Where it all began..

Hey everyone!

I'm going to go back in time since I'm just getting used to this blogging world! I'm going to start with how my new journey started.

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Back in September of 2016, I had noticed my stomach was growing, and rapidly! (I'll add a picture below!). At first I thought, weird, but maybe I'm just gaining weight quick and better hit the gym. I kept saying to my room mate that I don't feel right and that none of my clothes are fitting like they used to. I put it in the back of my mind, and moved on with my life. At the time, I was enrolled in Medical Administration at Georgian College in Barrie, Ontario. When I went home for reading week in the last week of October, I was not feeling good, not even thinking about the bump on my stomach! I was getting these insane shooting pains in my abdominal area and up my back. So I said to my mom, I have to get to a doctor, something isn't right. I was getting some sharp shooting pains in my abdominal area and in my back. At first, the doctor at the extended hours clinic thought I was pregnant. He ran a few tests and found out that this was not the case. I had some sort of mass on my ovary, or uterus, somewhere around there(still had to get scans done). In this very moment, I was terrified. I had NO idea what was wrong with me. The worst part is waiting to find out what is going on, especially when it's your body. You realize quickly that your life depends on your well being and having a healthy body.

And yes, many people asked me how did you not notice that big bump? Well.. my answer to that is, nobody ever wants bad news or to admit that they look like they gained weight. It's hard to admit that something is wrong. I had thought I just gained weight, nobody wants to believe that there is something foreign in their body.

My doctor ordered me to get an transvaginal ultrasound done the next day, but called me and decided to do a CT scan instead, just incase it was a cyst, he didn't want to risk it being ruptured. So off I went to get my CT scan done with contrast (makes you feel like you peed your pants haha!) Anyways, that was all fine and dandy, my doctor called me later that afternoon telling me that I had a very large mass on my right ovary and that it needs to be dealt with ASAP! I was referred to a doctor specializing in gynaecology, and saw him the very next day! This all happened very quickly! Just 3 days!

My specialist did further tests and scans to look further into the mass. All my blood work came back fine so he was pleased about that, however, I still had this massive tumour/ cyst on my right ovary. At this point, cancer was not on his radar. He was just worried about the mass growing even larger and hitting other organs, potentially causing problems. My specialist told me that I looked like I was 5 months pregnant, due to the size of the mass. From this point on until I had surgery, I was very self conscious and was constantly wearing baggy clothing and sweaters. I was informed that I would be getting surgery, and they would be performing a laparotomy. A laparotomy is a large incision in your abdomen, almost like a c-section opening. He told me that I would most likely lose my right ovary and fallopian tube along with the tumour due to it's size and all the trauma caused. And that was fine with me. I didn't exactly know my surgery date yet, so I was awaiting patiently for a while until I just got tired of waiting and wanted to know. My school also was and still is very important to me, so my surgery date put a lot of maybe's and if's on whether or not I would be able to get through the semester. Eventually my surgery was scheduled for December 12, so I had to do my exams a couple weeks early, which was fine as long as I could get my semester in. My teachers were very supportive of this as well. One in particular, she always has my back and always makes sure that I am doing well. She is definently a God sent angel on earth. I'll go over my surgery in my next post :)

Nic, :)

Message of the day: Enjoy every single moment. The good, the bad, the beautiful, the ugly, the not-so-glamorous moment, and thank God through it all.