Ovarian Cancer at 21 Years Old

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Ovarian Cancer at 21 Years Old"

Podcast Information:

• Title: We're All Insane
• Host/Author: Devorah Roloff
• Episode: Ovarian Cancer at 21 Years Old
• Release Date: January 27, 2025
• Description: A platform where real people share raw, unfiltered stories about their lives, challenges, and traumas that have shaped them. This episode features Lydia, a 21-year-old college senior, who bravely narrates her unexpected battle with ovarian cancer.

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Introduction to Lydia’s Journey

Timestamp [05:10]

Lydia begins by introducing herself as a 21-year-old senior in college and delves into her unexpected diagnosis of ovarian cancer. She sets the stage by outlining the timeline of her illness, which commenced in January 2024 and continued through her college life without causing her to halt her academic and personal responsibilities.

Notable Quote:

“I have to graduate, I'm a student, there's things to get done.” — Lydia [05:23]

Initial Health Concerns and Vegetarianism

Timestamp [05:03] - [10:00]

Lydia explains that she became a vegetarian in her junior year of high school due to an unexplained intolerance to meat, which caused severe gastrointestinal symptoms resembling food poisoning. This dietary change initially seemed to stabilize her health, but over time, her sensitivity to meat increased, leading to recurring sickness whenever she consumed any type of meat, including chicken broth.

Notable Quote:

“I just couldn't eat any meat without like three, four days of sickness.” — Lydia [05:35]

January 2024: The Onset of Serious Symptoms

Timestamp [10:00] - [16:00]

In January 2024, Lydia experienced a significant health setback after inadvertently consuming rice made with chicken broth, resulting in prolonged illness lasting more than the usual three to four days. Persistent symptoms included weight loss and dehydration, prompting her to seek medical attention. However, her campus health services initially dismissed her concerns, attributing her condition to typical college fatigue and minor digestive issues.

Notable Quote:

“She just sprung it on me in this weird campus health doctor's office.” — Lydia [04:52]

April 2024: Urgent Care Incident and Diagnosis

Timestamp [16:00] - [31:35]

By mid-April, Lydia's symptoms escalated, leading to severe stomach cramps. An urgent night-time episode, exacerbated by a severe storm, caused her to collapse from pain attributed to ovarian torsion—a condition where the ovary twists, cutting off its blood supply. Despite the pain subsiding abruptly, her persistent symptoms led her to the emergency room. Initial scans suggested the possibility of appendicitis, but further investigation revealed large masses on both ovaries.

Notable Quotes:

“There is a huge mass in my stomach on my right ovary.” — Lydia [14:58]
“She was very adamant. And I think both Leon pushing me to the ER and having a male ER doctor… approached it not as... to make sure that you're okay.” — Lydia [11:06]

Surgical Interventions and Diagnosis Confirmation

Timestamp [31:35] - [46:32]

Lydia underwent her first laparoscopic surgery to remove the ovarian masses. The surgery was minimally invasive, involving small incisions and robotic assistance. Post-surgery, she discovered that the masses were borderline tumors—not benign but not rapidly malignant either. This result was shocking, compounded by the realization of having cancer at such a young age without any family history of the disease.

Subsequent ultrasounds and MRIs revealed the recurrence of tumors and their spread to her liver, necessitating a second surgery. This surgery was more extensive, removing the entire right ovary and fallopian tube, and part of the left ovary. The possibility of infertility emerged, leading Lydia to grapple with decisions about egg freezing—a process she ultimately postponed due to financial constraints and emotional readiness.

Notable Quote:

“The tumors... they were both very large tumors, and they're borderline tumors, which meant they weren't benign, but they weren't rapid growing malignant either.” — Lydia [31:21]

Emotional and Psychological Impact

Timestamp [46:32] - [62:17]

Throughout her journey, Lydia discusses the profound emotional toll of her diagnosis and treatment. The uncertainty of her condition, lack of clear causative factors, and the physical changes she endured contributed to significant psychological stress. Conversations about potential infertility with her boyfriend and family added layers of emotional complexity. Lydia emphasizes the importance of community support, self-advocacy in medical settings, and maintaining a positive mindset despite overwhelming circumstances.

Notable Quotes:

“Having to accept that this is actually happening to me.” — Lydia [19:36]
“There's strength in community, like whether you know people personally or not.” — Lydia [64:19]

Medical Challenges and Ongoing Monitoring

Timestamp [62:17] - [69:19]

Lydia outlines the continuous medical monitoring required for her condition, including regular ultrasounds and MRIs to track tumor growth and prevent recurrence. She discusses the resilience of her liver and the challenges of managing medical appointments while balancing college responsibilities. Despite the lack of a known cause for her cancer, Lydia remains hopeful and committed to her treatment plan, advocating for herself in medical settings to ensure comprehensive care.

Notable Quote:

“I am 21 years old with ovarian cancer. Like, what do you mean? I'm an otherwise healthy person.” — Lydia [24:42]

Advocacy and Sharing Her Story

Timestamp [69:19] - [73:00]

In the latter part of the episode, Lydia and Eduardo discuss the significance of sharing personal health journeys. Lydia expresses gratitude for the opportunity to speak openly about her cancer diagnosis, highlighting the therapeutic benefits of storytelling and the strength found in community support. She underscores the importance of self-advocacy in healthcare and the need for increased awareness and understanding of rare medical conditions.

Notable Quote:

“There is a power in sharing your story, and it's important to share your story... It helps people to process what they're going through by talking about it as well.” — Lydia [65:09]
“Advocacy for yourself and to not brush things off because this may have been a worst case scenario.” — Eduardo [59:36]

Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Timestamp [73:00] - End

The episode concludes with Lydia reflecting on her journey, acknowledging the ongoing challenges, and expressing hope for future updates. She emphasizes resilience, the importance of a supportive community, and the strength derived from sharing her experiences. Eduardo commends her bravery and positivity, reinforcing the message that sharing personal struggles can foster understanding and support for others facing similar battles.

Notable Quote:

“You're amazing and it shows. Seriously. And thank you so much.” — Eduardo [71:38]
“Just the importance of finding community and positivity and it's okay to... just talking about it and finding that light, I think has been the most helpful part in all of this.” — Lydia [69:48]

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Key Takeaways:

1. Self-Advocacy: Lydia’s story highlights the critical importance of advocating for one’s health, especially when initial medical consultations may overlook serious conditions.
2. Community Support: Building a supportive network of friends, family, and medical professionals is vital in navigating the emotional and physical challenges of a cancer diagnosis.
3. Emotional Resilience: Maintaining a positive mindset and finding ways to process emotions are essential for coping with unexpected life-altering events.
4. Awareness and Education: Sharing personal health journeys can demystify rare conditions, reduce stigma, and provide hope and guidance to others in similar situations.

Final Thoughts: Lydia’s candid recounting of her struggle with ovarian cancer at such a young age serves as a powerful testament to human resilience and the importance of community support. Her story underscores the necessity for persistent self-advocacy in healthcare and the healing power of shared experiences.

Transcript

[Lydia]

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[Eduardo]

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[Lydia]

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[Eduardo]

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[Lydia]

Guy might have missed for free. I could get money back from last year. You could. We'll find any mistakes. Could have really used that two years ago when I dated that mistake for five months.

[Eduardo]

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[Lydia]

Get a free second look review. Second look is included at no additional cost with the purchase of tax preparation. Results vary. All tax situations are different. Fees apply. If you have us file an amended return. My name is Lydia. I am a 21 year old senior in college and today I'm going to be talking about my journey with ovarian cancer. So I think I'm going to start at the beginning of this year. The timeline is, is pretty clean. It starts in January and goes through now. So it was kind of just starting 2024 off with a bang and some, some health context I think that probably won't make sense now, but it'll make sense as we get into it. I'm a vegetarian. I have been since I was a junior in high school. And that came about because I had. We don't know what it was but it was some freak sickness, Covid stomach flu type symptoms. And then whenever I was getting over that and starting to eat food again, I just could not eat any meat without like three, four days of sickness. Like it was borderline food poisoning type sickness.

[Eduardo]

Okay.

[Lydia]

And so it was just every time.

[Eduardo]

You would eat meat.

