In the beggining...

     On December 7, 2008 I had my own little day that would live in infamy. My worst fears were realized and a substantial tumor presented itself. The ER docs did the best they could to hide their knowing expressions, but I saw the looks and I knew in my heart it was cancer. I don't know how except that It was in my heart. I waited for my Dr. to call me with the results and on a Friday she said come on in. its no big deal just a follow up. So I went. it was 8 days after the er visit. I was sitting in a chair when she walked in to the unusually stark white room. I was shaking already. My body knew. My heart knew. She started her sentence with something like you have adenocarcinoma of unknown origin.
Cancer. Fantastic! For this post, I'm going to skeleton version of events leading t this day of mine. but i will expand in the future.

     This is where I need to take you back for a little while in my world to 12 almost 13 years prior. I lived in another state at the time and had ongoing health problems starting slightly before my pregnancy but escalating from then on. I was tested and prodded and poked and was treated for a number of ailments. I was diagnosed by one Dr. as having Epstein Barr's Syndrome, only to find out during a second opinion that no that couldn't be it. I was sent to clinic after clinic and hospital after hospital. Where I was diagnosed and began being treated for Multiple Sclerosis. I underwent the treatment and "episodes" for about 5 years I believe. Maybe 6 but none the less far too long. I asked for a Ct scan and was denied, I went to and endocrinologist who immediately had me start seeing a gynecologist oncologist, who found the Atypical Hyperplasia.(precancerous nearing a cancerous state) he followed me regularly removing these cells and telling me to make decisions about future children, since I might need to move on to a more serious procedure. So I shut my mouth. WHAT WAS I THINKING? Hindsight is 20/20 and now I understand I should have demanded more information more test. Endometrial Cancer is one cancer that doest show up in normal testing until its too late to really preserve fertility, even life.

     Back to diagnosis, I now know that all the treatments I underwent in fact slowed the growth of my cancer but there it had been the whole time, like a time bomb in my uterus waiting to go off. slowly spreading and growing. So how can I be mad. How can I be frustrated, but here I was filled with anger and resentment. What I was dealing with was Endometriod Adenocarcenoma. A disease that usually presents between the ages of 54 and 63. A menopausal cancer. I was 36 at my diagnosis. I had been trying to have more children since my son was just a year old. Now that dream was gone. I still kept my mouth shut and let the the  Gynecologic oncologist take the lead, I don't think i spoke a word during the first consult with Oy GYNONC. I was shaking too hard. He is a wonderful Dr. and looking back it would not matter for me , however, I think of all those women who would have benefited from asking more questions or looking into other treatment options. this would roll around in my head constantly while I started researching to find out where I went wrong.

     Now I was determined to find out the unknown of my story and to help other women to find the truth of theirs. To have the strength to ask questions and demand options, to be brave and save their lives on their terms. So I began a new chapter of my live. Advocate, Lobbyist, public speaker, and a friend to both men and women who suffered from reproductive cancers. It has been four years since I started this long and winding road from actual diagnosis, to remission. As I move forward I will talk about the pre-cancerous days and how they affect my life now, and where I go from here. I hope you will stay with me through this journey, learn and share the information and know that the biggest part of recovery, is on occasion, opening your mouth and demanding better.