A California woman reveals what it took for doctors to diagnose her with ovarian cancer.
Speaking to Today.com, Emma Schlamm said her symptoms started when she was 25 years old. Then she felt an unusual pain in her left side. After scans revealed that Schlamm, now 29, had a mass that doctors said was a “borderline tumor,” it was removed along with her ovary.
Body of man missing since September found in well, authorities say
“I pushed and pushed and pushed because I was getting worried. (I) didn’t like the idea of anything growing in my body that wasn’t supposed to be there,” she said.
Schlamm said she saw several doctors before the scan that discovered the mass was performed and felt “incredibly rejected” when she expressed concerns about potential loss of fertility.
A year later, she was “shocked” to learn that a routine scan found another tumor that tested positive for ovarian cancer. Schlamm described it as a “full-fledged low-grade serous ovarian cancer” and that the diagnosis was devastating.
“I was passed out for most of the conversation,” Schlamm recalled. “I don’t remember much. I never heard my mom wail like that, that guttural primal cry she let out.”
According to the International Journal of Gynecological Cancer, “low-grade serous carcinoma of the ovary or peritoneum is a rarer type of epithelial ovarian cancer that is poorly responsive to chemotherapy and affects younger women, many of whom go through years of ineffective treatments and poor quality of life.”
Symptoms of ovarian cancer can include bloating, pelvic and abdominal pain, and the urge to urinate, according to the American Cancer Society.
Two dead, at least 99 sick in salmonella outbreak linked to contaminated melons and cut fruit
Schlamm froze her eggs and underwent 18 cycles of chemotherapy and surgery to remove her remaining ovary. Although she’s now on an aromatase inhibitor, she told Today.com that she’s also dealing with a lot of “sadness” about feeling like she’s lost her “youth, vibrancy and vitality.” One of the symptoms of the drug is osteoporosis, which made Schlamm afraid that she would injure herself.
Although she says there is no longer any evidence of the disease in her body, Schlamm, who is a board member of the STAAR Ovarian Cancer Foundation, said one of the hardest things to deal with is the fear every time she gets a scan.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. “That’s the hardest part of all of this, living with the fear from repeating because the numbers are just overwhelming,” she said. “I’m trying to do what I can, stay active and healthy. It makes me feel like I have some control over my body.”
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education