[Lydia]

Yeah, any type of meat. We tried red meat, chicken, turkey, pork, that kind of stuff. And seems like over time I've just gotten more and more sensitive to it. Like I used to keep it down. Yeah. Not even like chicken broth, anything cooked in chicken broth. Soups made with chicken broth. I can't. Yeah. So it's just, it's really odd. But that is some of the. Other than that I'm healthy, I don't have any history of cancer which Is also family history of cancer, which will obviously come in in this story. Otherwise healthy. I don't have a 21 year old female. Yeah, so this kind of came out of nowhere. Um, but so the beginning of January, the first thing that sort of set all of this off was I had accidentally eaten rice that was, like I said, made in chicken broth. So I got really sick, which usually it's three, four days and then I kind of come out of it. But that time I had eaten it, I was sick for the three or four days and then I just did not feel any better. I genuinely thought that I had food poisoning. Um, and then around the three week mark, I had lost weight, I was dehydrated. Mind you, at this point, I'm still in classes. Like, at no point in my story does life stop. Like, there is still a full load of life to do. Like, I have to graduate, I'm a student, there's things to get done. So I was like, I haven't been able to go to class all weekly. I need to go to the doctor, antibiotics, something to clear it out. So I went to my campus health, which is usually great, but I think in, in this story, they. I'm not going to say they're the villain, but I think things would have gone differently in my story if they would have kind of stepped up and not really dismissed. You know, on a massive campus like mine, there's 30,000 students. And so it's very easy to be like, any symptom that you have, okay, you're a tired college student. Like, of course, yes, of course. You can't get through the day without taking a nap. You're a tired college student. We'll run like your basic blood panel, but it's going to come back clear. You're fine, you're just tired. College dude, whatever. It's easy to brush it off. So I went to the doctor and was like, hey, this is what's happening. I've been sick for all these weeks. And it was stomach pain originally. So she was like, what I think happened was you being vegetarian and intolerant to me was I think some of the enzymes or whatever from the chicken broth essentially got stuck in your intestine. And so she gave me like an antifungal and she's like, that'll clear it out and you'll be fine. Oh, by the way, by your. Here. While you're here, you're 21. It's time for you to start getting yearly pap smears. And since the Stomach pain is. It was, like, right below my belly button. At that point. She's like, let's just do one in an abdominal exam, both as a routine and to. To make sure it's nothing like down in that area. So I was like, okay, great, Great. So not only am I sick, but I've never had a pap smear before. And she just sprung it on me in this weird campus health doctor's office. Yeah. It's like, okay.

[Eduardo]

During this time, did you ever go to a regular doctor? It was all. Or it was all just like the campus.

[Lydia]

Do the campus doctors.

[Eduardo]

Okay. Even when you originally started having, like, the problems with the meat.

[Lydia]

So I had never been to the. The doctors for my meat situation because I didn't really realize that that was abnormal.

[Eduardo]

Got it.

[Lydia]

I never really thought about it. When I switched to vegetarian, I was like, okay, I just got to make sure to get my protein in. Yeah. And then it had been fine. So I never really had a reason to go. Yeah. And then with the sickness itself, in junior year of high school, it was like, I could have gone, but at the same time, I got over it or I thought I did. So, yes. I never been to a doctor for the meat intolerance before this. So she did the pastor and the abdominal exam and everything, and she cleared me almost immediately. She's like, your ovaries seem fine, Your uterus seems fine. Your passenger came back fine. Like antifungals. Get on the road. You're a tired college student. You know, get some sleep. So that was the end of January this year. And then in mid April, my boyfriend came over from. He lives in the uk, so he's in Manchester. So he flew over for a week. And mid April, I had been having stomach cramps the week prior. And I thought it was something like in the beginning, it was very similar to a period cramp or like a gas pain. And so I was like, okay, whatever. Not really worrying about it. I just eaten something, or maybe my period's coming early or something like that. Whatever. So he gets there, and I was having those cramps again, and they were starting to get worse. And so my first thought was, maybe it's like a kidney stone or something. I had never had kidney stones before, but my mom had had them all the time growing up. So I was like, maybe I just haven't been drinking enough water. And, like, my kidneys are hurting. It was still in that area sort of right below your belly button, a little bit off to the sides. And it was on my Right side. So I was like, oh, no, my kidney. Like, this is annoying. I need to drink more water. I need to do some stretches, whatever. And so he was there and that was happening all week. He had gotten there on a Friday, I believe, and I think it was like a Monday or a Tuesday, that this had started really ramping up. And it was late at night, it was about 10 or 11. The urgent care was closed. My campus health obviously was closed. And it had started getting really, really intense. I thought it was straight up kidney stone something. So I'm texting my mom, like, hey, what did your kidney stones feel like? What's the vibes? What should I do from. She was like, go to the doctor. Everything's closed. I'm like, no. And then it got to the point where I tried to stand up from bed and I like collapsed. There was no. It was like my legs gave out. There's, you know, when your body gets to a certain point with the pain that it just stops. So that really scared me. So I called the. Through my campus. We have like a 24 hour nurse line where you can't be seen, but they'll sort of give you advice if they think it's something. And so I told her what was going on. And about halfway through the phone call, this was about 20 minutes after I tried to stand up and it wouldn't. Halfway through that phone call, it just goes away. It was like it never happened. And it was like a flip of a coin. I was sitting in bed and I went to sit up and it was just gone.

[Eduardo]

Like, no pain at all.

[Lydia]

No pain at all. I felt totally fine. And my poor boyfriend, he's over there. Like. Like what? And so I told her that. I was like, oh, actually, it's gone. And she immediately went, okay, so I'm gonna go ahead and need you to get in the car and go to the er. Just go ahead and go. And so I'm. I'm starting to freak out. Obviously this is. What do you mean? What do you mean? Get in the car and go to the er. So I was trying to push it off. Like, no, no, it's gone. Like, I don't, I don't know if I want to go to the er. But my boyfriend Leon, he was like, no, like, I've, I've seen you in pain. And this was not that. Like, we, we need to go. So he, he pushed me to go. I basically did not have a choice. We were also getting the outskirts of some type of very bad storm. And so the Weather was absolutely terrible. Obviously he's from the uk, so he doesn't know how to drive over here, but the nurse told me not to drive in case it comes back. So he's fighting through this terrible storm, trying to figure out to be on the right side of the road. Like driving to the hospital, it's this, who? But we get to the emergency room, I still don't have any more pain. I actually didn't have any more pain at all that whole night. So it was this weird thing, sort of telling them, like this is what happened. I feel fine now, but she told me to come in, so I don't know. So we get there around 11. We end up being there until about 7am I've never pulled an all nighter. I've gotten very lucky with my brain shuts off around midnight and I'm not staying up. So this is my first all nighter. So I was, you know, we were locked in. And so I get blood work done, whatever. We're waiting for about three hours before they call me back. And I'm in the ER room in the little waiting room, get taken back to a real room and the ER doctor comes in and he's asking about the pain and whatever. And his first thought instead of kidneys was appendicitis. He's like, it's on your right side. It's right where the appendix is. I know you're not having any pain and you can say no, but I would feel a lot better if you let me give you a CT scan to clear you. If it's nothing, go home, whatever. But if it is appendicitis, like, you will need emergency surgery right now. Obviously this is not something to play with. So I'm thinking, great. Like I had done gone and got appendicitis and I'm gonna have to get my appendix taken out. He's only here for a week. He didn't sign up for any of this. Like, my mom's gonna freak out. So I was like, okay, I guess I'm getting a CT scan. And bless that ER doctor because he could have easily been like, I don't know, seems like a girl thing. Like, go home, take some Advils, lay on a heating pad, hope it doesn't happen again. But he was, he was very adamant. And I think both Leon pushing me to the ER and having a male ER doctor that approached it not as a. I don't understand it. So it's probably nothing he approached as I'm not a woman, so I want to make sure that you're okay.

[Eduardo]

And that's the thing too, is I feel like in. Unfortunately, in situations like that, it all depends on who you get, like, what doctor you get. And I hate to say it, but there are some that I feel like will just blow things off or just think, you know, because you're young and you're 21, like, you should technically be a healthy adult. Like, you shouldn't have any serious complications going on. So they wouldn't think maybe to run tests.

