Five years and eight months ago, I began a journey that I wish no one else will ever have to make. I began having problems with vague abdominal and pelvic pain. I went to my Primary Care Physician and was told I was too fat and that I needed to lose weight.
That's when I began a nine month search for what was wrong with me. I knew in my heart something wasn't right. I was told I had irritable bowel syndrome with a nervous stomach and chronic constipation.
Meanwhile, I had developed abdominal swelling, severe back pain, continued pelvic and abdominal pain. I had bowel problems and if I ate a teaspoon of soup, I would immediately vomit. I had, pain in the upper thigh area and finally severe dyspnea.
This whole time I was being dismissed as a drug seeker (so not true), a nurse that complains about anything or an "oh no here she comes again" patient!
Finally August 31, 2003 I went to the emergency room with severe dyspnea and back pain. They made me wait 1 hour to be seen. Finally an intern came in and said they were going to do a flat plate of my abdomen. It showed I was constipated. My electrolytes were very abnormal so they started an IV and gave me 1 liter of fluid. They took the IV catheter out and sent me home with Mag Citrate for chronic constipation. I took both bottles, one on Monday & the next on Tuesday.
Wednesday I went to another emergency room with increased abdominal swelling and back pain. They took a flat plate and I was told you need to take these enemas home and give myself one tomorrow and one Friday. You have chronic constipation, I was told. I did as I was told and used the enemas. This entire time I was very close to getting fired from the company I worked for because I was calling off so much.
Five days later, my daughter had to call the medics because I felt like I was dying. I could not breath and was scared to death. When I was taken into the ER. the doctor came over and yelled at me for coming in an ambulance. He said people that come in an ambulance are a priority and he was sure I could have waited. He asked me why I came in the ambulance and I told him because I can't breath and I think I am dying. At that point I was so very angry I looked at him and said "I have done everything every doctor has told me to do for the last 9 months and have gotten much worse. Now I am telling you that I will NOT leave this ER until you find out what is wrong with me. Do a CT Scan and find out what is happening to me. He said to me "I am the doctor and I will do what I feel is necessary". That doctor let me sit in the ER for 12 hours and finally said "you're really not leaving are you?" I told him I would leave when he gave me a definite diagnosis. He reluctantly sent me for an abdominal & pelvic CT Scan. The technician was very nice. He told me to take a deep breath. I looked at him and started to cry because I couldn't take a deep breath. I cried because I was so scared of what was to be found.
Thirty minutes later, that same doctor came into the room and said to me that he had bad news for me. He said, "You have metastatic ovarian cancer."
I remember saying to him that he had just given me my death sentence. To this day I will never forget what he said to me. He looked at me with the deepest steel blue eyes and said "Don't ever say that again. There is never a good time to have ovarian cancer but now is the best time because there are so many different chemo's and other treatment options." He then sent me home in a courtesy van.
The next day I called my boss and told her I had good news and bad news. The good news is they finally know what is wrong with me and the bad news it is stage 3 ovarian cancer. I had heard of a gynoncologist named Dr. Beverly Jaramillo. She worked at AGH. I did not know her but I knew she did a lot of debulking surgeries and was very well known. Many doctors referred patients to her.
I then called Dr Jaramillo's office and I was immediately given an appointment and was told, "Don't worry, Dr. J will take good care of you."
I hung up the phone,nd for the first time in 9 months, I felt a wave of peace come over me. I knew I had just found the doctor who would help me. I immediately told a few friends and before I knew it I was on prayer lists all over the world.
When I was finally in the hospital in Dr. J's hands, I was taken the x-ray department and they drained 10 liters of ascites fluid from me and it was like a miracle. I was able to breath. Dr. J operated on me two days later, Sept 19, 2003. She found the primary site as left ovary with mets to the right ovary, the uterus, a 17cm omentum tumor, seeding on my rectum and diaphragm. I was staged officially at 3C, very extensive disease.
The next day she came to the ICU and said to me that"women with as much ascites as I had always did well. I had a port placed one week later and two weeks later, I started nine months of IV chemo and then 13 months of an old oral chemo that not many used because it was too expensive.
September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness month and this coming Sept 19, I will be 5 years out from my diagnosis. I have been blessed and so far I have not had a recurrence. I pray every night asking God to continue to help me with this fight, I thank him for being there for me and to have guided me to Dr. J.
I try to make every woman and man (I explain that if there is any women in their life it could happen to them) aware that if they feel something is wrong they need to insist or demand that tests be done and a diagnosis be made. Had I finally not done that I feel I would not be here today to tell you my story.
Bertha Campbell Dx Stage 3C September 19, 2003