Remember Ovarian Cancer and Dr. Oz

I'm thinking out loud here...........

Why is the medical training segmented into body systems versus body regions?  I ask this because this "systems" frame of reference is probably one of the biggest reasons ovarian cancer is often detected in an advanced stage, if at all.

I attended a very informative survivors course on May 20th designed to help ovarian cancer survivors better heal, understand this illness and look for ways to start to move forward with their lives.  I enjoyed it and was fortunate to hear my gynoc speak, she did amazing.  I met some women from my online ovarian cancer support group, yay.  Overall, I learned a lot, walked away with good resources, and made new friends.

Dr. Goff presented incredible research done on early detection of ovarian cancer.  But we are really still in the research stage.  Of course I can't remember all the details and left my notes in another place, but it's safe to say that Ovarian Cancer researchers are aggressively testing for valid and reliable early detection methods.    It's on the agenda and we must continue the fight.

So at the end of the day, the best mechanisms for early detection are for women to pay attention to their bodies, look for early signs of ovarian cancer and tell their doctors what's going on. Then we need to depend on the physician to know what tools are needed to accurately detect what illness is present, and know then how to properly treat the illness. Is it IBS or ovarian cancer?  We are constantly amazed at how frequently a woman with deadly ovarian cancer is told she probably has IBS and almost dies.

So what about women who aren't even aware of the symptoms?
What about women who have few or no hard symptoms?

We pray for good doctors.  If a female has an under-informed or misinformed or outright negligent primary care doctor or regular gynecologist, please pray for her.  

If you know my history, you know what I'm talking about.  Here's a reminder.....early symptoms for me were low back pain, cruel/severe abdominal pain, whacky periods........eventually bloating, even more abdominal pain, unable to eat real food, getting full quickly, problems with urination ( I was told to do kegel exercises).

All of these symptoms occur in the abdominal and pelvic region of a woman's body.

BUT, instead there are multiple doctors evaluating the same region of your body, all looking at different systems. Not ONE, not ONE detected my ovarian cancer early.  Early detection rarely occurs.  

I went from PCP to regular gynecology to gastroenterology and even oncology.  The last gynecologist who treated me in California never did a bi-manual pelvic exam.  I was having problems.  I'll always wonder if he could have detected it early....

The gastroenterologist did a colonoscopy/endoscopy and found nothing.

My PCP was worthless, and said it was up to the specialists to figure it out.  She's the one who told me to do kegel exercises for my urinary frequency.  Meanwhile I was having other problems....ugh

And, I'll remind everyone I was told by at least three doctors I was too young to have ovarian cancer.  One oncologist (who only saw me one time) told me he chose not to do a CA125 test on me because of my rheumatoid arthritis.  Since I was told I was too young to have ovarian cancer, I actually believed them.

Again I thank God that He sent me an excellent surgeon and then an excellent gynoc in Seattle.  It's like finding the last lifeboat on the Titanic.

So here's my solution.  Instead of a million doctors looking at different systems in the same region, lets have a few specialists look in the abdominal as a whole and see how things work together for a change.

If medical care was based on regions, then all the organs and tissues in THAT region would be analyzed.  It doesn't mean that the doctors couldn't incorporate their comprehensive system knowledge, it just makes diagnosis more efficient.  I think we assume that the PCP is supposed to wear this hat, be the central information communicator.  Alas the PCP seems to have been reduced to a referral agent.  I hate to say it but they don't seem to know as much as they used to, maybe that's all in my head.

In other words maybe a new area of medicine is necessary, an abdominal cavity specialist.  Not to detract or add to the multitude of specialists already in existence, but in the case of ovarian cancer, the symptoms show up when the tumor grows large enough to negatively impact other "systems".  It impinges on say the ureter or the bowel or some other organ nearby.  It is then that we know something isn't right.

You would think that logic would dictate that because the ovaries are hidden, that doctors would be MORE aware of ovarian cancer, because they should be aware of hard to detect illnesses/diseases as well as easily detected diseases.  It's like the medical community only wants the easy patients sometimes.  How harsh us patients must be if we were to expect a gastro doc to be aware that ovarian cancer symptoms are similar to IBS.  We are demanding aren't we....

So at the end of the day, we as women need to tell the doctors we might have ovarian cancer.  Unless you are favored by God to have an amazingly bright and informed physician who remembers ovarian cancer, you may get misdiagnosed.  

ALL WE ARE ASKING DOCTORS TO DO IS TO REMEMBER OVARIAN CANCER.  THAT'S NOT TOO MUCH TO ASK IS IT????

In the mean time, please link to Dr. Oz show as he is taking the daytime TV show lead to help teach women the signs of ovarian cancer.  Dr. Goff is also on his show.  She provides valuable and lifesaving information and explains very clearly how dedicated she is to ending this deadly disease. She also reveals new research in the field of ovarian cancer, please watch the program. 

http://www.drozfans.com/dr-ozs-advice/dr-oz-ovarian-cancer-symptoms-warning-signs/

Please......

REMEMBER OVARIAN CANCER

Peace and Blessings

Dear Cathy Rest in Peace

I have to take a deep breath because I'm about to write a difficult blog.  Our beloved online teal sister 

Cathy A. has left our earthly world and has moved on to a much better place.  

She is now with God, resting and hopefully smiling.

When I first joined this online community of amazing people, Cathy was more than likely the one to post a funny story or joke, to help us heal through laughter.  She was gifted, blessed and very generous with her humor.  I always enjoyed her posts and looked forward with great anticipation to reading her quirky notes.

She fervently raced after a clinical trial, but only God knows why her road was rocky.  Although I never met her, she will forever be in my memory as an unselfish and graceful woman who fully gave of herself for the betterment of others.  As I was saying goodbye to my little bee, her dear family was saying goodbye to her.  She went home, and is no longer in pain.

