MY DIAGNOSIS I Was Blindsided by Cancer

After just one week of unusual symptoms, this journalist received a shocking diagnosis.

- BY JENNIFER GARAM

On a warm day seven years ago, I was walking home from my coworking space in New York City when all of a sudden I was overcome with chills.

I had been feeling totally fine until that moment, but the chills were followed by a string of strange symptoms—within a few days I became so bloated that my belly button popped out like a pregnant woman's, and I had abdominal pain so bad that when I stood up at work to go to the bathroom, I had to put both hands down on the table to brace myself.

After a week of bloating and pain, I went to urgent care. The provider there told me it was probably just gastritis or colitis. He prescribed medication to manage my symptoms and told me to come back in three days if I didn’t feel better.

But when I woke up the next morning, I noticed something alarming—I had wet the bed overnight. My mind started racing. I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew this was not normal. I called urgent care, and they told me I needed to get a CT scan right away. Fighting a rising feeling of panic, I called my mom. “What should I do?” I asked. I worked as an editor for a women’s lifestyle site and had a day off from work later that week. I wanted to wait until then for the scan.

“No,” my mom urged. “Go today.”

A TERRIFYING DIAGNOSIS

So I went to the radiology facility to get my CT scan and then back to urgent care to await the results. A doctor I hadn't met before told me the scan showed multiple indicators of ovarian cancer—I needed to go to the emergency room immediately. I started to cry, and the doctor left the room to give me some privacy. A few minutes later, a nurse came in. “I thought you might not want to be alone,” she said. As my thoughts raced out of control and I wiped away tears, I was glad for her company.