Five Years Ago Today...

This might be TMI (too much information) for some...

Five years ago today, I went in for a laparoscopy...the scope found cancer the size of golf balls on my ovaries. I had Stage 3 ovarian cancer...Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cancer among women, and it causes more deaths than any other type of female reproductive cancer. Ovarian cancer is rarely diagnosed in its early stages. It is usually quite advanced by the time diagnosis is made. The outcome is often poor.

*About 76% of women with ovarian cancer survive 1 year after diagnosis.
*About 45% live longer than 5 years after diagnosis.
*If diagnosis is made early in the disease and treatment is received before the cancer spreads outside the ovary, the 5-year survival rate is about 94%.

I don't want to say I didn't cry my eyes out, nor do I want to say I wasn't depressed because I did and I was. My surgery was quick...only about four hours long. I was in the hospital for 7 days. OH...and we had only been back from China for five months with our daughter. Less than a month after surgery, I started chemo. Due to chemo, my incision didn't heal right, so I had to go to the hospital and have it packed...everyday...including Christmas Eve! I lost all of my hair...even my eyelashes, but not my arm hair. Hair falling out is painful, we shaved it. The chemo was the long treatment...only 5 hours of sitting in a chair with and IV. I don't do needles, at least not without fainting, especially the time that my blood started spewing out the needle site, and then it started siphoning up the tube. The shot to increase white blood cells hurts, and continues to make your bones hurt, but not a moderate pain...an intense pain for 24 hours straight! The drugs the doctor put me on so I wouldn't become sick, knocked me off my feet for four days, but otherwise I couldn't sleep. But after a while, I had to really think about this situation I was in and what it was all about...

If it were not for my cancer, I would not have my beautiful daughter from China, I would not have improved my crocheting skills, I would not have grown closer to God, I would notave realized how well off my life really is, I would not have three belly buttons, I would not have met some of my friends, I would not be able to sympathize with bald men, I would not have ever had a hat party, I would never have had the experience of shaving my head, I would not have learned patience while waiting for my hair to grow back, I would not have known how much my husband truly loves me, I would not know how strong my son is, and I would not be able to share my story and be able to help others going through similar cancers.

Life is given to you...you make it what it is!