Vampire Bites

I suppose an explanation for my title would be a good start.

I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at 28, just one month shy of my 29th birthday and exactly 1 week after my son Tyson was born. While pregnant with Tyson my doctor discovered a cyst on my ovary that was the size of a golf ball (ovaries are typically the size of an almond... so you can imagine what this must have looked like). My doctor did a good job of preparing me for "worst-case-scenario" although I ignored half of what he said since "that-won't-happen-to-me"...

So, here I am a week later with my newborn in hand when the news was delivered that this "cyst" which we will now call a "tumor" tested positive for carcinoma. It was around this time I went into the twilight zone. The next few days I'm unsure of how I existed. I was sleep deprived from having a new born, I was recovering from having a c-section, and cried non-stop for the first 48 hours. I was a wreck.

Now it was time for choices and decisions to be made. I knew I would need surgery to find out what exactly we were dealing with. I first made my way up to Spokane to speak to an Oncologist specialist, long story short they wanted to make a huge incision down the middle of my torso.. that and my already c-section scar it would have looked like an anchor! I decided to search elsewhere.

We ended up with a great team of doctors in Seattle. The surgery was done robotically, which meant multiple little incisions instead of one long one. I now have 5 scars across my abdomen, 6 if you include the c-section and 7 if you include the mastitis (different story, different blog!).

I am now 12 weeks post-surgery. Wow are things different. I was examining my battle wounds in the mirror one day when I decided these "scars" actually looked like vampire bites. I know, lame. But I had to laugh at myself when I said it outloud (since I immediately thought of the Twilight saga in my head).

 It just sounds so much more glamorous!