I am trying to spread the word

poopergirl14052
poopergirl14052 Member Posts: 1,183 Member
in Ovarian Cancer #1
about ovarian cancer.I receive several womans magazines in the the and they never ever metion ovca,,only breast cancer. I wrote them a letter on facebook to please do a story on this as it's symptoms are so vague. I hope they will listen, I went for my yrarly mammogram last week and my radiologist tech said her mom died from ovca. I asked her if she knew about the illness and that Sep is national ovarian awareness month..she said no. I wanted to scream at her and ask her what the heck is wrong with you..but I was in shock from her answer more than what was found on my test. I have to get a biopsy of left breast to rule out mets,,Md saw some little spots in lypm nodes so I am waiting for my appointment. Wish me luck..val

Comments

  • skeeter1002
    skeeter1002 Member Posts: 43
    #2
    Me too
    I've got my work place getting ready to spread awareness this month. We have permision to also participate in the National Teal Denim day on September 30th. Not that any cancer deserves more publicity than another but breast cancer is really the only one that gets press. I'm ready to go to work to change that!

    And I hope your biopsy turns out to be nothing. Prayers being sent on your behalf.

    Wenona
  • kikz
    kikz Member Posts: 1,345 Member
    #3
    skeeter1002 said:

    Me too
    I've got my work place getting ready to spread awareness this month. We have permision to also participate in the National Teal Denim day on September 30th. Not that any cancer deserves more publicity than another but breast cancer is really the only one that gets press. I'm ready to go to work to change that!

    And I hope your biopsy turns out to be nothing. Prayers being sent on your behalf.

    Wenona

    I hear you, Val.
    I recently went for my mammogram and cervical exam. I gave a teal toes card to the receptionist at radiology. After I sat down she said can I ask you something and proceeded to ask a lot of questions demonstrating that she knew little about ov/ca. I was more than glad to answer her questions. I gave her extra cards to give to her friends. She was a young woman. I don't want to seem like the harbinger of death but I try to talk to women about ov/ca wherever I go. I am concerned that women do not seem to know much about this disease. I guess I didn't either except that it is really bad news.

    Karen
  • wfisaac
    wfisaac Member Posts: 60
    #4
    First of all Val, I wish you
    First of all Val, I wish you the very best as you wait and I pray everything will be good.

    I was just realizing how many opportunities now come up to educate someone on ovarian cancer. I kind of look at each opportunity as a possibility that someone's life might be saved. Last week when I had to go to Urgent Care because of all the abdominal pain I was experiencing I told the doctor right off that I am a cancer patient and that I didn't know if what I was experiencing was just some intestinal bug or some kind of indication there was a bigger problem. He right away said "well, you know...if it was ovarian cancer you would have no symptoms at all. It's the silent cancer". I told him that isn't so true anymore and that there are symptoms but they get misdiagnosed a lot. He then asked me to explain what they were and he genuinely listened and took notes in his personal notebook. I give him a lot of credit for not being so arrogant and think that just because he's the doctor he would know better than I do. Even though I didn't feel like I left there with any resolve for my issue it still felt good because I figured maybe some day down the road he'll have a patient come in with one of the symptoms I explained and it might cause him to look further into it and hopefully save a life.
  • wfisaac
    wfisaac Member Posts: 60
    #5
    Oh...and I was going to
    Oh...and I was going to mention that in a recent Prevention Magazine there was a good article in it on ovarian cancer. I don't know which month it came out.
  • Tethys41
    Tethys41 Member Posts: 1,382 Member
    #6
    wfisaac said:

    First of all Val, I wish you
    First of all Val, I wish you the very best as you wait and I pray everything will be good.

    I was just realizing how many opportunities now come up to educate someone on ovarian cancer. I kind of look at each opportunity as a possibility that someone's life might be saved. Last week when I had to go to Urgent Care because of all the abdominal pain I was experiencing I told the doctor right off that I am a cancer patient and that I didn't know if what I was experiencing was just some intestinal bug or some kind of indication there was a bigger problem. He right away said "well, you know...if it was ovarian cancer you would have no symptoms at all. It's the silent cancer". I told him that isn't so true anymore and that there are symptoms but they get misdiagnosed a lot. He then asked me to explain what they were and he genuinely listened and took notes in his personal notebook. I give him a lot of credit for not being so arrogant and think that just because he's the doctor he would know better than I do. Even though I didn't feel like I left there with any resolve for my issue it still felt good because I figured maybe some day down the road he'll have a patient come in with one of the symptoms I explained and it might cause him to look further into it and hopefully save a life.

    That' a laugh
    I know it isn't really funny, what that doctor said, but it made me laugh. I'm glad he took notes. There is a group in Colorado, the Colorado Ovarian Cancer Alliance, that is training ovarian cancer survivors to go in to the University of Colorado medical school to talk to medical students about ovarian cancer symptoms. Hopefully they will retain what they learn from the experience and more women will be diagnosed earlier.
  • wfisaac
    wfisaac Member Posts: 60
    #7
    I was thinking of this
    I was thinking of this thread today as I watched today's episode of Dr. Oz. It was all devoted to bringing awareness to Ovarian Cancer. I've seen him touch on this several times before but this was the full program and it was wonderful to see so much info being put out to help educate people and help them to become more in tune with what's going on in their bodies and to not be afraid to push further if you feel there is something wrong. It was amazing to hear all the women tell of the misdiagnoses they had been given.
  • poopergirl14052
    poopergirl14052 Member Posts: 1,183 Member
    #8
    wfisaac said:

    I was thinking of this
    I was thinking of this thread today as I watched today's episode of Dr. Oz. It was all devoted to bringing awareness to Ovarian Cancer. I've seen him touch on this several times before but this was the full program and it was wonderful to see so much info being put out to help educate people and help them to become more in tune with what's going on in their bodies and to not be afraid to push further if you feel there is something wrong. It was amazing to hear all the women tell of the misdiagnoses they had been given.

    I was thinking the same thing
    maybe something positive will come after the Dr. Oz show. So many woman and their doctors need to be educated,,so maybe this is a start.....let keep trying..val
  • cfont11
    cfont11 Member Posts: 115
    #9
    Spread the word
    The National Ovarian Cancer Coalition has many programs to spread the word and they teamed up with Dr. Oz for his show. Around the end of Sept., each chapter has a walk/run for ovarian cancer and they also place posters and brochures in doctor's offices, clinics, etc. If you want to find out if your area has a chapter, go to www.nocc.org. My PCP knows nothing about ovarian cancer and she diagnosed me as having diverticulitis.

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