Listen to your gut. Please. (guest post)

by

It was July 1998.

I was 23 years old.

I had been having pain and discomfort in my abdomen for months, but the doctors in upstate New York kept telling me I probably had a cyst and that “it would go away” and “not to worry about it”.

When I moved back to Long Island, I found a new doctor and during his first examination of my belly, he ordered for me to have a biopsy of the mass in my abdomen.

I told him “everyone said it’s just a cyst”.

He looked at me and said, “that’s no cyst. It’s way too hard to be a cyst. It’s a tumor”.

Yeah, he was blatant like that.

But he explained that it was likely to be benign and should be removed anyway just to relieve my discomfort, after which the mass would be biopsied, just to be sure. Ok, no problem.

So we scheduled the surgery and I thought nothing of it. I mean, I was just 23 years-old. I’d had cysts before, a few of which had ruptured causing terrible pain. So this was no biggie.

That was until a few days after the procedure when the doctor called me into his office for the test results. The discussion went something like this:

Dr.: “Irene, you have cancer.”
Me: “Uh, what?”

Dr.: “You have Stage 1 ovarian cancer, although I think we got it all.”

Me: “I’m sorry. I thought you just said I have cancer.”

Dr.: “Yes. I’m sorry. I know that is scary but you were very lucky. It was discovered very early and I think by removing the tumor, we most likely got all of it since I did not see and more masses anywhere.”

I just blinked at him, still not understanding what he was saying to me.

The doctor stood directly in front of me, grabbed my shoulders and said, “Irene. You have cancer. But it’s okay. It’s not a death sentence. You will be okay if you do exactly what I tell you to do.”

It took him a few more times before I could finally comprehend what he told me.

I was breathing again.

To say I was terrified was an understatement.

I heard cancer and immediately thought of all the things I never got to do. I thought my life was over and all I could imagine were all the things I missed in life: I’d never travel, get married, or finish college. I was going to die and I had barely started living yet.

The idea of going through chemotherapy after having had surgery and dealing with it all on my own was more than I could handle.

I became a bitchy, nasty mess. I told no one of my diagnosis. I just wallowed in my own misery. I became a terrible person.

A few months later, I was back to my old self.

My point?

I was lucky.

It wasn’t until I changed doctors until I finally found someone who would take my complaints seriously enough to test me. Sometimes, that’s what we have to do.

Because I was so vigilant, I was able to be diagnosed, treated, and healed with no additional signs of cancer 13 years later.

I am relatively healthy, strong, and living a very full life.

Do not be afraid to challenge your doctors.

Do not accept an answer that doesn’t make sense. Follow your instincts and listen to your gut.

If something is wrong, you are probably right. You know your body better than anyone else.

And sometimes you have to fight for it.

 Irene is a favorite of mine and I tremendously appreciate her sharing her experience here.  She blogs at House of Robertson.

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Comments

  1. Irene, I’m so glad that things worked out this way for you! Your advice is excellent. Too often, we tend to assume that doctors know more than we do, forgetting that for all their training and expertise, they don’t have the advantage of living within the body they’re treating. There’s no better expert on your body than you, at the end of the day.

  2. amen. so true. you have to listen to your gut. great, great, great advice. we are our biggest advocates and you have to be informed and challenge doctors until you get answers! (obviously not talking about every single situation)

  3. I’m so glad you got through this. I had a similar situation that took forever to be diagnosed, thankfully mine was not cancer but I did have endometriosis. I would have days where I could hardly walk the pain was so bad. Eventually I ended up having to have a hysterectomy at the age of 26! It has taken me years to get back to feeling like normal again. Good luck I hope you stay cancer free!

  5. I so understand this & HUGS to you and good for you for listening to your gut!

    My mom kept telling her doc that something was wrong – for 8 months & on and on he said nothing was wrong test after test. We finally took her to a different doc & cancer it was.. we lost her 7 months after that but maybe we would have had more time. You are you own best advocate – be that for yourself.

    Thank you for this post!

  6. wow. this is hitting close to home right now. I have been dealing with female troubles for over a month. Biopsy 2 weeks ago was negative, but ultrasound yesterday shows a cyst. I have all sorts of questions The health plan I have uses an email message center so I am about to fill my doctors inbox with my concerns to get answers.

    Thanks for this guest post Irene- we all need to have a voice in our health!

  7. Wow! It is amazing how God has created us to be in tune with our bodies/thoughts because alot of time ‘it’ is telling us and guiding us.

    Kudos for being diligent and getting your needs heard!

  9. This is SUCH an important message and you did such an awesome job bringing it home.

    It’s so easy to fear of speaking up or complacency or whatever keep us from advocating for ourselves. I’m so glad you told your story, you may have saved a few lives!

    Thanks so much Irene, and thanks Miz for helping get the word out.

  10. SUCH an important post. Thanks to both Irene and Miz for publishing this! Irene, I’m so glad you are doing well!!! And Miz…hugs to you too!!! We all need to read this and listen to our own instict.

  13. I absolutely agree. Never, NEVER, take no for an answer, especially when it comes to your health. A womans intuition is often under rated.

  15. Great post!! SO glad you are doing well! The thing that struck me, is your first thoughts of what you were not going to be able to do…..YIKES!!! I feel that way now!! If I don’t get this weight off and get fit, I’ll never reach my goals. Geez I don’t know if I have tomorrow!! Thanks for the push!

    Keep focused!

  16. Lovelovelove the message in this post! The survival rate for young adults with cancer has not changed in 30 years. It is ridiculous if you think about the advances we’ve made over the past three years. But it’s mostly because 1) People in their 20s ignore symptoms because they assume they’re healthy, and 2) Doctors ignore complaints because they assume they’re too young to get sick.

    I was really really lucky that the first doctor I saw immediately knew there was something wrong with me. But I often wonder if I had listened to my body a little closer, maybe I could have gotten treated sooner as opposed to being admitted to hospital with a half-foot sized tumour in my chest.

  18. Wow! What an amazing story. You’re so blessed to have been so lucky and to have finally found a doctor who took your pain seriously. I’m so glad to hear that they found the cancer before it was too late. Continue to live like to the fullest. Thank you for the strong words and the advice. Everyone should listen to their gut.

  19. I totally agree that you should challenge the doctors. I was told I would be on meds for life after severe Crohns and Colitis. After 2 years of taking them I ditched them and totally rebuilt my health with metabolic typing, detoxification and exercise.

    I am now healthier in my 40’s than I was in my 30’s. I love strength training, I am now a strength coach and I write about it here:

    http://www.radicalstrengthcoach.com/

    Thanks
    Steve

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