THE CHANGE I Never Saw Coming

The warmth began on my neck, just below my ears, and moved slowly upward. Soon heat emanated from my scalp, as if I'd eaten a hot pepper.

- BETH DREHER

My face was flushed-I couldn't see it, but I could feel it. Even the backs of my hands were moistened with sweat. My entire body felt oddly, uncomfortably and suddenly very warm.

If you're a "woman of a certain age," you'll recognize the telltale signs of a hot flash. But I was 24 and not at all sure what was going on. It was one of many unexpected things happening to my body around that time. By then, I was kind of taking it day by day.

Months before my first hot flash, I'd been feeling unusually bloated and crampy. At times I felt a sharp pain on the right side of my abdomen. Just two years removed from playing competitive college soccer, I was now too uncomfortable for even a slow jog. One doctor diagnosed me with IBS; another thought I had a UTI. None of them seemed all that concerned.

I, however, was. After a morning of particularly bothersome abdominal pain and built-up frustration, I went to urgent care. A doctor there performed an ultrasound, diagnosed me with ovarian cysts and prescribed birth control. Three months later, I was due at my gynecologist's office for a follow-up for the ovarian cyst diagnosis. I told her about my experience-I still felt bloated and had no appetite, and the birth control hadn't done much as far as I could tell - and she shuffled me into an exam room for another ultrasound.

Later, as we sat in her office, she explained that I had a large mass in my abdomen that had enveloped my ovaries-no doubt the cause of my symptoms. At first I felt a strange sense of relief: Finally, someone had acknowledged that something was wrong! But when she looped in an oncologist "as a precaution," my relief shifted mostly to denial: Surely it's nothing.

Less than a week later, doctors removed the mass (the size of a mini Nerf football, I was told), both ovaries and my appendix, which had gotten mixed up in it all. I was diagnosed with Stage IV ovarian cancer.