{"id":150,"date":"2013-04-08T23:32:49","date_gmt":"2013-04-09T07:32:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chrisbledy.com\/?page_id=150"},"modified":"2013-04-08T23:42:33","modified_gmt":"2013-04-09T07:42:33","slug":"ovarian-cancer","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisbledy.com\/ovarian-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"Ovarian Cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ovarian Cancer<\/a>
Telling Your Children<\/a>
Video<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>Every 35 minutes a woman loses her life to ovarian cancer. It is the deadliest of all gynecologic cancers. In fact ovarian cancer kills more women than all gynecologic cancers combined. What\u2019s most upsetting about this is the fact that ovarian cancer has about a 90% cure rate when it is detected early! Yet less than 15% of women know the symptoms and over 80% have never had a conversation with their doctor about this disease. I was one of those women.<\/p>\n

My story is typical of most women diagnosed with this disease. The only thing that is not typical is I am here to tell it. I am a survivor of late stage and recurring ovarian cancer. My surgeries were extreme, going far beyond the usual radical hysterectomy. To say that I\u2019m alive against all odds is putting it mildly. I started this journey in January 2000, over ten years ago. Since that time, not much has changed. Year after year, I look at statistics that for the most part, remain stagnant.<\/p>\n

Over 75% of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer are in the late stages of the disease, where survival rates are too depressing to even discuss. When I was diagnosed I was angry and wanted to know why no one had ever talked to me about this disease. It\u2019s NOT rare! In the United States 1 in 55 women will be diagnosed with this disease and worldwide about 1 in 70. It\u2019s time to break the silence.<\/p>\n

Ovarian cancer is called \u2018The Silent Killer\u2019<\/em> because it isn\u2019t usually detected until it has reached the advanced stages. There is no early detection test and women have long said they had no symptoms. Like most women, I thought a good result on my Pap test meant there\u2019s no gynecologic cancer. However, that is not true. My Pap results were normal even though I had late stage ovarian cancer. The Pap smear only tests for cervical cancer, not ovarian. Also, it is not true that there are no symptoms. I thought I didn\u2019t have any symptoms until I looked back and realized I did have several on the list. The problem is the symptoms were so vague I didn\u2019t give them a second thought. The new mantra for ovarian cancer advocates is \u201cIt Whispers – So listen!\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

Ovarian cancer symptoms tend to be non-specific and can mimic other conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome or even aging.\u00a0 Because of this, symptoms are often ignored.<\/p>\n

Symptoms Include:<\/strong><\/p>\n