My mother is the pillar of my life. Is she for you?

Real People Stories

Rosa and Maria Carolina are women with the same ca125 diagnosis test but different paths. While Rosa experienced urinary infections very frequently, Maria Carolina couldn’t eat without feeling full, a symptom that was initially dismissed as “something psychological.” After HPV checkups and they carried out the tests quickly, they confirmed the diagnosis: it was ovary cancer.

The story of these women and all the common challenges to them and all patients. They are told in the documentary “Two Stories in the First Person”. The CA125 symptoms, the changes, the treatments, and the research are all told by these women who fight day after day against this disease that can be silent and more aggressive.

More than two-thirds of cases diagnose the cancer at an advanced stage, where it has already spread to other organs. Tests show that the HPV-sourced disease grows without any symptoms because the ovary is so hidden in the pelvic cavity. When these appear, they are as common as changes in intestinal transit, urinary symptoms or abdominal distension.

Final message

It is also generally an aggressive ca125 disease, meaning it progresses very quickly. Often, the person may have had a routine HPV consultation and test, and everything was fine, but shortly after, weeks or months, ovary cancer is already well established. Some factors increase the HPV risk: women who had their first menstruation before the age of twelve or late menopause (after the age of fifty-two), who have never been pregnant or who became pregnant for the first time after the age of thirty-five are more prone to illness.

The sooner you start treatment, the more hope you can have. The five-year survival rate can reach 90% in the early stages, while it is around 15% in the advanced stages. In these cases, most recurrence occurs within two years after the initial surgical or chemical treatment.

Izy

Today is always still.

My life had always gone smoothly, and I had an unbeatable, happy childhood. I didn’t have siblings, but I never missed them, thanks to loving parents in every way.

This happiness took a 180-degree turn two years ago when, during a routine HPV check-up, doctors diagnosed my mother with stage 2 ovary and endometrial cancer. I thought I would fall out of my chair when I heard the Ca125 home kit news about her next to her. My mother is the pillar of my life.

Always together, united, we fought with an aggressive operation (those who have lived know what I’m talking about) plus six sessions of chemo.

At that time, I was very tired; between a three-year-old “little one”, taking care of my mom and dealing with the house and work…I’ve had enough! In any case, and knowing the CA125 precedents, I began to have hysteroscopies for endometriosis. The doctors, in any case, told me that fatigue had nothing to do with my mother’s illness (a big mistake)… Well, when tests showed she was recovering little by little, they performed a hysteroscopy on me, removing a polyp in my endometrium (apparently, without major importance…)

The Exam results

Fifteen days later, leaving my child at school, the phone rang. A pleasant voice urged me to pick up the CA125 next day delivery test results immediately. But, bad! I wasn’t wrong; I went with my husband to the same place where they gave the result to my mother, and the doctor asked me: “Hello Izar, how are you?… Look… the biopsy of the polyp has revealed malignant cells; “You have endometrial HPV cancer.” I don’t know what the reason was, having spent it with my mother before or what, but I took it differently; I neither cried nor felt nor suffered.

They recommended a hysterectomy, but first, they allowed me to get pregnant a second time if I wanted… (my husband and I were already doing it at that time). But I thought… “No way! I already have an adorable three-year-old boy, and I want to be by his side for a long time. And I only want you to get that bug away from me immediately!

I had the hysterectomy, and I went home two days later with low morale, a little depression… and induced menopause that I still suffer and that is a real pain (sorry, but it is the truth of what I feel, sweats, dizziness, tachycardia,…)

Fifteen days after the operation I went to get the results with my mother and… Surprise!!!!!!!! One of the ovaries had a 1cm clear cell tumour (rare, cocoon and aggressive if ever there was one…) Another operation is in sight to stage the tumour and remove lymph nodes…

Treatment after diagnosis

I cried, I kicked like a little girl; I had to go through my six chemo sessions (imagine how I was; what I had the best time with was losing my hair; I even found it funny and comical to see myself as an alien). The worst, I don’t need to say it, the bone pain, the nausea, the fatigue…

When I finished my chemo, they analysed it to conduct a genetic study. My mother (possibly her mother, who died very young, and we are almost certain it was the same) was the third generation. The study is waiting, but it is almost certain that she has Lynch syndrome…. Come on! To understand each other… that my “DNA” is altered and does not repair the damage; my body generates tumours!

A month ago, I had a colonoscopy, and the little bird sang again: a polyp in the cecum with adenoma cells and focus of adenocarcinoma…Another operation to remove a small piece of intestine (thank goodness it is long).

Hope

While I anxiously wait for the CA125 operation, the grade. And everything else…  I just wanted to encourage all of you test warriors and champions who are going through this HPV kit for both men and women who are especially needing or have someone going through it. You have to squeeze this life to the last pulp… You don’t have to look back because the past will not return. After all, it does not exist, nor does the future. TODAY IS ALWAYS STILL!!! We have to love, dance, scream, cry, ….because we are here passing through, and we have to leave our mark.

It will continue if you want me to continue sharing my experience.

THANKS WITH ALL MY HEART!