Alison, 53 years

In the latter quarter of 2006 I began to feel unwell with various symptoms, one of which was severe epigastric pain, occurring on several occasions. This had the most sinister feel about it, unlike the other symptoms, such as fatigue, constipation or feeling gassy, which all felt like something that would soon pass in a day or so and which I thought must have been related to lack of sleep and things I'd eaten.

Almost three months after my first visit to my GP and a colonoscopy to check for bowel cancer, I was admitted to the local hospital for investigation, after I walked into casualty with severe abdominal pain and an extremely bloated stomach. I had two litres of fluid drained off my stomach to relieve the pain and samples were taken for diagnosis. I now know that this symptom is called ‘ascites’. By the end of the week, after having a C.T scan and tumour markers done, I was given the news. I had Stage IV ovarian cancer with a peritoneal primary. My CA125 reading at this stage was elevated to 1300.

Within a month, I had a hysterectomy and debulking of all large volume disease. I have just completed six cycles (administered at three weekly intervals) of chemotherapy, with just Carboplatin. I am fortunate in that my body appears to have responded well to the chemotherapy and I have had minimal side effects (one of the reasons why I opted for Carboplatin on its own). My most recent CA125 Tumour Marker, done two weeks ago before the sixth chemotherapy cycle, had come down to 98. I'm due to have another CT scan in two days to assess how I have responded to the chemotherapy, (so here's hoping!).

As a woman who has never been pregnant and was still getting regular periods, I was no doubt in a higher risk category for this type of cancer. However, there is very little publicity about it compared to some of the other cancers. My GP had never suggested getting any of the checks for it, I didn't know what checks there were and I didn't know it was an insidious form of cancer that would only show up once things were usually quite advanced and harder to treat.

I feel very frustrated about it, as it does now possibly compromise many of the long term things I was wanting to do with my life, (e.g. is it wise to undertake any major overseas travel again for instance?) It's taken my hard-won job away from me and consequently also hit my finances. All I can hope for really - along with the power of positive thinking and minimising stress in my life - is for some major much-awaited medical breakthrough to be made in terms of a cure, even for advanced-stage cases. This needs to be readily available to everyone!

<< Back to Personal Stories