[Lydia]

No, exactly. That's why I, like, I. I sent him a follow up email once we figured out what was going on, and I was like, I. You could have. I think you might have saved my life because it was dangerous. That CT scan came back and we were not at all prepared. So I get the CT scan, I'm waiting back in the room, and he walks back in and I make a joke of all. Are all my organs still there? Like, how's it looking? Am I looking good? And he goes, yeah, everything's still there, but let's chat. And that's when I was like, okay, okay, I'm about to get emergency surgery. He's about to tell me my appendix is like broken open. And, like, it's time to. It's go time. I need to sign my forms. But he goes, so your kidneys are fine, your appendix is fine, but there is something massive on your ovaries. And I'm thinking, okay, so it's. It hasn't been gas pain for the last few weeks. I'm thinking the bloat that I've been experiencing gas pain ate something. Whatever. Turns out it's actually not bloat. There is just a huge mass in. In my stom stomach on my. My right ovary. So he's like, all right, there's something in there. Don't freak out. We don't know what it is yet. It could be something as simple as an ovarian cyst that just needs to be drained or something. But we're gonna go, we're gonna take you to OB in the hospital and they're just gonna do a quick ultrasound to get a better look on it. So I'm like, oh. And he's looking at me. You know when doctors give you that look of like it's something serious and they're expecting you to freak out? Yeah, yeah. It hadn't set in that this was ser. Just like, okay, of course it would be like, my luck. Of course it is. Okay. So I'm still joking with him at this Point. I'm like, okay, to ob. We go, guess I'm getting an ultrasound. And he's looking at me like, you know, this is serious. Like, stop joking around about this. So they wouldn't even let me walk to the ultrasound place. They brought in a wheelchair. And I was like, no, I can walk. Like, I'm okay. And she's like, no, you need to sit down. So they wheel me to ultrasound. At this point, he wasn't telling me how big it is. He just said, it's massive. So I get to ultrasound, and she's doing the thing on my stomach, and she's like, oh, my gosh, this thing is huge. Have they even told you how big it is? I was like, no, it's about 8 inches across, which is about this waterfall. Yeah, yeah, it's about eight inches across. It's about two and a half inches thick and about four and a half inches, like, long. So about equivalent to a pretty big russet potato cheese. And that was also the ultrasound that I found out that it's not just on my right ovary. There is another one on my left ovary. So I have. They're still calling it a mass. They don't know what it is. So we have a very big one, a russet potato on my right ovary and about the size of a red onion on my left. And so she's like, oh, man. Okay. At this point, I looked pregnant. She had told me. She was like, not to freak you out, but the mass in there is about the size that your uterus would be in the second trimester of pregnancy.

[Eduardo]

And you said you were also experiencing bloating. So that's, like. That is what that was from?

[Lydia]

Yes.

[Eduardo]

Okay.

[Lydia]

It wasn't any type of gas at all. It was just masses in there.

[Eduardo]

Was it more bloating than you had had, like, previously from other problems?

[Lydia]

Yeah. So again, I thought it was, like, residuals from the rice situation. And so that's when it all kind of was like, all right, cool. Because she said they are too big to do anything natural. Like, they're gonna need surgery, and they're gonna need surgery soon.

[Eduardo]

So if it happened to be a cyst, do you know if they would just, like. If they just had a drain, it. Would it be, like, a serious surgery, or is that something they could do kind of more easily than, like, a mass removal?

[Lydia]

It could be. It would be a very similar surgery, but it would be an easier surgery.

[Eduardo]

Okay.

[Lydia]

They wouldn't necessarily be taking anything out, I don't think. And A lot of. I learned a lot about this. Your body, as a woman actually grows cysts every month during ovulation naturally, to sort of bring the egg from the ovary into the fallopian tube is just help transport it. And then after ovulation, it goes away.

[Eduardo]

Okay.

[Lydia]

So they had thought it might have been something like that, where my body just wasn't getting rid of them naturally and cycling them through. So she was like, no need to freak out. Sometimes this just happens. But you are going to need surgery. And I also found out that the pain that I was feeling that night was something called ovarian torsion, which basically means that the mass is so big, there's your ovary, and then there's your fallopian tube. It was so big that it had flipped my fallopian tube. And basically my ovary was suffocating. And so the pain was my ovary not getting any oxygen.

[Eduardo]

And then I'm assuming that when it went away, maybe I flipped back.

[Lydia]

Yeah, exactly.

[Eduardo]

Okay.

[Lydia]

That's exactly what happened. And so, I mean, that was something. That was something. So we get out of the er, and that's when I had to call my mom and tell her, you know, hey, it's not a kidney stone. I actually have giant masses on my ovaries. And, you know, poor woman, she's. Goodness, she's. She's been a trooper. She's gone to basically every visit. I don't know how she's handled. I could not imagine having a daughter who's 21 years old and who has never had anything like this, suddenly calling me on a random Wednesday morning at like 6am yeah. And so that was mid April. And a couple weeks later, late April, I was referred to an actual. Not campus OB gyn, Like a. An actual private practice ob GYN to basically review the scans that they had taken in the er, get her specialized opinion on it for what to do going forward. And I got there, she had me lay on the table. She didn't even have to do an abdominal exam. So the difference between a Pap smear and an abdominal exam is a Pap smear, the use the speculum, and they, like, swab everything. An abdominal exam is where they put. They use their fingers and they press on the top of you as well. And that's trying to feel your uterus and your ovaries to make sure that everything is at least there and, like, sitting where it's supposed to. So she didn't even have to do an abdominal exam. She pinched my stomach right Beside my belly button. And she goes, yeah, I can feel it. Those things are massive. I don't know how that campus health doctor did not feel that, because these things do not grow overnight. So that's when I was like, oh, okay. How do you do a pap smear and an abdominal exam and not feel an eight and a half inch tumor? Well, mass, at that point, we didn't know that it was a tumor. So that was. That was frustrating. Frustrating to say the least. And I. This whole process, I feel personally if it was caught that day at the January appointment, that it would not have gotten to where it ended up getting to. Yeah. So we found out that it did need surgery officially. It was kind of being whispered about in the er. She was like, I mean, expect it to, but I'm not gonna say yes or no. Like, that's not my. My place. But I'm just saying expect that. It's probably going to be a thing. I get to the OB gyn, she goes, no, you need urgent surgery, like in the next two weeks. So they put in the order, and I ended up meeting was an OB specialist surgeon. She was great. But it was. I went to. To meet with her, and in the office, it was definitely a weird feeling being one the youngest woman there, 21, surrounded by very excited pregnant women. And me sitting in the lobby with my boyfriend being like, yeah, got masses on my ovaries. It's fine. But like, you look cute. Yeah. Yeah. Congratulations. But I met with her. She was great. That was late April, and then the first week of May, I had my first surgery. Mind you, like I said, life didn't stop for me. I was still. I had finals to take, I was working, I was in classes, and I had the first surgery.

[Eduardo]

Was there any pain between that appointment and the surgery date?

[Lydia]

No.

[Eduardo]

Okay.

[Lydia]

It was, I think, just being more aware of it because they had put me on movement restriction as soon as they found. Before I even left the er. As soon as they found the masses, they were like, okay, so that was torture. And we're gonna need you to not do that again.

[Eduardo]

I mean, at least you didn't have pa, like, in between, because that would have been so much worse, too.

[Lydia]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we were. I was really worried. I don't know if I could do that again. That was intense. But basically they were just like, no lifting heavy weights, no working out, no running kind of deal. Just take it easy and be aware that there are, you know, masses inside of your body. So thankfully, no more pain before the surgery. And it was a laparoscopic surgery, so it wasn't an open abdomen, thankfully. They just put, like a inch and a half long incision in my belly button and then four more. If you kind of think about your abdomen like a rectangle with your belly button in the middle, they slice the belly button in the four corners. Okay. And so they were able to go in with, like, robot arms and do, like, a robotic surgery. And that first surgery, the plan was, okay, we're gonna go in, we're just gonna get the masses, we're gonna leave as much as your ovaries as possible. We're not going to touch your uterus. Like, this is a mission just for the masses. And that's what happened. They ended up having to take, like, a chunk of my right ovary out. But another cool fact about the ovaries is that they will actually start regenerating during surgery. Okay. So whenever they take a chunk out, she said that she could actually watch my ovary come back together. Wow. Yeah. Ovaries are crazy. And so that. That wasn't a problem to take a little bit of a chunk out. And so after the first surgery, I was in recovery, and it was about a week and a half after recovery, so obviously my mom had come in for the surgery and my appointments and whatnot. My boyfriend had gone home at this point, so he was just, you know, keeping. Keeping him updated via the. The WhatsApp. So he's probably at this point in the UK freaking out, but he was. He was a trooper. So my mom was in for the first week while I was recovering again. It was laparoscopic, so it wasn't a super intense surgery. It was just a week of downtime. And then I was able to move around again. They were trying to get me to move around as much as possible after the first 24 hours, so it wasn't bad. But she went home. And I believe it was like nine days after my surgery. I was eating dinner on the couch. None of my roommates were home, so it was just me. And I get an email that says, like, your test results have been published to the portal. So during surgery, they take it out, they take the masses out, and they send them to the lab. Basically be like, let's figure out what this is. And. And so I got the email that says that my test results were published, and I was like, oh, cool. Okay, let's. Let's look at what these are. They had also published pictures for me because I'm. I'm in the health field, so I Was like, okay, yeah, let me see it. No, while you're in there, like, let me see it. Which was really cool. If it wasn't actually, if it didn't turn out to be cancerous, it would have been, like, the coolest thing to see inside my own body. I feel like people don't really get to experience that very often. So I log in, I look at the photos, which are crazy, by the way. They were quite literally about, like, that big. They were huge. And so what it turned out to be was that it was not an ovarian cyst. They were both very large tumors, and they're borderline tumors, which meant they weren't benign, but they weren't rapid growing malignant either, which I didn't know existed. I thought it was either growing or it's not. Yeah. But apparently there is a gray area, and I landed right in the gray area. So that was a big pill to swallow alone in my living room.

