| In my late 20’s I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. One of the lovely symptoms is that it’s harder for hypothyroid patients to drop weight. I worked out constantly, changed my diet, and the weight just would not come off. This happened for several years, and every doctor that I went to would tell me the same thing. You’re fat, you need to eat better and exercise. I tried to drop weight for years, it would constantly yo-yo back and forth, it had been like this my whole life. In my early 40’s I had changed doctors and was told the same thing, that I wasn’t working hard enough for the weight to come off. I was lazy, I wasn’t trying hard enough. When I was about 45 my stomach started to get larger, I assumed it was because I was still having trouble losing the weight. Again, my doctors all told me it was because I was fat and lazy and not trying hard enough to lose the weight. I was having trouble sleeping, I was sleeping longer, and my cycle was a disaster, I was lucky if I would have a period every other month. I was told by my gynecologist that everything felt normal, but my stomach area continued to get bigger. I could no longer see my feet; I looked like I was pregnant. I was also diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes and the doctors continued to throw more medication at me, I was told the weight wouldn’t come off because of medication, and to work harder. In July of 2025 I woke up with the worst cramps I had had in years. My lower left stomach area would throw several times, for about 15 seconds, then stop for a few minutes. But unlike normal cramps this pain was like clockwork, and on a scale of 1-10 it was constantly clocking in at a 7. I went to the Emergency Room and after a 7 hour wait, they took me back to a room and gave me pain meds that did absolutely nothing. They then took me in for an MRI and they took several, I remember the woman in the room apologizing and saying they were just going to take one more… four or five times. When the doctor came in an hour later, I was told that I had a tumor on my right ovary. When I asked how large it was, he just looked at me and said “It’s large. I would advise you to make an appointment with your gynecologist.” Great. I called a new gynecologist, got in quickly, and he was able to order an ultrasound, and I found out that it wasn’t a tumor. It was my right ovary, and it was the size of a watermelon. 2 1/2 gallons of fluid. I met my Oncologist in the next couple of days, and while I was under the impression that they would just be removing the ovary, because of my age and the size of the ovary I was told that they would be taking everything. I’ve never had children, my husband and I never really had that work out, so a full hysterectomy didn’t bother me at the time, and to this day honestly still doesn’t. The surgery was supposed to take an hour and a half, they spent an extra hour removing tissue that possible had malignant growths in it. My ovary weighed close to 23 pounds and had to be removed in one piece. I was able to see photos of it afterwards and it was as if I had been carrying triplets for a year and a half. I was diagnosed with Stage III Ovarian Cancer, and as of August of this year I have been in remission for a full year. Find doctors that listen to you and always continue to advocate for yourselves. I finally found a doctor that would listen, and that man saved my life. I still have a long road ahead of me, but I just wish someone had listened to me years ago. |
Share Your
Teal Story
"*" indicates required fields