Natasha
By July 2022 I had been suffering for several months with severe stomach pains whenever I needed to go to the toilet. I would often have diarrhoea. My mum had diverticulitis and my brother has colitis, so I thought it best I get checked out.
I’m lucky enough to work in a private hospital with health insurance so managed to book an appointment to see a general consultant pretty quickly. At the appointment it was decided that I’d be booked in for a colonoscopy and have some bloods done in the meantime. One of the blood tests was the CA125 tumour marker for ovarian cancer. I wasn’t concerned, he said he only does that test with female patients as it’s all very close together on the inside.
I had my bloods done at work and the results were in the next day. All I saw was one number, 594 in red. My CA125 was elevated, it should be 37 or below. I went into my manager's office and freaked out. She calmed me down and was able to arrange for me to see one of the GYN doctors that day. Following that I had an ultrasound scan, MRI and CT scan, none explained my blood results. We redid the bloods but got the same result. My consultant said “Natasha, you’re 47, you have your children, you don’t need any of it so let’s just whip it all out!”. So that’s what we did. On 1st October 2022 I had a laparoscopic full hysterectomy. My ovaries, tubes, uterus and cervix were sent away to be dissected.
On 13th October 2022 my world flipped. We (my husband and I) had gone for my follow up appointment and had been told it was cancer of the fallopian tube, classed and treated as ovarian cancer. I had cancer. The disease that took my dad and my mum was now in me. How did I tell my kids? They had only known cancer to lead to death. The doctors were sure they had removed it all, but I’d need to be referred to see a cancer specialist. “It’s fine” I told my husband, “Being as it’s all removed, I’ll probably just need some chemo tablets for a while.”
A couple of weeks later we saw a Surgical Oncologist. Good news, it appeared all the cancer was gone, and I wouldn’t need any more surgery. Yay. But then he said I would now need to see a Medical Oncologist as I would be needing chemotherapy or radiotherapy. I felt sick, physically sick. Thought I was going to faint. He kept talking but I just wanted out of there. I told him to do what needed to be done but I was going home.
On 8th November we met with a Medical oncologist and was told that I’d be having IV chemotherapy (Carboplatin/Paclitaxel). Turns out some cancer cells had been found on/in my omentum, so I was diagnosed as stage 3 due to spreading. I’d have six cycles of chemotherapy. First one would be the following week and then every 3 weeks after that. I’d feel ill. I’d be tired. I’d lose my hair. Then once that was finished, I would then need to take a maintenance chemo tablet (Niraparib) every day for 2 to 3 years. Everything as I knew it would be different from that day.
Over the next 4 months my husband, daughter, younger brother and my sister-in-law took turns to sit with me through my treatment. They were long days but we managed to find a little bit of humour in every one. Chemo wasn’t so bad. I had no sickness; didn’t suffer like I knew many did. I had my tired days, days when I couldn’t walk because of aches and pains, and days where I just cried. But overall, it was ok. Of course I lost my hair. It wasn't really a big thing for me but for family and friends it was the thing that made it all real. A visual reminder. I tried wigs but felt I was being someone I wasn't so I bought myself a range of scarves and chemo turbans. I wasn't the only baldie for long as, on 8th January 2023, nine family members all shaved their heads to support me. They were adamant they were doing it so I set up a fundraising page and we raised £2000 for Ovarian Cancer research. I honestly believe that keeping a positive mindset and allowing humour to be part of my journey really was a great help. I even returned to work (very gradually and minimum hours) in January 2023 and worked through my last 3 cycles. My last chemo was administered on 1st March which meant my last 3-week cycle would end on 21st March, my birthday. We celebrated hard. Then the news came that my end of treatment scan had shown no evidence of disease (NED). So, we celebrated again. I had a few weeks break and in April I started my maintenance chemo. I’ve had a few ups and downs; the tablets make my platelets drop, but they’re pretty stable now.
I found the adjustment back to ‘normal’ life pretty tough. How do you just put something like cancer behind you and move on? Every little pain or symptom panics me. That's why I started to read the stories of other Ovarian Cancer survivors on the Ovacome website. To read about other survivors' feelings and realising I wasn't alone has been a huge help. Friends and family have been an enormous support but they just can't understand. I also found their blog very informative and helpful.
It's now January 2024 and I'm trying to live my best life. My hair has grown back, curly!! I'm learning how to tame that. I'm in good health. I have monthly check ups (soon they'll be 2 monthly) because of the Niraparib but I don't mind. I'm being looked after and the team at The Royal Marsden are incredible. My CA125 marker stays between 9 and 11 and I'm No Evidence of Disease.