[Eduardo]

So you read that yourself? Like.

[Lydia]

Yeah.

[Eduardo]

You didn't get a call yet?

[Lydia]

No. Okay. I. Yeah, I was able to read it, and I didn't really know what that meant at first, and I was like, okay, like, tumors. People have tumors all the time that aren't cancerous. Like, whatever. They just take them out. And then I scroll down a little bit more, and I see that it has been staged, which means that it is officially on the cancer scale. And that was a pill to swallow. So I'm like, oh, it was tumors. That's crazy. Oh, borderline. Didn't know that that existed. Oh, my God, it's cancer. Okay. Okay. So again, had to call my mom. Had to tell her that her baby girl has cancer, which didn't make the pill any easier to swallow because, you know, it's one thing to. To know it about yourself and be like, okay, but I'm. I'm good. Like, I can. I can figure it out versus having to tell someone else. Yeah. And especially, like, your mom, you know, like, she doesn't. Not that she doesn't want to hear that. No one wants to hear that. But, like, you know, like, she's just. That was. That was hard. I think telling my mom was harder than actually reading it myself. So that was just. That was a lot. I had finals the next week. Like, I. It was. It was a lot going on. So that was early May, and then until mid July, which is when the first surgery follow up was. It was just kind of coming to terms with, okay, this is cancerous. I am 21 years old with ovarian cancer. Like, what do you. What do you mean? I'm an otherwise healthy person and it's like, not to mention I'm 21. Like, this doesn't happen to 21 year olds, you know. So in between May and July, did.

[Eduardo]

You have any, like calls or appointments with. Appointments with them to discuss anything?

[Lydia]

Yes. So I had like a test results follow up where they basically just told me what I already knew. Yeah, I was like, I'm not closing this webpage until I understand every word on it. So, yeah, so she called me and we basically talked through it, which was, I mean, I appreciate, but she, she also was like, I'm very confused because this doesn't happen to 21 year olds. And it's not like I had been struggling with my ovaries previously. Like, I'm. I'm an otherwise healthy human and the pap smear and everything came back normal. So it was just very felt out of the blue. Yeah. So what did they tell you?

[Eduardo]

Anything that like you should be doing between that May in July time or. No?

[Lydia]

No. So I. Obviously when you get news like that, you're grasping to, okay, so what can I do right now? Like, how can I do, how can I. How can I fix this? Like, what on my end can I do to best support myself? And so I'm asking these questions and they basically were like, there is nothing you can do. Like, just surround yourself with good vibes and just keep it pushing. Which is hard to hear when doctors are like, it's out of your control. You know, there's. There's nothing you can do. And it's, it's also a very. It sort of felt like a hitting a wall with my body where up until that point it was like, okay, no lifting weights, no going on runs, that's fine. I can, I can eat foods that try to give me the most energy and that I can make sure that I'm doing what I need to do to try to sleep good at night and doing stretches to help support my body. But after those phone calls where I'm asking those questions and they say that there's nothing I can do, it's like a sudden disconnect where it's no longer me in my body, it's like me and then my body. And so sort of having to accept that, that it's no longer. I can't. Not that I'm not in control of my body, but I'm not in control of my body, you know, and then also having to accept that there's this like foreign parasite essentially growing in my body and that there was nothing I could do about. It was just a lot, a lot. And watching like Leon and my mom and my closest friends telling them and it's, it's a different kind of conversation obviously, but when you see the look on someone's face when you sit them down and say, I have cancer and there's nothing anyone can do about it, like, that's, that's hard, you know, and it's, I know it's hard for them, but it's, it's hard to watch people go through that. You know, like I said, you can be in your own body and know like, okay, like, yes, but I feel fine, like I can still eat and everything. Like, I feel like I, I can do this. But when you hear your friends going through it, like you can't, you don't know that you don't, you don't know. And so yeah, it was just, it was a lot of hardcore conversations and feeling sort of helpless, I guess. Not in like a victimized pity me kind of helpless, but just I wish I could do something for my body and a lot of am I failing my body or is my body failing me? Kind of thing. So just a lot of big pills to swallow between, between May and July and also just accepting that I had cancer, that I am a person with cancer, just like what, it's just a lot. So then mid July I have my post op follow up, make sure I was healing well and everything that was fine. And then I also had my first ultrasound because during this time we agreed that the treatment plan was going to be an ultrasound every three months and an MRI every four months. So an abdominal MRI and then a vaginal ultrasound every three months just to monitor it very closely because they had told me that I had, I believe it's called microinvasion on my right ovary, which basically means if there's microinvasion present your, the chance of whatever it was coming back is like exponentially higher. So they essentially were like, you have a breeding ground for this tumor on your ovary still. So we're expecting it to come back at some point. It could be right now, it could be in a year, it could be in 10 years. But like it's going to come back essentially. So we just need to monitor it closely so it doesn't get to be, be 8 1/2 inches big again before we do something. So also a fun fact, the tumors, when they took them out, I weighed in at my post OP appointment. Almost 12 pounds lighter than I did.

[Eduardo]

Wow.

[Lydia]

Yeah. Like, it was. It was serious. So I had my ultrasound. I felt fine. I was healing fine. There wasn't any complications. So I felt good. I was like, hey, they took it out, whatever. Like, it's gonna be fine. So I have my ultrasound. And obviously the ultrasound texts can't tell you anything before the doctor reviews it. But I felt like something was odd because she did the vaginal ultrasound, and then she's like, okay, so we're actually also just gonna do a quick stomach one. Like, when you think of an ultrasound, when a pregnant woman's getting an ultrasound, she's like, we're just gonna do that one real quick as well. But she only did it on the right side. She didn't, like, look at the left. And so I kind of felt like something was wrong, something had come back up or whatever. And that day, I had also had the MRI planned, like, just the first monitoring and everything. So I had my mri. It went fine. I didn't get the results back for that immediately either. But a couple days later, again, I got the at this point, dreaded email. When I see my chart, you have test results published to your portal. Okay, of course I do. So I opened it up. The ultrasound found that not only had the tumor come back, but it had multiplied about six times. So instead of there being the structure of the first one was it was like a bag. And then it had three smaller tumors inside of it. And so two of them were ovarian cysts, but then one of them was a cancerous tumor. And so whenever what had happened, essentially, I found out that whenever they were taking it out during the first surgery, it was so big, they had to break it apart and take it out in pieces. Again, because it wasn't an open abdomen surgery, the incisions were, like, that long. It had broken open and spilled into my abdomen. And so those cancer cells were just kind of spilled all over my ovaries and all over my uterus. So when it had come back, it had multiplied. And so it wasn't just one tumor. I think there was, like, four or five of them in there.

[Eduardo]

And how big were they?

[Lydia]

They were smaller. I think in total, it was about six inches across. Okay.

[Eduardo]

So they were smaller, but there was more because it had broken apart.

[Lydia]

Yeah.

[Eduardo]

In pieces.

[Lydia]

Okay.

[Eduardo]

And that was within three months.

[Lydia]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that was a lot. And then the MRI came back, and I had also. They had been showing those same borderline cells on my liver, which is very confusing because the progression of ovarian cancer is usually one ovary, the other ov, then your uterus, and then it'll metastasize to your liver and go from there. And so we jumped from my ovaries to my liver. Like, we totally skipped the whole part of that story. So that was confusing, but also terrifying because once it reaches the liver, then usually from there it gets in your blood, and that's when it's not operable. So we're all kind of like, oh, God. Oh, goodness.

[Eduardo]

So quick question. Is that the reason why you didn't need any, like, chemo treatment? Because it was operable?

[Lydia]

Yeah.

[Eduardo]

Okay. So but if it's in your blood.

[Lydia]

Yeah.

[Eduardo]

That's when you would need treatments.

[Lydia]

Yeah. Or if it's in an area where, like I said, the ovaries will regenerate. Like, it's okay if you have to, whatever. But if it's on something that can't be operated on, obviously, or if it was a aggressive type of cancer that was essentially growing too quickly to be operated on, yeah, they would do some type of radiation or chemo, but the borderline cells don't react well to chemo or radiation. So thankfully, I didn't have to start any of that through this process. All of my treatment were surgery based. So that is a silver lining, I will say that. But we find out that it's back on my ovaries. We find out that it is now also on my liver. And my second surgery was like a week and a half after that appointment. So my two surgeries were almost exactly three months apart.

[Eduardo]

Did they go in the same way?

[Lydia]

Yeah, they actually, they were great. They went straight over my, my, my incisions from last time.

[Eduardo]

Okay.

