Know the warning signs of Ovarian Cancer
By Liz
March 15, 2010
It may be your only hope.
Last week I urged women to advocate for their health, listen to their bodies and speak up at the doctor’s office. Consider ovarian cancer, a cancer for which there is no early detection test and no cure. Until there is a detection test, awareness of the symptoms is a woman’s best defense against the disease. When detected and treated early, survival rates improve greatly.
The symptoms can be subtle. They include pelvic and abdominal pain; difficulty eating or feeling full quickly; frequent urination; fatigue; indigestion; back pain; pain with intercourse; constipation; menstrual irregularities; and bloating. Some women experience some of the symptoms on the list every month. If women don’t trust their own instincts, it could be so easy to dismiss these complaints. This may be why so many cases of ovarian cancer are misdiagnosed. Factors that increase a risk of ovarian cancer include a personal or family history of ovarian, breast or colon cancer, and never having been pregnant or given birth to a child.
I researched ovarian cancer when my sister’s best friend was diagnosed and then died from the disease several years ago. As important as learning about the symptoms was learning how to support a friend at the end of her life. My sister would visit her best friend every night. Undeterred by medicine, medical equipment or her friend’s deteriorating body, my sister would climb up into her friend’s sick bed at the end of the day, grab herself a pillow and engage in serious girl talk. Sometimes they discussed current affairs, celebrity gossip or the seemingly unimportant details of my sister’s day, and sometimes they discussed life, death and dying.
It was during those talks that our friend urged my sister to live her best life. She told her to always put on her best jewelry, wear her finest clothes and eat off her finest china. Life is too short, she knew, to wait for special occasions. Words to live by. After all, those of us who are left behind have an obligation to live it up for those who no longer can. When you have a finite amount of days (and don’t we all?) everyday is a special occasion.
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