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Name:
Tanya (tanya)

Member Since:
October 31, 2006

Location:
Portland, Maine

Birthday:
April 7, 1975

Type of Cancer:
Ovarian Cancer

Medical Term for the Type of Cancer:
Right Ovary: Atypical proliferative (borderline) serous tumor with multiple foci of invasive low grade serous carcinoma. Left Ovary: Same thing, just micro-invasive.

Diagnosis Date:
September 2006

Stage of Cancer:
Stage 1

Tumor Size:
07

Grade of Tumor:
Grade 1

Lymph Node Involvement:
No

Chemotherapy:
Taxol (chemical name: paclitaxel)

Profile:
Cancer Survivor

What I Hate Most About Cancer:
Waiting for test results!!

Cancer Symptoms:

None really, maybe a little bloating and abdominal pain. This is the scary thing about ovarian cancer; few women have any symptoms at all.

Surgery Description, Dates & Side Effects:

I’ve had 3 surgeries total. The 1st was laproscopic when they discovered I didn’t have endometriosis, what they originally thought I had. That’s when they discovered that the 2 huge tumors were either cancerous or pre-cancerous. On the 2nd surgery they removed the 2 tumors and managed to save my ovaries, but the patholgy sent to Johns Hopkins came back showing a 6 mm invasive carcinoma in my right ovary, and the left ovary had a micro-invasive tumor. On January 29th, 2007, I had a total ovarian hysterectomy.

Chemotherapy Description, Dates & Side Effects:

Paclitaxel(Taxol)/Carboplatin(Paraplatin) combination, intravenous, 4 treatments total, 3 weeks apart. My first treatment was Oct. 17th. The side effects weren’t been too horrible. Days 3-6 I felt really bad, but I never vomited! I just felt VERY weak, and VERY sick. I was so pale I scared myself in the mirror, and sometimes I felt so bad I couldn’t even talk. I had HORRIBLE constipation like never before, and I still have heartburn, which I never got before.

Hormone Therapy Description, Dates & Side Effects:

Bio-identical HRT in the form of transdermal creams: includes Bi-estrogen, Progesterone, and Testosterone…started March 2007.

No side effects to speak of so far! I highly recommend seeing a HRT specialist to look into bio-identical HRT. After reading “What your doctor may not tell you about menopause” I refuse to go on the “conventional” synthetic hormones most doctors prescribe.

Tanya's Cancer Blog

January 17, 2007

Ha! Contacted by local newspaper!! Views: 102

Yes! A reporter for the Tribune, the 2nd largest newspaper in Phoenix, contacted me just now and wants to run my story! She covers health related issues so already is very familiar with this. She’s coming over Friday to interview us! She’s going to call Health Net (suckers…) and also wants to interview my oncologist if she can. He’s super-cool and is really pissed off by all of this, so I bet he’ll do it.

Still working on the appeal, and I’ve contacted to az insurance dept and filed a complaint. Still not sure what’s going to happen, but that same super-cool oncologist isn’t charging me for my check-up next week, and thankfully my weekly blood tests only cost $60. Also, the hospital may be able to give me a substantial discount on the surgery as a worst case scenario.

I feel very empowered! A little nervous about being in the paper though!

Interesting article from the Los Angeles Times…

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-doctors27dec27,0,7180258.story?coll=la-home-business

Posted on January 17, 2007 at 1:41:34 PM by Tanya ( Link to this post.

Ha! Contacted by local newspaper!!, Post a comment.

6 comments)

Tanya – This is such GREAT news. I am so excited and proud that you have stood up for yourself and others who are having this problem. Please keep us posted on when the story will come out.

Posted on January 17, 2007 at 1:47:50 PM by jill

and when i mean “others that are having this problem”, I mean others being screwed over by health insurance companies. It makes me so mad that they are allowed to do this. How do they sleep at night?! Sorry to vent, but i am starting to get mad again. Cheers to you Tanya.

Posted on January 17, 2007 at 1:51:43 PM by jill

Hey Jill,

Don’t get too mad! My oncologist just called and said he’ll do the interview, which is GREAT. I know how much this sucks, and I can’t imagine how many people have been affected by it. I go from pissed to exhausted, but this news today gives me new strength and fueled the fire!

Posted on January 17, 2007 at 2:03:31 PM by tanya

You go girl! That sucks what they did to you but like you said they messed with the wrong person. Keep me posted

Posted on January 17, 2007 at 3:33:06 PM by Viviana (unverified)

GO TANYA!

Posted on January 17, 2007 at 5:06:58 PM by slockwooclimbs

Oh yeah, I’m doing the happy dance! This is great news. The fear of public exposure alone maybe enough to get the evil insurance company to back down. Hooray!

Posted on January 17, 2007 at 7:07:36 PM by hipgrandma

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