[Lydia]

Yeah. So I only have one set of incisions. They look like stab wounds. It's kind of cool. But yeah, thankfully they didn't have to do any open abdomen or anything this time either. I meet, I also, at that time, I officially meet my oncology team, which is also like a. This is actually happening when you get referred to oncology and you walk in and it's like an actual oncology office. And people are there with, you know, they are doing chemo and radiation. And you walk in and it's like, okay, just me, the college kid from down the street, you, you, you're in stage four, like cancer, that kind of thing. Just a weird imposter syndrome. Like, this doesn't make any sense. And also at this point, we still hadn't found a cause for this. Like, I have no family history of any type of ovarian cancer or anything like that. Otherwise healthy. Like I'm, I don't know, we don't know what's going on. So yeah, so we didn't know at that point any type of root causes for this. And so in that week and a half where I find out that they had come back and that it was on my liver and that I needed surger also were like, okay, so you also need to go talk to this specialist because you need to freeze your eggs. And I was like, why would I need to freeze my eggs if you're just going in and taking out the tumor and they go, oh no, no, no. Because we also need to take out an opry and you need to freeze your eggs. For anyone who doesn't know, with egg freezing and insurance, especially in North Carolina, it might be different in different states, but insurance will not usually cover the process of getting your eggs frozen or storage because it's seen as an elective procedure. It is very expensive. I am a college student, so even.

[Eduardo]

If you, they, even if you told them your history, they still wouldn't cover it.

[Lydia]

So like you would think if you.

[Eduardo]

Told them what was going on you would realize, okay, this obviously isn't by choice.

[Lydia]

No, no, there are like organizations like non profits type charity things that offer help. Especially in like the Research Triangle area that I lived. I got very lucky to be in a very strong network. The Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill network is, is insane. So they, they have a lot of connections with non profits and stuff that if you come to them with a cancer diagnosis, they will definitely cover like your meds to get all of this done. And sometimes they'll cover the who just depending on where you're at and that kind of thing. So I met with the specialist and she was running me over through the whole process of freezing your eggs, it's like two weeks straight of giving yourself shots to, to make your ovaries essentially jumpstart and start maturing as many eggs as possible as fast as possible. And then at the end you have to give yourself a trigger shot that tells your ovaries to stop. And then you have to go in for this procedure that they, it's like quite painful. So you kind of have to be anesthetized and they go in and they retrieve your eggs and it's this whole thing and you have to go to the doctors to get ultra other day during this two week period to make sure everything's growing. The specialist was about 40 minutes away from My house at that time. So she's running me through this. And, you know, to her, she. She says this every day. She's a specialist. This is what she does. And so she's asking me these big questions, like, do you want kids? Do you know how many you want kids? Are you okay with adopting? Like, are you okay with being infertile? Like, what's the thing? And I'm sitting here again, I'm 21. Like, I don't know. I. I don't know if I want kids. I don't know if I'm okay with adoption or surrogacy or. Like, I don't even know if I want to freeze my eggs, you know, because it's also expensive to store, and I am also. How much is it? It's about 500 a year, depending on where you're at. And then transporting it overseas, like, I would have to. I'm planning to move to Europe after graduation. That's a whole different thing. And then the regulations in the country that you move to is different. It's just this whole thing. And they were like, okay, so if you want to freeze your eggs before your surgery, you need to make the decision today day, because your surgery is in less than two weeks, and the process takes two weeks. And so I was like, that is.

[Eduardo]

So much to put on someone so fast. I mean, not that it's their fault.

[Lydia]

But still, it's like, yeah, yeah. And so my mom was with me at this appointment, and I remember we just got in the car and just sat there.

[Eduardo]

Even somebody that is older than you, though, and has time to, like, think of these things or has thought about these things, it's still a lot to digest and. And decide in one day.

[Lydia]

Yeah. Yeah. Because we hadn't even fully accepted that I was about to lose an over ovary and then let alone the whole egg freezing thing. And so I kind of made the decision, like, no, Like, I'm not freezing my eggs right now. Like, this is. This is too much. Like, I'm. I. No. And they're only taking out one ovary. At that point, I still hadn't really accepted the fact. But they're only taking out one ovary. Like, I'll still have one left kind of deal. Like, I'm not spending. It would have been close to $12,000 to have this done. Like, and now I got tuition to pay because. Yeah. And so I chose not to. But she also explained to me the possibility of being infertile and. And what would happen if, worst case scenario they get into this surgery and they have to take both. And so that was also just like a lot, because that case scenario, if they. At this point, we didn't know if they would have to be able to save an ovary, take one or take both, sign consent forms for all three possibilities before the surgery. And so if they would have had to go in and take both, that would have meant not only would I not have any eggs stored because I didn't freeze it before the surgery, but I would have had to take synthetic estrogen every single day until I turned 54. I'm 21. And so if I didn't do that, I would be sent into early menopause, which is very dangerous on a young person's body. Your bones start to deteriorate, it's terrible for your brain, you get all these health problems from it. And so I would essentially have to be. It's the same type of process, I guess, for people transitioning from male to female, like that estrogen that they're on, I would have to be on that every single day until I turn 54. And it was safe for my body to naturally go into menopause. So it was a lot. And then also having to grapple with that possibility with an overseas move, like getting registered at the NHS and like getting medications over there and all of that, it was just a lot of possibilities to go through. Mind you, at this point, we still didn't know why this was happening. Still to this day, we actually don't know. But. So we get the. The second surgery planned and we also decide to, instead of do egg freezing, we decided to undergo genetic testing to try and see not only the health of my eggs if I were to freeze them in the near future, but to try and see if maybe I had some type of burka gene or some type of genetic mutation that I didn't have family history, but maybe, maybe, you know, some weird thing in my genetics that made me extra susceptible. Same with, like, maybe it's pcos kind of thing. My doctors were basically telling me it wasn't going to be pcos because the tumors that I had weren't affected by hormones and they didn't in turn, they weren't affected by. And they didn't affect any hormones, like, they didn't make any hormones themselves that would throw anything off balance. But we did testing. Either way comes back, I'm clear. They tested for 21 different genes, including all of the burkas, all the. The ovarian stuff. I'm completely clear. My Blood work, clear. Genetics, clear. And so I have no idea. It's just like, still, I can't wrap my head around it. To this day, I'm like, no one has any idea. There's no. Any theories, no. Nothing. Like, you're quite literally an oncology specialist. You don't.

[Eduardo]

Yeah.

[Lydia]

What do you. How many.

[Eduardo]

And this might be jumping ahead, but how many opinions have you gotten?

[Lydia]

So I've had the. Oh, the ER doctor, the OB gyn, The OB GYN surgery specialist, the oncologist. There was also a radiologist that came in to read my scans, and then the doctor that read my MRI as.

[Eduardo]

Well, and none of them had any idea.

[Lydia]

No one knows. So that's frustrating because also it's like, if you don't know a cause, then you can't prevent. Yeah.

[Eduardo]

Or have any understanding, really. It's just kind of like, okay, I.

[Lydia]

Was dealt these cards. Yeah. Like, okay, yes, we're here. And so there's like, no, not necessarily closure, but there's no comfort to find in it. Because if it's like, okay, if it turned out that I had a burka gene or something, it's like, hey, this sucks.

[Eduardo]

But like, like, you have an understanding.

[Lydia]

Yeah.

[Eduardo]

Like an explanation of something.

[Lydia]

And also something to tell people. Like all of my friends and, And. And my. And Leon watching me go through this and trying to support me the best they can. It's like, I can't tell them, oh, like, this sucks. But here's a cause for it. We can find comfort in knowing that at least we figured it out. It's still just like going through it another day, I guess. And it's. It was, you know, it's like bad news after bad news after bad news. It's just one after the other. And it's exhausting to swallow. Like, swallow that pill about yourself. But also it's hard to, like I said not to keep wrapping back around to it, but like, watching my mom having to accept all this, watching Leon, it's like you can watch the people around you get exhausted with it as well, which just like, sucks. And so we have the whole egg freezing conversation. We have the whole possibly infertile conversation, and me and my boyfriend been together for like a year and a half, but I'm like, do you want kids? Like, let's have this conversation, I guess. Like, do you want to have. Yeah. It's like, if I'm. If I come out of this infertile, like, are you going to feel differently? And it's. It's like, I'M not trying to make you feel guilty. I'm not trying to scare you. Like, you got to be honest with me.

[Eduardo]

I mean, it's a lot at once. But I think that, like, in my opinion, it's a healthy conversation to have, like, regardless. And obviously, like, yeah, you're still young and you never want to make anyone feel pressured, but life throws us curveballs. And, like, this is what your life through you. So it's like, whoever is going to be with you or in your life has to understand, you know, if that conversation has to be addressed in a way, you know.

[Lydia]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And thankfully, it was, you know, a very. I don't want to say easy conversation because the topic was difficult, but it was as easy as it could be. It was smooth.

[Eduardo]

Yeah.

