six months. I had never before considered myself athletic but I was now in the best physical condition of my life. I love climbing. 2004 had been a year of chaos for me. Separating from my husband, moving, selling a house, hectic work schedule, climbing, making friends, dating, etc etc, things started to slide a little. At years end I decided 2005 was going to be my year without drama. It was going to be the year I paid my rent on time and made it to the doctors when scheduled. These were my resolutions. I started early. I made an appointment with my gyn on 1/3. My regular doctor wouldn't be in but I decided to go anyway and have her colleague do my exam. I was getting stuff done! He found a lump. 10 years ago I had something called a dermoid cyst, could it be that? He ordered an ultrasound. In my efforts to go get things done I had the ultrasound done on 1/6. The tech agreed the mass looked like a dermoid measuring 8cm. The doctor called me in that afternoon and we discussed surgery. I had a surgery scheduled for 2/15 with my regular gynecologist at a county hospital. I was pissed off because the recovery time would be 4-6 weeks -no climbing... this was going to delay my goal of learning lead climbing by spring. A few days later I talked to the owner of the gym to tell him to cancel my membership for February and March. He asked if I'd be traveling somewhere exciting. I told him the story and he responded with 'Have you talked this over with Dan?' 'Why would I talk to Dan?' 'Dan is a doctor at the University of Penn' 'That guy?!?' I knew Dan as a climbing buddy but had no idea he was a surgeon at one of the best hospitals in the state. I did talk to Dan and sent him my ultrasound. He is not a gyn doctor but he strongly suggested I go see a gyn oncologist even though nothing in my ultrasound indicated cancer. His recommendation was based on the idea it would be better to have a nationally known expert perform my surgery because surgery is a big deal. I went to see the doctor at Penn. He agreed that the cyst was a dermoid based on the ultrasound and MRI. He felt confident that he would be able to preserve my ovary when he removed the cyst. This was important to me. I scheduled the surgery at Penn on 2/16. This move may have saved me the pain of enduring more surgeries and may even save my life. In the very least it give me peace of mind that I made the best decision I could have regarding my health. If I hadn’t formed relationships through climbing, I wouldn’t have this. The experienced doctor recognized the tissue looked suspicious. He removed my entire ovary, tissue on my pelvic wall and my appendix. He removed lymph nodes for study. He did all of this without rupturing the ovary. If the ovary had ruptured the cancer may have spread. The pathology report came back showing that I have Ovarian Cancer stage 2C. My lymph nodes were clear. My ovary was cancer and so was the pelvic tissue. I start chemo in less than two weeks. My chances are very good because it was caught early. If I had waited to go to the doctor, I may be in big trouble. Looking back I’m racking my brain trying to remember “did I have symptoms?”. The answer is ‘maybe’. --Maybe that time I had gas pains was a symptom, but it only lasted a day, I thought it was the spicy Thai food. I was fine the next day.-- If I had symptoms they were very vague. However, something in me told me to go to the doctor. Something in me made me not want to wait and watch the dermoid to see if it would grow or cause a problem. I wanted it out. Something in me made me act like I was going to be out of work for a long time, longer than the four weeks. I finished all of my projects. Something made me take this thing seriously before I even knew what it was. Maybe my symptoms were so subtle that I couldn’t hear them directly, but I still listened. Something made me not think, not question myself… I just did what felt right. It is like being on the side of a rock, you need to listen to your body, look around and make the move, feel your body getting there and not stop to question why you are on the rock to begin with. There is no room to panic. Just focus and do what you need to do, through determination and self-awareness. That is how I’m going to approach chemo. One day at a time, one move at a time and I know I’ll get there no matter how much it may knock me on my ***. I’ll get there. Recently I've learned of a group called Climb for Life. It is a group of climbers raising awareness of Ovarian Cancer. I'm going to join them and do what I can. For more info see www.ovariancancer.jhmi.edu/climb Good luck to all of you. |
