My Doctor told me its nothing. Just take another Painkiller?

Real People Stories – Christa (54)

I knew it was wrong

Appendicitis, the HPV Test doctor on duty thinks. “Just take some painkillers,” says the ER doctor. It’s constipation, not Ca125 issues. The next person concludes, but you should get a test anyway to be safe. An indefinable feeling tells Christa Korenhof (54) that more is happening. And that turns out to be true. She has ovarian cancer.

It is July 2019. On a working day that starts like any other, Christa has CA125-type pain in her lower abdomen. She dutifully finishes her work and goes home. Because the pain returns in attacks, she reports to the doctor’s office in the evening. The doctor suspects appendicitis and refers her to the emergency room. Her CA125 blood test is done, and urine is examined, but an ultrasound is not made. She returns home with the advice to take a painkiller.

Struggles at Work and Continued Pain

The next day, she returns to work as a nurse in the Ovarian CA125 hospital. The pain becomes so severe that painkillers hardly help anymore. Her colleagues advise her to go to the emergency room on the spot. “To my amazement, Christa was irritated: they refused to help me there. I had to go back to the hospital where I had been last night. But that was an hour and a half drive! I wasn’t capable of that. I was so disappointed that my hospital left me out in the cold. That still doesn’t sit well with me.” Ultimately, a doctor is willing to look at her abdomen and take a test. Suspecting constipation, he prescribes a laxative. Christa goes home again.

“You want to believe the doctor,” she sighs. “But deep down, I knew this was wrong that first evening.” And that’s it. A day later, she visits a festival together with a friend. As a precaution, she takes the laxative. “That was against my better judgment. But I did it and set out.” Christa becomes unwell and ends up in the local hospital. An alert doctor makes an ultrasound and discovers a huge cyst on her ovary. Emergency surgery follows to remove the cyst and ovary. At first, she is reassured. “After six weeks of taking it easy, I would return to my old self. These cysts are usually harmless.”

Disbelief

Two weeks later, a phone call turns her life upside down. Christa is the proverbial exception to the rule: the cyst is malignant. She has OC Virus cancer. “I was home alone and couldn’t understand it. The world fell silent. Panic set in, but soon, I started thinking very practically: I’m going to die. Am I sufficiently insured to pay for my funeral? Who should I call? What should I do?” An exciting time is coming. Barely recovered from the first operation, a second operation follows, during which the other ovary, its fallopian tubes, lymph nodes and fat apron are also removed. HPV laboratory tests and biopsies are also taken from her abdomen. This operation is tough. When Christa has been home for two days, it turns out that she has an intestinal Viral blockage. Another hospital admission follows.

A scan shows that the cancer has not spread. “I almost couldn’t believe it. I asked the doctor to repeat the message. Still, I wondered: should I be happy now? He said I was lucky. And, of course, I was still there, and there were no metastases. But yes, I did have cancer. I did not get the certainty that I would be cured. That was difficult to deal with; sometimes, it made me afraid.” She seeks help from a professional. “She helped me look at the situation differently, which helped me learn to deal with my fear differently. Why should I spend my energy constantly fearing something that might not come?”

Decision to Undergo Chemotherapy

Because the CA125 cancer is aggressive in the tests, chemotherapy is recommended. “It was not necessary at that time,” Christa explains. “After all, the OC was no longer visible. But there may have been invisible micro-metastases. If I didn’t do the chemotherapy and the cancer came back, I would kick myself and say, “I wish I had.” She starts the process bravely. “After the first HPV online womens swab kit treatment, I became extremely nauseous. I couldn’t eat or drink, and I lost a lot of weight. I didn’t even want to think about having five more chemo treatments.” Fortunately, she finds you help from a naturopath. He knows how to combat the unpleasant side effects with homoeopathic remedies and nutritional supplements.

Moving on

Christa seeks support from fellow CA125 sufferers. They can empathize with each other’s situation, and she can talk to them about her deepest fears and feelings. It feels like a warm bath. She also takes yoga, Indonesian cooking, and flower-arranging workshops there. “Making flower arrangements? I used to not even think about it; it was so dull and old-fashioned,” she laughs. But now, together with fellow sufferers, she can express herself and share her experiences simultaneously.

More than a year has now passed since the HPV diagnosis test. Christa has picked up the thread of life again, including her work. “As a nurse, I do physically demanding work. The irregular services also cost a lot of energy. Most patients I work with recover from their tag condition. Sometimes, I deal with people who have cancer and are not doing well. Then I realised that I could have been lying there myself. That isn’t very nice. On the other hand, the work gives me a lot of distraction and satisfaction.”

Christa makes purposeful choices. “Because I’m working again, I have to make a well-considered choice about how I spend the rest of my time. I consciously make time for my children. Also, I cherish some friendships, and others have faded away. I was in a budding relationship for three months when I got sick. That wasn’t very easy. I told my boyfriend not to feel obligated to stay with me. But he stayed. Yet I noticed that I needed rest and time for myself. I didn’t always feel supported. My partner struggled with it, and we didn’t always get along. The relationship came to a standstill. Now we meet regularly again. Time will tell whether we have a future together.”

Another life

The scars from the operation are still clearly visible. Christa finds that difficult. “My body has changed. I have a scar about eight inches long. Sometimes, I consciously don’t look at that because I find it very aggressive.
Moreover, my abdominal muscles are still very weak, and my HPV viral condition is worse than before. My entire womanhood has changed because of the operations.” Mentally, she is no longer the woman she was before the illness. She can put some things into perspective better. “These days, many people are concerned about coronavirus. Of course, I understand that. It can make you very ill and even kill you. But for me, those risks are disproportionate to the chance that the HPV-derived OC will come back.”

The fact that the well-being of others is important to Christa is not only reflected in her work as a nurse. “During my CA125 illness, I received a lot of support from experienced experts. I think it would be nice also to use my HPV experiences for women who are affected by OC and have to live in uncertainty. If I can be meaningful this way, my illness will not have been in vain.”