[2021-09-01] Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month #2

A year ago today, I came home from The Ottawa Hospital after having surgery to remove tumours caused by ovarian cancer. The timing was coincidental. September 1 marked the beginning of Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.

As I observe my second Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month since facing the disease, I'm struck by how much I've learned about the illness in the past year.
  • Only 1-2% of women will develop ovarian cancer in their lifetime. Because of the low incidence of ovarian cancer (compared to breast cancer at 11-12%), many people will go their entire lives never knowing someone personally who has had the disease. Like many people, I had low awareness of ovarian cancer before I was diagnosed. Consequently, I didn't know the signs and symptoms of the illness and wasn't looking for them.
  • There is no reliable screening tool to identify ovarian cancer. It can't be dependably detected through a medical procedure (such as a pap smear) or a blood test. While a number of standalone tests to screen for ovarian cancer are in development, none are supported by sufficient evidence, says Ovarian Cancer Canada.
  • Symptoms of ovarian cancer are difficult to distinguish from those of other illnesses. The most common symptoms are bloating, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly, pain in the pelvic or abdominal areas, and increased urgency or frequency of urination. Occasionally, someone with ovarian cancer will experience changes in bowel movements, extreme fatigue or unexplained weight loss. But as Ovarian Cancer Canada says, "Just because you have the symptoms does not mean you have ovarian cancer." The only symptom I had that persisted was more frequent urination; I assumed, wrongly, that this change was caused by a urinary tract infection.
  • When ovarian cancer is discovered, often as an incidental finding when someone seeks medical help for another ailment or in response to a symptom, the cancer has frequently progressed to a later stage. In my case, I went to the Queensway-Carleton Hospital on July 29, 2020, because of pain in the upper right quadrant of my abdomen. I thought it might be related to my gallbladder. In fact, that may have been the source of my pain, but as the medical team investigated, they discovered something far more serious: tumours suggestive of ovarian cancer. By the time I had surgery a month later and the pathology results came back a month after that, I was diagnosed with stage 3C high-grade serous ovarian cancer.
  • About 20-25% of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer have an inherited gene mutation. Mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are the biggest culprits. After my surgery, my tumours were analyzed for inherited genetic mutations. A change in the BRCA2 gene was observed in my tumours. Subsequent genetic testing confirmed that this mutation was present in all my cells. As a result of this mutation, I am at increased risk of developing breast and other cancers.
Because there are no reliable screening tools to detect ovarian cancer and because the symptoms are easily associated with other less serious conditions, it's important for women to pay attention to their bodies and to ask questions of their healthcare providers if they observe any of the signs of ovarian cancer. See Ovarian Cancer Canada's Signs & Symptoms and the Canadian Cancer Society's Symptoms of ovarian cancer.

Beyond Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, supporters of women who have ovarian cancer can wear teal on the first Friday of September. This year's Wear Teal Day takes place on Friday, September 3. Take a photo and share it on social media. Tag Ovarian Cancer Canada. If you want to tag me, I'm on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

Sunday, September 12 is the Ovarian Cancer Canada Walk of Hope. I will be walking for the first time (and doing the Terry Fox Run the subsequent Sunday). You can support my walks (see Cancer fundraisers: two choices for the details) and/or share the posts I will publish on social media on those days. Liking and sharing my social media posts helps to increase awareness about ovarian cancer, which is a service to all women. You can also support the women in your life by sharing this post with them. As I wrote in Inherited faulty gene, "Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied."