Surviving Cancer

Well where do I start I had a pretty normal life all the way till I was about to enter seventh grade. I had been having symptoms of abdominal pain, urinary frequency, couldnt sleep on my back or stomach for quite some time there was discomfort for me, getting full very quickly while eating but then a short while later be hungry once again.

I was heavy so I looked like a healthy pre teen girl and of course I told my mother of my uncomfort but she didnt think nothing of it. Well August 5, 1995 in the night when I was trying to go to sleep I would be waking up going to the restroom alot around like 2:00am. I started having some mild side pain and didnt want to bother my parents because they both had to get up and go to work so I thought it would pass went back to lay down and fell asleep.

Once again on 08/06/95 in the am then maybe around 8:00 I woke up to the pain again but this time my parents were already gone to work I had my 13 yrs old sister there and told her my side was hurting. She told me to go lay down it will go away so i listened and once again went back to lay down thinking this will pass. I fell back asleep and woke at around 10 this time the pain was horribly painful on my left side. I got up and couldnt walk very well and hopped to our living room crying to my sister that my side hurt so then she called my mom at work and that same day I went to the doctor and was treated horribly because with out any testing the doctor told my mother I was pregnant and my mom started asking me a 12 yr old girl who new nothing about sex if I had did it and well of course I said no. Then she started asking if any one molested me and I was mad and yelling no so then the brilliant doctor decided to have me do a pregnancy test. It came back negative and then the doctor said its a mass so I was sent to do ct scan.

That revealed that I had a large mass so I was sent to Los Angeles the next day because at the time in Kern County no doctor would see me due to the fact that I was a child. Well then the doctor told us about the stuff that would be going on to me so then we came back home and returned to Los Angeles on 08/13/95 so that I could have surgery on the 14th. Well it turned out to be a 8lb ovarian tumor (dysgerminoma) and I was in the hospital for a week, came back after recovery and seen a doctor in Bakersfield who treated me with chemotherapy it last till December 95 and well have been in remission since then thank God.

Having this whole situation has made me grow up faster then many of my peers. It was a painful time in my life, so young and losing my hair being made fun of, having a high schooler telling her parents not to let her younger sister play with me because Im going to give her cancer, and a boy trying to remove my security from this cruel world – my hat that covered my bald head. It was painful and I really never talked about till recently. I finally started to open up and maybe my story helps some one else and just a little advice I tell people if you have a little feeling like something is wrong dont wait because it might just be too late.