My doctor called to tell me my CT scan results while she was on vacation, early the morning after my CT scan. I braced myself for terrible news! I had a large tumor on the right side of my abdomen. She mentioned that my CA-125 was elevated and told me she had one patient previously whose CA-125 was up and they had cancer and another who had an elevated CA-125 who did not have cancer. (Probably, it would of meant more if I actually knew that a CA-125 was a tumor marker. I am not an Oncology nurse. I was not stupid. It was just something I was not familiar with). She gave me a choice of two surgeons. My initial choice was geographical, in a town closer to home. My doctor reminded me that my sister lived closer to the other doctor, so I chose a Gynecological Oncology Surgeon who worked in Chapel Hill, NC. I never have regretted that choice.

I certainly was in shock!!! I called my sister and told her the bad news. Then, I wrote a letter of explanation (slanting everything in a positive light) to be posted in our nurse’s lounge for everyone to read. No secrets! I went to ICU to inform my nurse manager and her associate manager of the situation and to pick up FMLA paperwork. Both of my managers were wonderful and took a moment to pray over me.

Then, I returned to my doctor’s office to meet,with the PA, and with my sister who had dropped everything and driven over two hours for the meeting. My doctor was very kind and sugar coated my CT scan results, remarking that it probably was a benign tumor but there was a chance it might be malignant when I had spoken with her that morning. My sister wanted to hear the actual radiologist impression at the end of the report and I agreed that would be fine. Boy! Was that a mistake!!! More later…