[Lydia]

It was calm. Very. Actually, like, very nice conversation to have. Same with my mom about, like, mom, like, you might not get grandkids for me. And like, my older sister doesn't really want kids of her own, which is, you know, like, that's my mom, like, really wants grandkids. And so it's just. It was very hard to kind of be like, everybody has to be prepared for the worst case scenario. So then I had my surgery August 2nd, so like a week and a half after the egg freezing conversation. So I go into my second surgery, I'm having to sign all of these forms, basically just telling the doctors, like, hey, do what you gotta do. So I come out, I find out that they did take out my entire right ovary and fallopian tube and they took out a chunk of my left ovary. So that was. I was obviously, I was expecting it. I was fully informed on each possibility. But I think it's a different feeling knowing that it's probably going to happen versus knowing that it's gone and there is no getting it back. And that, like, I'm going to live the rest of my life with not even one entire ovary. Well, not even that, because they're also like, it's gonna come back up on your left ovary as well. Like, they said that after this surgery. They said that whenever we were planning the second surgery, whenever we were running through all of the possibilities, and so they gave me kind of the same rundown as they did for my right. Like, could be now, could be a year, could be 10 years, could be never. You know, like, ideal possibility is that I don't have any more problems until I. I have as many kids as I want to have. If I choose to have a ton or choose to have none or whatever. If I get through that phase in my life, and it's. I'm okay with.

[Eduardo]

So basically, during this surgery, were they more, I guess, cautious about anything kind.

[Lydia]

Of spilling over yet? Well, technically, yes.

[Eduardo]

Okay.

[Lydia]

But it was sort of a different procedure. It was the same type of surgery, but instead of having to go in and try to, you know, everything inside of your body is, like, wet, and so it sticks together. And so instead of having to try to carefully peel this tumor off of your ovary without hurting your ovary and taking it out, they essentially put a bag around my ovary and fallopian tube and snip the nerves and pull it all out. Okay. So it was the same type of surgery, but a little bit less precise.

[Eduardo]

So, like, the. The chances of what happened the first time.

[Lydia]

Yes.

[Eduardo]

Was lower. This time, a lot lower. Okay.

[Lydia]

Yes. It's kind of like throwing a net into the ocean, just taking it all back out. So, thankfully, there was. There was no spilling on that one, but they did take out my fallopian tube of my ovary and part of my left ovary. And I also found out randomly that I was allergic to heparin, which they give you a heparin shot before surgery to help with blood clotting. So I guess I had an allergic reaction in surgery as well. So I just woke up feeling quite, quite rough. But I healed. Healed fine. But I think even. Even now, whenever I think about the fact that I only have one ovary, if I think about. About it too. Too long or too hard, I kind of still get choked up about it because it's like. What do you mean? Like, it's. And it's also, you know, being a woman. I know that that doesn't in any way define a woman, but it's still like, okay, I just lost a big part of what biologically makes me like a woman, you know, and it's also as someone who now I'm actually having to think about, okay, well, do I want kids, like, actually having to confront these questions of looking into surrogacy and, like, looking into. What does that even mean? What does that look like? Like, how do you go about doing that egg freezing, ivf, which, you know, it's just kind of up in the air right now as well, with everything happening and in politics, I haven't really had to pay attention to that until now. And if I choose to stay in the States, I have to make sure that I'm moving to an area that I'm still going to be able to get that kind of care. And that's just. Hopefully it doesn't come to that. But like, that even now, there are areas where I couldn't. I wouldn't be able to live if I could. Got a job offer there or something. I wouldn't be able to go because I wouldn't be able to. To have access to that type of resources if I did want a family. So that's a lot to accept coming out of surgery. Um, so that was early August. Had my follow up, the post op, follow up, healing fine, feeling fine. Um, they also ended up recently testing for something called Alpha Gal to sort of find a root cause for at least the meat intolerance I have, because it was on the table. They were also like, maybe this is a GI type cancer that has spread to your ovaries. You know, everything is very close down there. Your intestines, your ovaries, everything. And that would also explain your meat intolerance. So I was like, oh, here we go, Here we go. They wanted me to get an endoscopy and a colonoscopy, and I was like, y'all, I'm so tired. Like, I am so tired. I think my doctors are great, but I have seen y'all way too many times right now, like, no. So I turned on the colonoscopy and. And the endoscopy because they said they could also first do a blood panel to sort of check the enzyme levels and stuff. So I opted for that and it looked fine. And we did an abdominal MRI again. And in my GI tract and everything looked fine, but the things on my liver were still looking weird, so that was kind of unsettling. But yeah, so the liver was still looking odd on my side. Second mri. And so I had another one quite recently, actually. And thankfully, so they can't see my ovaries in an abdominal mri. So the abdominal MRI is, I think, from like your chest down to your belly button. So they're looking at things like your stomach, your liver, your gallbladder, that kind of stuff, your kidneys. And so my most recent one was showing that the. The spots on the liver were starting to sort of figure themselves out. Thankfully, nothing was. Was growing super big. And also your liver is very resilient, which I didn't know. They told me that people can have a bunch of growths on their liver and that the liver will actually function fine.

[Eduardo]

So they don't need to go in and do anything with that.

[Lydia]

As of right now, no.

[Eduardo]

Okay.

[Lydia]

Thankfully, but I have not gotten a look at My ovaries and my uterus yet since my second surgery. Yeah.

[Eduardo]

I was going to ask you because this month will be three months. Right. Okay.

[Lydia]

Yeah. And so I really still are just.

[Eduardo]

Like very much in the midst of this. Like you don't even know.

[Lydia]

Yeah. I don't have my next ultrasound until like the beginning of December, so.

[Eduardo]

And that's where you see if anything is grown again.

[Lydia]

Yeah. Yeah. So we're all just kind of sitting here, fingers crossed. And it's. I'm still having appointments with my oncologist. Just sort of do check ins and talk about the possibilities. And they're. The way they're talking is like, okay, now your leftover is treasure. That's a golden ovary. This is. We don't have another shot with this.

[Eduardo]

And it's just now if for some reason, worst case scenario, they had to take the leftovery to. And you're left with none. Can this, can these masses or these tumors still grow back again but like in a different area, like in the uterus or. They don't even really know.

[Lydia]

So they could, they could. If it leans on the malignant, like aggressive side. Yeah. We're kind of of just hoping that one. It doesn't come back. But if it does, it's benign.

[Eduardo]

Okay.

[Lydia]

If it leans malignant. Yes. The next step would be it grabs onto my ovary or my uterus. And if that's the case, then a hysterectomy would be on the table, which is we really avoiding that because it's one thing to not have ovaries and to still keep your uterus because you can do things like ivf. Like as long as you have a uterus, you can carry a child. Okay. But once the uterus is gone, like you're not making anything. So hopefully we don't get there. Right. But now it's kind of just grappling with like every time I get bloated, you know. Right.

[Eduardo]

Well, it also just sucks because it's like you get this. I mean, I know what you say. Like it's. Thankfully it's not anything like a super invasive surgery.

[Lydia]

Yeah.

[Eduardo]

But you're getting these major surgeries and they are me, I feel like any surgery is major, you know, and comes risks and all of that stuff. So it's like you're getting these surgeries and then it's kind of like in between your healing time.

[Lydia]

Yeah.

[Eduardo]

And this three month period, you're kind of just waiting and hoping for the best.

[Lydia]

Yeah. It's a lot. And I don't know if I said that whenever they tested for Alpha Gal, it's like this possible sort of like you can get Lyme disease from a tick. It's like an insect thing. And growing up in the south, there are lots of ticks and mosquitoes. So we thought maybe I had like, Alpha Gal and that was the reason for the. The rice mishap. Turns out I don't have half a gal. We don't know what happened with the catalyst of all this either. Like, there's just no answers for anything about this situation and.

[Eduardo]

Right. The meat thing is so weird and so random. Like, I mean, yeah, I guess you can just develop an intolerance to anything, but the fact that it goes as deep as like, even chicken broth is like, crazy.

[Lydia]

Yeah, it's. I, like, I don't know. I got the negative result last week and I still don't know what to make.

[Eduardo]

Yeah, it's just, it just that you don't have. Have any like, dead set answers on anything.

[Lydia]

On literally anything. Yeah, it's like just this waiting game.

[Eduardo]

Of like, ifs, maybes, buts, like.

[Lydia]

Exactly. Exactly. So right now we're kind of, we're trying to just assume that everything is fine. Best case scenario, trying to manifest a clean. A clean ultrasound. I don't want to do a third surgery. Surgery's not fun. And apparently I'm allergic to heparin, so, like, that's not cool either.

[Eduardo]

Did they say what happen with that allergic reaction?

