Personal Narrative: Ovarian Cancer

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After all of these tests and doctor visits, I was diagnosed with stage one ovarian cancer. A granulosa cell tumor was found on my right ovary. It was pretty rare considering less than five out of one hundred ovarian cancer patients have a tumor like that. It was astonishing that a sixteen year old, with no previous ovarian cancer occurrences in her family, was diagnosed with the cancer. The average age for an ovarian cancer occurrence is sixty three years old. My doctors concluded that the best way to rid my body of this disease was surgery. The whole ovary needed to be removed, along with the mass. After the operation, my doctor told us that he had also removed my appendix because the tumor had started growing into it because it was quite big. Luckily, I didn’t have to undergo chemotherapy, although it was the alternative route and still may be the only option if I have a reoccurrence. I’ll never forget the morning I had awaken, from my surgery. The memory is burned in the back of my mind forever. I remembered as I drowsily peeked open my eyes, I found myself laying in a warm hospital bed with crisp linen sheets that smelled of bleach draped across my lower body. I noticed my right arm was decorated with several IV’s that created a tingling pain. I felt groggy and a bit unsure how I got here, what time it was or how long I had been here. My eyelids, which I could barely keep open, felt heavy as bricks. “The anesthesia must be wearing off,” I thought to myself. Once I mustered up enough effort to fight off the heavy sleepiness, I lugged my heavy eyelids open again. The room was dim, the blinds were drawn shut, and the walls were a plain cream color. I was hooked up to a rolling machine, which held my IV bag and pain medicine. My mother had peacefully dozed off in the olive green cloth …show more content…
Through a small cracked open eye, I peeked at the door. Dad entered the hospital room. “Finally someone to save me from this terrible thirst!” I thought to myself. I motioned towards the water bottle with a nimble finger and managed to make a grumble. Dad quickly grabbed up the bottle for me, unscrewed the cap, and carefully placed it to my dry lips. I quickly sipped the refreshing water down. It felt as if an icy Alaskan river flowed down my throat. “You must’ve been thirsty!” proclaimed Dad, as I finished off the rest of the bottle. I replied with a slight grin. I was too sleepy to talk.
A little while later my doctor, Dr. Joseph Bovari of Atlanta, came in the room. He explained to me and my parents that surgery had went well, with no complications. However, he told us that he did have to remove my appendix due to the mass growing into it, and also the majority of my ovary.
I stayed at the hospital for a long, boring week. My favorite time of the day was when my “friend”, the physical therapist nurse with long dread locks and a thick Jamaican accent, would come get me to go walking. He would walk with me up and down the hallways, making sure I didn’t fall. I walked hunched over, with my walker like a grandma for the first few days. Each day I got better and better at walking, and was able to go further and further. I’ll never forget that

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