>PLEASE REALIZE OVARIAN CANCER SNEEKS UP ON THE
VICTIMS, THE
> SYMPTOMS ARE LIKE MANY OTHER DISEASES OR DISORDERS - USUALLY GI. A
> WOMAN CAN GET OVARIAN CANCER AFTER HAVING HER OVARIES REMOVED. MY
> MOTHER DIED OF OVARIAN CANCER ABOUT SEVEN YEARS AFTER THE REMOVAL OF
> HER'S. OVARIAN REMNANTS HAPPEN BUT CAN BE CHECKED FOR. IT IS YOUR
> BODY, IF YOUR DOCTOR IS NOT TAKING YOU SERIOUSLY, GET ANOTHER OPINION
> AND KEEP GOING UNTIL YOU GET A DOCTOR THAT WILL SIT DOWN AND LISTEN.
> REMEMBER A PAP SMEAR DOES NOT CHECK FOR OVARIAN CANCER, A CA 125 CAN
> DETECT IT BUT IT IS NOT FOOL PROOF.
> TAKE CARE OF YOURSELVES. I WILL STEP OFF MY SOAP BOX NOW
> ANN-GEORGIA
Ann-Georgia is absolutely right!
Ovarian cancer is sometimes called the disease that whispers. Vague GI symptoms are often its only warnings.
If you are having gassiness, abdominal pain, bloating, increase in waist size get to a gynecologist and request that he or she do the following in the same short time period (not over a period of months):
Transvaginal ultrasound Pelvic-rectal exam (the rectal exam is critical) CA-125 blood test
The CA-125 is not always accurate -- it can be raised in benign conditions and not raised at all in some ovarian cancer -- so don't stop with it.
I am a 7 year survivor of ovarian cancer. I had surgery in January 1994 and am in recurrence now. Strangely, adhesions led to my diagnosis. I had two months of pain and vomiting that couldn't be identified as anything until a CT-scan found the mass on my ovary. During the ovca surgery, I had my first lysis of adhesions.
Kate
>
-- Kate Murphy katemm@mindspring.com