Saturday, December 19, 2015

Greetings!

Hi there,

I am not sure who am I writing this blog for... probably more for myself. But if somebody will read it, share their thoughts with me or find it helpful - I will be happy.
I am still at the beginning of my story of fighting with cancer, so I want to capture everything that comes to my mind and tell how I overcame the challenges.
Exactly one month ago I was diagnosed with Ovarian Dysgerminoma. It is a rare form of germ cancer. Here is what I found on the Internet (http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/253701-overview):
Background
The 3 major types of ovarian tumors are epithelial, sex cord, and germ cell. Epithelial cell tumors represent the majority of all ovarian neoplasms (82%). Conversely, germ cell tumors (GCTs) are rare, comprising approximately 20% of all ovarian tumors, both benign and malignant. Approximately 3-5% of ovarian GCTs are malignant. The most commonly occurring GCT is the dysgerminoma, which accounts for approximately 2% of all ovarian cancers.
Although rare, dysgerminomas are important irrespective of incidence because they most commonly affect women of reproductive age (ie, < 30 y). In fact, dysgerminomas make up two thirds of all malignant ovarian neoplasms in women younger than 20 years. Moreover, once diagnosed, dysgerminomas respond well to therapy, potentially sparing patients from infertility and early mortality.  
I can't say that this news was exciting or expected. But here I am dealing with all of the stuff that comes with it.
I guess I should also say something about myself. I am 31 years old - kind of old and uncommon for this type of cancer. I am happily married, but we don't have children yet. I graduated in May 2015 from the university with my Masters degree. School years were tough because of a huge load of work and studies, and I was looking to be done, although I have to mention I really enjoyed studying. And just like many others I had a lot of student loans to pay off after the graduation. My school is very respected and I was making so many plans. But my dreams did not come true yet. Right now I am not working. I had my cancer tumor and left ovary removed overseas on Friday, November 13th. At that time we did not know it was cancer. So now, in the US, I have to get the staging surgery done, that probably will be followed by the chemotherapy. But at this moment, the surgery and chemo do not scare me as much as the risk of loosing my right ovary during that surgery and treatments. I want to have kids. My pelvic anatomy differs from normal - the uterus is in form of two horns so I could not ever carry a baby myself. I could only have a child with the help of a gestational carrier. Right now we are breaking our heads on how and where to find the money not only for our bills, loans, and mortgage, but also for harvesting and freezing my eggs. I don't know if that is cancer or stress making me tired and upset all the time. I feel like I am completely out of energy...

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