The Battle Begins...

It all started in early February 2007...I felt like I had done about a 1000 stomach crunches, I was bloated like a tick ready to pop... wasn't peeing much... kidneys hurt... couldn't eat because it was so tight in my abdomen that I didn't feel like I had room for food... and I had the darkest circles under my eyes... something's not right.

Dr. Barbieri... an important part of my medical team... general doctor... who's pretty cute to boot. He ran test... thought it was a urinary tract infection... got me on antibotics but still wanted me to get a CAT scan done.

February 15th...CAT scan showed something on my left ovary.
Next step... ultra sound...February 20th... but I had so much body fluid floating around that it was hard to tell... Dr. Barbieri called my OBGYN Dr. Niewrzel... who called me that evening... he wanted to get a liproscopic look at it... but by morning he had seen all the test results and changed his mind. He sent me directly to a specialist... Cancer Institute of GYN Oncologist...Dr. Dudzinski... met with her the very next day.

February 22nd...Aunt Jo & Uncle Bob took me to the appointment. Mom was traveling home from Florida so Sherry Jegen stepped in as my substitute mother and took the following notes:

2/22/07
Dr. Dubzinski, St. Lukes Medical Plaza, Bldg.111
 
Fluid was found in the abdomen and some in the lungs.  The fluid in the lungs is not uncommon and does not  need to be drained.   There are two ways to find out if the cancer is malignant 1)  Operate , 2)  Test the fluid build-up in the ovaries  (CA 125 test is useless---too many false reports).   Benign tumors can also create fluid.  
 
Jo asked Dr. which she would personally choose.  Dr. answered that surgery is better because "we don't know what is going on in the uterus, tubes and ovaries and that probably the test would be positive and it is best to take out all abnormalities as soon as possible by surgery. Also because of the prevalence of ovarian cancer in the family, she recommends this course of action as soon as possible.
 
Procedure:  An incision from the pubic area to around the belly button and higher.  Sugery requires 3-4 days recovery in hospital and then chemo beginning 1week to 10 days afterward.  Surgery scheduled 2/28/07.  Jo is to be there at 11:45 and surgery around 3pm. 
 
Feb. 23rd... had to go to a Pre-Op screening and then get some of the abdominal fluid sucked out of my gut. They ended up taking out 4 liters of fluid and I did feel better.