Rest in Peace dear Cathy.  I pray for your dear husband and family.  May God hold you gently in his arms.

When bees say goodbye

I was captured today by the behavior of two little bees, one alive and one who was no longer living.  I spotted these beautiful little critters on the back patio landing that leads our steps to the rickety basement.  The basement is not finished, but exposed and houses the laundry area.  I had taken some clothes downstairs for the first of several runs of laundry and upon coming up to the ground level, there they were, this lovely pair of bees.  I had  intended to write today about my seminar, but this story tells us about what I learned most from the seminar.

At first the bees were hard to see, with the old cement, moss, tiny pebbles and what not.  But as I bent down to take a closer look, I saw one on it's side, not moving and the other passifying and tending to what seemed to be a dear friend.  I know absolutely nothing about bee behavior and did a quick search so that I could find some substantial information about what I saw, but really found nothing.

As soon as I saw the bees, I sat down on a step and watched, and gazed and wondered and almost felt the pain of the living bee.  I felt so bad, and wanted to do something to help it, but couldn't.  Since having cancer, I have found myself much more sensitive to animals in general, I just feel them in a different way than before.  They have spirits and are not just nerves and tissue.  For example, just last night a raccoon was on our roof, and upon it seeing me looking at him, walked from the edge of the house to an area just above the door and he just stared at me.  I could feel him and wondered, wow, and oh no...is this bad or good.  Either way, it was a being, not just an animal. (I've always believed all animals have spirits, it's just that now that sense is much more intensified.)

After sitting outside for a bit, I did a small search on the internet.  I did read that sick bees are either taken from a hive or take it upon themselves to leave the nest when they are sick, so as not to infect the rest of the bees.  It preserves the overall health of the nest and prolongs the hive's life.  I wonder if this is what had happened to the poor little bee.  Maybe the caretaker followed the bee to be with him during his last moments.

As I sat there outside on the step, I actually took the back of my hand and stroked the back of the caretaker bee. Before I did this though, I hesitated a bit because I thought, "don't do that, it's silly and it'll probably sting me".  Well, it didn't sting me or anything really.  It was focused on it's friend.  It just moved it's antennae  and continued to keep doing it's business.  The caretaker bee was stroking the dying bee with it's antennae, slowly moving around, seemingly to sniff and touch and massage it.  It was just fascinating. I have never seen anything like this anywhere. 


The caretaker bee was not in any way hurting the other bee.  The caretaker bee was literally taking it's antennae and touching the other bee in multiple places, as if to comfort it.  This went on for over an hour.

As I sat there, mesmerized by this activity, I started to think about what motivates a bee to do this. Why would a bee spend so much time taking care of another bee, who was obviously either dead or almost dead. I thought about love and how we, as humans, need love to thrive and to "be" and without love we could literally die of deep depression or other ailments.

I thought about how nature instills this loving instinct in all of us and why does this survival mechanism get bogged down and altered in humans.  

Well during this time I went back inside to call my dear Aunt who is having a minor surgery tomorrow,  to wish her well.  I went back outside when our conversation ended, and the caretaker bee was gone.  All that was left was the tiny body of the other bee, lying there still and in peace.  The space suddenly felt empty, and a feeling of loneliness swept over me.

So I stood there, quiet for a moment, and then moved the bee to the soil. I felt compelled to honor this little creature so I placed a few tiny rocks around it's body.  

At the seminar this past Friday, I felt lots of love in the room.  It was a course for ovarian cancer survivors, sponsored by the Foundation for Women's Cancer:

http://www.foundationforwomenscancer.org/

What I really learned at the seminar is that we all need to care for each other, care about each other, and pray for one another.  It is in this that we heal.

May you rest in peace little bee friend.  Thank you for reminding me of what love means, for without it, there's nothing.  To my readers, love your neighbors as you love yourself.  


Peace and Blessings to you.

Joy comes from all kinds of places

My JOYS for today:

1.  Playing a new game with Addie, she always wins no matter what.  I want to be a kid again, don't you?

2.  Just seeing my sister, gives me relief.  She came by with Addie Her daughter) today for a short visit, and it was just blissful.  Don't ask me what frog juice is, but I can tell you finding it is fun. I am thankful that she has a beautiful life with Patrick and the girls, it makes me feel secure.

3.  Seeing mom's huge smile when they were here just spontaneously having fun.

4.  Remembering the smile on my mom's face when my brother called Sunday morning.  And then I think about his beautiful children and I can't stop smiling.

5.  Remembering the smile on my mom's face when she talked with her brother today.  His son got a job in the airline industry, yay for him.

6.  Weeding (thank goodness the soil is really damp).  It brings you literally down to earth, you forget problems and enjoy the sun, the dirt, the green, and just working the soil.  I'll pay for it tomorrow for sure.

7.  Remembering being at karate last week with Mandy and the girls, what fun.

8.  Remembering going to Tammy's wedding two years ago, (almost) and now she's about ready to have her baby.

9.  Remembering the smile on my mom's face and the huge roar of laughter each time she talks with her sister Deb, it's fun to listen, mom has a great laugh.

10. Remembering the surprise and joy mom felt when she got a little blankie from her other sister Bern.

11.Remembering the soft little kiss from "J".  Now what am I going to do?  

12.  The most joy was the elated feeling I get from going to church, spending special time with God, praying for my family, medical team, friends, ovca sisters and the homeless. Knowing dad's OK.  Thank you God for all your help this week.

Peace, Blessings and all my Love to you

How heat helps kill cancer - The Scientist - Magazine of the Life Sciences

How heat helps kill cancer - The Scientist - Magazine of the Life Sciences

Maybe there are some positive benefits to having hot flashes after all!