[Lydia]

No. And she said it so casually in my appointment. It's not like she sat me down and was like, hey, this is happen. This happen. She was just like, no, we probably should test for Alpha Gal because you were allergic to hen as well. And that would make sense.

[Eduardo]

Yeah.

[Lydia]

What do you mean? I was allergic to hen? So I don't. Lord, I don't know. But yeah, next ultrasound in December. Now we're kind of. It's just like this weird gray waiting area that's also like, I won't know if I still technically have cancer or if I'm in remission until December.

[Eduardo]

Right.

[Lydia]

So I don't, I don't know.

[Eduardo]

It's.

[Lydia]

It's tough, it's. I don't want to say annoying, but.

[Eduardo]

Well, I will say something that I noticed and I'm sure everyone listening or watching can notice is like you have very, like a very high spirit, you know? Like, I just feel like overall you're such a positive, sweet person. And it's like, even though this is something that is very difficult and Traumatic to go through.

[Lydia]

Through.

[Eduardo]

Like, I feel like the way that you go about it and carry yourself is in like the best case scenario, very positive mindset. And honestly that's the best thing you can do for yourself. You know, you have to. Because the more negative we are in any situation, in any part of our life, like the more negativity and just bad stuff we can.

[Lydia]

And your body feels.

[Eduardo]

Yes, your body can feel it. And it's like the more light we put out, the more light we receive, you know, so it's like, I feel like it's so clear and obvious that all you try to do is put out light and positivity and. And you know, something else that you mentioned that is a really important thing that I feel like isn't oftentimes talked about is the effects that, you know, whatever is happening to you is happening to the people around you as well. And that probably is like just as difficult if not more than like finding out something directly happening to you. Because like you said, I feel like not that it's ever easy, but at least we can handle things within our own, you know, time and space and alone time and within ourselves mentally. But then having to have those uncomfortable conversations with, you know, a significant other or family members, it. It puts a whole nother weight and burden and uncomfortability, I feel like to a situation.

[Lydia]

Yeah.

[Eduardo]

That you don't even realize, you know, and it, it's difficult. It's sad. It's really sad because then you're dealing with how you feel plus how somebody else feels and everything in between.

[Lydia]

Yeah. And there is no telling them, like, yeah, it sucks now, but I'll be okay. Like it's. Oh, we don't know. Like we, we have no idea. And that was another thing having to grapple as. As well as the possibility of being infertile. But just generally my mortality, like we don't know where this can go. And while like, yes, it was staged technically as a stage one, like we don't know where it's going to go in this next ultrasound. Not that I'm scared that I'm, you know, going to pass away from this or anything. The, the mortality rate for ovarian cancer is, is very low. Like it's. In terms of. No cancer is good, but in terms of the type of cancer, like this is a better one to have. So I'm not necessarily worried about that but just there is no sucks right now, but I'm going to be okay. Like it's fine. Yeah. Because it's like, you know, you. You do things like, oh, I have a stomach ache. You Google what it is, you read WebMD, that it might be cancer, but you're like, nah. Like, nah. Quite literally, the worst case scenario, like, did happen. Yeah. And you said the hard conversations, friends, family, and even, like, this whole time, life didn't stop. I was still. I was working full time over the summer. I was working a job. I was doing research. I was having to tell my professors about this because I'd be out for a week and a half from surgery.

[Eduardo]

Like, yeah, I was gonna ask you, did you ever tell the college campus nurse, doctor person?

[Lydia]

Yes. Campus health reached out to me. The specific doctor. I haven't heard from her. Okay. But the nurse line, like, they. They get a notification, someone called the nurse line and what it was about. And so the nurse line followed up with me, like, hey, did you end up getting seen? Like, are you okay? And I told her what happened, and she was just kind of in awe because she can see my chart. Like, she was like, everything came back normal. You know, she just kind of joined the train of being like, what the. What the hell? But in terms of the campus itself, how. Haven't. Haven't heard anything. Haven't. Not that they owe me an apology. I don't think so, but at least, like, check in. No. Which is, like, fine, because I'm. I did get very lucky with the team that I've ended up with. Like, yeah, I don't feel unsupported by. In any means, but. Yeah, just kind of. Kind of a lot of having to accept that this is actually happening to me. And. And like you said, trying to stay positive. It's. It's a lot. My. The surgeon that did my first surgery, the oncologist, Servant, surgeon, I talked to her a couple months ago. I had an appointment with her, with my mom, and she. She walked in to debrief the second set of scans. So when everything came back, and I've never seen a doctor cry, especially in an appointment, but she just kind of stood there and was like, you need to be meaner. Like, this stuff doesn't happen to people who are mean. You know, like, it's. It's always the good people. And she. She, like, broke down crying. And, you know, of course that made my mom cry and then that made me cry, and it was just. It's a lot. But you're right, it is important to be positive and just sort of, yeah, it might be happening to you, but I can't do anything about it. Like, there's quite literally nothing I can do about it right now.

[Eduardo]

And I was going to say too, you know, I always say episodes like this are important because I think it just, it reminds people how important it is to speak up and to do your best at all times to get answers.

[Lydia]

Yeah.

[Eduardo]

Because like we were saying before, I feel like, unfortunately it is so common that you can kind of, you know, fall into the hands of doctors or nurses or whoever, that they might not have the answers and they will stop and leave it right there.

[Lydia]

Yeah.

[Eduardo]

And then there's other people that will fight until they get an answer. Or, you know, it might take five or six different opinions or specialists to get some sort of conclusion or answer or even just like an idea. So I feel like if you're going through something, these episodes kind of, of remind people, don't stop. You know what I mean? Like, fight for your health. Because at the end of the day, I feel like you're the only one that you can really rely on to do that. You know, all these, like you said, these, these doctors and these surgeons and whoever else, they're dealing with people every day, you know, and that they're great. But I think there can be times where it's kind of just like cycling through, not, that's not all of them, but for some. And I feel like that's when you kind of have to stand up for yourself and use your voice and speak up and be like, look, I need an answer. Who can I go to next? Or like, and, you know, vouch for yourself, do the research and, and keep fighting. Because, you know, having, having an answer or figuring something out can give a lot of clarity. It might not fix a situation, but it can give clarity.

[Lydia]

Yeah. Yeah, that was. I totally agree. I think it's so important to advocate for yourself and to not brush things off because this may have been a worst case scenario. But at the same time, like, I talked to Leon and my mom about this all the time. Like, if he hadn't pushed me to go to the er and if that ER doctor hadn't taken me seriously or had just brushed it off because I was, I was willing and ready to just go home and take Advil.

[Eduardo]

Yeah.

[Lydia]

Like, they, in a lot of ways, they could have possibly saved my life that night. Like, yeah, you need to trust your body.

[Eduardo]

Like if you're exactly.

[Lydia]

You can feel it.

[Eduardo]

Yeah. Like if you feel like something is not wrong. It kind of like how you said your boyfriend was like, no, I've seen you in pain. Like, yeah, you know, you have to trust yourself. And if you feel like, all right, something's off, even if something, for some reason, a pain goes away, it's just worth it to be safe, like, on the safer side. Because you just don't know.

[Lydia]

Yeah.

[Eduardo]

And it's something that you can't see.

[Lydia]

Like, you feel it, but you can't see. You can't, like, look down and be like, oh, bruise. That's right. Yeah, exactly.

[Eduardo]

You kind of have to just, like, be on the safer side and get checked out.

[Lydia]

Exactly. And, yeah, like, even now, even you said finding an answer doesn't mean it's going to fix it. But, like, even me sitting here right now, I can feel that something is not right in my body. I can feel that there's something wrong. But mentally, I can. I'm so much more at peace with that feeling now, knowing that, yeah, it may be cancer, but at least I know what it is.

[Eduardo]

Yeah.

[Lydia]

Like, yeah, I can be as frustrated as I want to with the extreme fatigue and with the feeling like I have vitamin deficiencies and my nutritional stuff and the aches and pains that I get every now and then and all of that, but there is a piece that comes with at least having an answer. Cancer. We might not know what caused it, but at least I know what it is right now.

[Eduardo]

Right.

[Lydia]

Which, you know, I just. I don't want to say I'm. I'm thankful for it, but, like, do.

[Eduardo]

You, like, do any updates or anything, like, on online or with any social media stuff?

[Lydia]

I do sometimes. Whenever I feel like I have something to update, I need to get better at it because I'm also very much like, okay, well, I just. All I did was go and got blood work done. Like, I guess no one wants to hear.

[Eduardo]

No. Because I know that when I post this, like, especially, too, because people are going to want to know and keep up with you. I feel like with your whole process, with all of this, and also, too, obviously, if somebody has gone through something similar or knows somebody, I feel like it's important. So if you do decide to kind of, like, keep updates with that kind of stuff, feel free.

[Lydia]

I can, I mean, at least update me.

[Eduardo]

No, yeah, yeah, of course.

