Nearly every day someone asked Shannon Anderson when her baby was due. Every time she'd politely say she wasn't pregnant, and most of the time she wouldn't mention that the lump on her torso wasn't a baby — it was a tumor the size of a cantaloupe.
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Anderson didn't have a family history of ovarian cancer, and she certainly wasn't expecting her own diagnosis early this summer. The tumor grew quickly. She had given birth about a year before, and nothing showed up in ultrasounds or during childbirth.
"In those quiet times at night, when everybody else is sleeping, that's when things will get the best of me,” said Anderson, 34. "I would just have to remember God was in control and nothing takes Him by surprise. He was going to get me through it.”
September is National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. About one in 70 women will develop ovarian cancer during her lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society. Symptoms range from the obvious to the vague for ovarian cancer patients.
Anderson first noticed discomfort in her abdomen in early May. She was lying on her stomach, playing with her children on the floor, when she felt a bump. "It felt like I was lying on a rolled towel,” she said. The discomfort continued, and then Anderson began to need to use the bathroom more often. She thought she might be pregnant again.
She visited her doctor, who found the mass and referred her to a specialist.
"Even though I heard (the doctor) say, ‘It's just routine,' all I heard her say was ovarian cancer,” she said. "I immediately was thinking I don't know the mortality rate of ovarian cancer or if it's an easy cure or easy treatment. I didn't know anything about that, and I didn't want to know anything about it.”
But Anderson didn't have a choice. She had a hysterectomy July 7 to remove the 4½-pound mass from her abdomen. Luckily, the malignant cells were only found deep within the tumor, so the cancer hadn't had time to spread to the rest of her body.
"It's important for you to be in tune with your body,” Anderson said. "When you think there's something wrong, go to the doctor about it. If I had waited a lot longer, what would have happened?”
Anderson is in recovery now. She still gets tired easily sometimes, but she's fortunate her cancer treatment ended with her hysterectomy.
"Fortunately,” she said, "I have faith in God, and I just trusted in Him for peace.”
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More Info
What are the symptoms?
Ovarian cancer is difficult to detect, especially in the early stages. This is partly because these two small, almond shaped organs are deep within the abdominal cavity, one on each side of the uterus. Some of the potential signs and symptoms are:
•Pelvic or abdominal pain or discomfort
•Vague but persistent gastrointestinal upsets such as gas, nausea and indigestion
•Frequency and/or urgency of urination in the absence of an infection
•Unexplained weight gain or loss
•Pelvic and/or abdominal swelling, bloating and/or feeling of fullness
•Ongoing unusual fatigue
•Unexplained changes in bowel habits
Source: National Ovarian Cancer Coalition
More information
Call Amanda Andrews with the Central Oklahoma Chapter of the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition at 919-6611.
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Thank you for joining our conversations on NewsOK.com. We encourage your discussions but ask that you stay within the bounds of our terms and conditions. Please help us by reporting comments that violate these guidelines. To review our rules of engagement, go to Commenting and posting policy.
Leave a comment. Log in below or sign up (it's free).Editor's note: It is not our intent to offer comments on crime or fatality stories.