My pathology slides pictures

Hi all,

I decided to post pictures of my tumor from the pathology slides. I happened to have them because I had my surgery in Kazakhstan and had to get those slides and small tumor samples to be shipped to the US. It was a lot of pain, because the delivery companies were not accepting the human tissues for international shipments. My sister made pictures under the microscope (some of them are below) which I tried to bring here to the lab, but it was not enough. The originals were necessary to confirm my diagnosis and continue with the treatment plan. 

In Astana, we tried to talk to different couriers, but they demanded the paperwork from all kinds of organizations ensuring that this material is not bacterial or contentious. My aunts and cousins went to different organizations, but nobody would give them anything. God, so much bureaucracy! 

I was already going to go to Kazakhstan to get this material myself. But my family ended up hand-delivering these slides to Almaty and shipping through FedEx. There were some problems too, but they still accepted and delivered my package within a week to the hospital right in time to be examined by the pathologist. It was necessary for the cancer board.  

Thank you my dear family who had to deal with this pain! 

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...