[Lydia]

What I can do, I can give you my Instagram, and I usually keep it on private, but I have no problem opening it up to public, at least until this whole thing seems to even out a little bit. But, yeah, they're more.

[Eduardo]

Because I feel like even right now, like, obviously, like we said, you're still very much in the Middle. The middle of.

[Lydia]

Yeah, of things.

[Eduardo]

Like, it's so recent. I mean, what, it hasn't even been a full year, right?

[Lydia]

No.

[Eduardo]

With all that. Yeah. That's crazy. No, and honestly, like, that, I always say this to all my guests. Like, obviously every single person that comes on the show should be proud of themselves and everything in between. And I'm so grateful for everybody that comes on, but with all of this happening within the last year to you, and it hasn't even been a year, like, the fact that you're so willing to be open and vulnerable, like, obviously everybody deals with things differently, heals differently, and everything in between, but. But, you know, for you to digest something like that and be willing to come and, and speak about it so soon, that says a lot about your strength and positivity. Like, I mentioned as a person, like, that's not an easy thing to do.

[Lydia]

You're gonna, like, make me cry right now. I'm sorry.

[Eduardo]

No, it's okay. Like, that's so sweet. No, but it's true. Like, a lot of people wouldn't be able to do that.

[Lydia]

Yeah, I don't know. I just, I. I know that. Oh, my God.

[Eduardo]

I'm sorry. It's okay.

[Lydia]

That was so nice for me to say.

[Eduardo]

Well, I mean, it's true. Oh, give yourself credit for that. That's crazy.

[Lydia]

Thank you. I. I think that there is a power in sharing your story, and it's important to share your story, especially like this podcast and any podcast that sort of let people just speak. Like, there is strength in community, like, whether you know people personally or not. And it helps people to process what they're going through by talking about it as well. Like me accepting the fact that I had cancer. It was just a lot of me, honestly, standing in the mirror, looking myself in the eye and being like, I. Cancer.

[Eduardo]

Right?

[Lydia]

I am a 21 year old with cancer. I am quite literally having to. I'm a first generation college student, so I don't know what I'm doing. Like, I'm in college, I have to graduate, figure out grad school, I'm working a job. Like, I'm paying for my own school. College is not cheap. Like, and just sort of laying it all out to myself in the mirror over and over and over until I could do it without crying, without, like, do it and get through the sentence and that kind of stuff. But.

[Eduardo]

And you know that you mentioned a really good, a really good thing too, as well, about the fact that I feel like there is a whole different type of healing and a sense of community, if you do have the ability to speak about it while it's happening, you know, because I do think a lot of people, they kind of have to get through something before they feel comfortable enough to talk about it.

[Lydia]

Yeah.

[Eduardo]

Because obviously, like I said, healing can take years and years and years.

[Lydia]

Yeah.

[Eduardo]

And, you know, and that's not to say that, you know, you're just this perfect person that can handle it all, but. Even though it seems that way. But that being said, you know, there's people that are in the midst of things and they might feel very alone. So. And, you know, it's. It's terrifying. I. There's a lot of people that I know. Not a lot, but it seems like a lot, even if it's just one. But there's a good amount of people that I know that are very young girls or young kids that have gotten cancer, got diagnosed with cancer, and it's. It's terrifying. And it's something that doesn't happen, you know, frequently per se.

[Lydia]

It's isolating.

[Eduardo]

It's very. I'm sure it's very isolating. You know, and I think having someone, even though, like you mentioned, like, there obviously there's so many different types of cancer and the. The rate of you. What would you.

[Lydia]

What is it? Consider.

[Eduardo]

I don't want to use the wrong.

[Lydia]

Term, like the mortality rate. Yeah.

[Eduardo]

Like the mortality rate is super low.

[Lydia]

Yeah.

[Eduardo]

Would it be.

[Lydia]

Yeah.

[Eduardo]

So, you know, even though that it might be different than somebody that's diagnosed with a different type of cancer, there is a sense of community and being able to talk to people that are going through something very similar as you.

[Lydia]

Yeah.

[Eduardo]

You know, because even if it's just online line, it's better than feeling isolated or like there's no one else or like, oh, this is so rare, I can't really find anybody to talk to or this is. There's no videos about this. You know, it's just something that's like, oh, it's so, so rare. It's so unheard of. It's so. It's so easy for people to say that and then not. Not realize that having a community or people to talk to that are your age, not just a doctor or professional, it could really be helpful.

[Lydia]

Yeah. Yeah, I agree. The community is so important and. And the feeling of. I touched on it earlier, but, you know, looking at someone who's not going through this like a friend. Thankfully, none of my friends have ever had to experience having cancer. Any type of that thing. I wouldn't wish that on anybody, but having to. To tell them that this is going on. And there is that pause after of like, what do I say? What do I do? And it's very clear. It's not like, oh, I'm feeling. Feeling anxious today. You know, I'm going through something really tough kind of thing where they're like, okay, like, I know what you're going through. Like, we can do this. It is a. A very stark, like, stop for, for people to hear it. And I think that doesn't mean that you shouldn't talk about it. It doesn't mean that people don't care. It's just like, you know, even now, me. Me being the one to have it is like, I mean, there's nothing I can do about it, like, let alone you, you know. Yeah. So it's also not something that I would necessarily open with to everybody that I meet. But it is important to find that community somewhere and to not be scared to talk about it. It's also like, you should talk about it. Like, at the end of the day, it's part of the human experience. And pain is just as important to the human experience as joy and laughter and happiness is. Like.

[Eduardo]

And I think it, in a way, it does something where no matter what, obviously it's a very traumatic and scary experience. But I think that it, by hearing more people talk about it, it's able to kind of of dim that large amount of fear that surrounds it. You know what I mean? When you hear cancer, I mean, obviously it's horrible. There is no dimming that. But at the same time, if you feel like, okay, I can. I have resources to learn more or to listen.

[Lydia]

Yeah.

[Eduardo]

It gives you, I think, a little bit more of a sense of peace maybe around it or like you said, kind of how you had to stand in the mirror and be like, not that it defines you, but to accept it like, it helps. I feel like maybe a little bit. Rather than just like having this huge pill to swallow on your own and being stuck in this bubble of fear and confusion.

[Lydia]

Yeah, no, exactly. It's. It's a. Important to accept it as a part of your story, but not to accept it as it being you.

[Eduardo]

You know, like, it's the end all be all.

[Lydia]

Like, because it's not. No, it's not. And I think that's also why when you meet people, most people who have a later stage cancer and who. Who know that they're at a point where this is probably a terminal situation, they're usually so positive as well, as. Because, like, it's hard to understand that something as big as cancer still doesn't define you until you're in it. And it's. Some of the best people that I've met. Oh, I've been waiting to meet her.

[Eduardo]

This is Miss Kitty. Go say hi. Sorry she has a runny nose.

[Lydia]

No, it's okay. Me too. Girl, it's getting cold outside. Hello. But yeah, people with late stage cancer. I've got to meet quite a few of them during this journey and they are some of the best people that I've ever met. There's. It just. It gives you a new appreciation for life. Is guess. I guess is what I'm trying to say is accepting it as a part of your story, not your entire story, and, and knowing that there are so many other facets to life to find joy. And even if you are terminal and even if you know that your time, you know, is not. No one's time is infinite, but people's times are shorter than others. But just sort of seeing that that's okay and that the human experience is not meant to be infinite and it's. It's meant to have ups and downs and pains and sorrows, but also that it's okay to find joy even if you know you are in the midst of something like this. Whether it's as serious as cancer or, I mean, everything serious. If it's. If it's hard for you, it's hard for you. But yeah, just the importance of finding community and positivity and it's okay to, to not like fall into it and be suffocated by it. It's important not to be actually. But yeah, just. Just talking about it and finding that light, I think is. Has been the most helpful part in all of this.

[Eduardo]

Well, you're amazing and it shows. Seriously. And thank you so much. And like I said, please keep me updated at the very least.

[Lydia]

Yeah, yeah.

[Eduardo]

With everything. Because this is like very. This is like you're in the middle of everything, which is like, it's crazy to me. Like, I feel, like I said, I feel like it really is rare for people to be able to kind of like put everything aside and be like, yeah, I'm ready to talk about this right now. Like, why not? You know, And I, I give you a lot of credit for that. That that's takes a lot, A lot of strength. So great job, thankfully.

[Lydia]

Thank you. Hopefully the next update that I give you is a very positive one.

[Eduardo]

Yeah, no, I mean, like, I. I like to believe, like I was saying before, I really like to believe that our mindset has a lot of. I don't want to say control, but has a lot to do with what happens around us. So, yeah, you know, obviously, I'm thinking of you and praying for you and everything in between, so.

[Lydia]

Thank you.

[Eduardo]

Thank you.

[Lydia]

Of course.