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If it wasn¡¯t for my daughter¡¯s dog, I might never have found out that I had ovarian cancer. And if it wasn¡¯t for MD Anderson, I might not still be here today.

Here¡¯s my story.

My ovarian cancer symptoms

I was walking my daughter¡¯s 65-pound Rottweiler last May, when the dog suddenly jumped up and knocked me to the ground. The left side of my body was numb when I stood up, but I didn¡¯t seem to be hurt, so I shook it off and kept going. Ten days later, I broke out in an excruciating rash in that same area. It was so painful that I went to an emergency room. I was diagnosed with shingles.

The ER doctor prescribed a pain reliever and an antiviral medication. It took eight weeks for the rash to disappear. After it was gone, I noticed a painful lump on the left side of my abdomen. I thought maybe I¡¯d injured myself in the fall after all, so I found a surgeon in my network and made an appointment.

When I saw the surgeon a few days later, he said I probably had a hernia, but he¡¯d set up a CT scan just to be sure. He called me a few hours after the scan and said I needed to come in right away for the results. I had no idea what was going on, but I did what he said.

The surgeon told me that I had bilateral ovarian cancer. My ovaries were huge on both sides. I asked him what I should do. He recommended getting my affairs in order. As big as my tumors were, he didn¡¯t think any treatment could help me. That¡¯s when I knew I had to get to MD Anderson.

My ovarian cancer diagnosis

I¡¯m originally from Louisiana, but I¡¯ve lived in Houston for a while now. And MD Anderson is considered the place to go for cancer treatment. Everyone knows someone who¡¯s been treated there. So, I called and made an appointment. saw me within a week. The first thing she did was perform her own scans to confirm my diagnosis.

It turned out that though my tumors were large, they hadn¡¯t spread very much, so my ovarian cancer was only considered to be stage IIb. But I did have the high-grade serous kind, which is an aggressive, fast-growing form of the disease. I needed surgery right away.

My ovarian cancer treatment

Dr. Taylor performed the eight-hour surgery to remove my tumors on Sept. 11, 2018. The one on my left ovary was about the size of a softball, and the one on my right ovary was the size of a volleyball. In addition to my ovaries, she removed my fallopian tubes, my uterus, and 16 nearby lymph nodes. She also removed a fatty layer in the abdomen called the omentum, and a part of the peritoneum, a membrane in the abdominal cavity.

Amazingly, the cancer had not spread to any of the 16 lymph nodes Dr. Taylor removed. So three weeks after surgery, I started chemotherapy. I had six rounds of carboplatin and paclitaxel. They were administered by IV every two weeks. I finished my last round on Jan. 23, 2019. And other than nausea and hair loss, I haven¡¯t had any major side effects.

There¡¯s always hope

Before meeting Dr. Taylor, I didn¡¯t think I would live much longer. But she assured me that there¡¯s always hope. And here I am today, cancer-free.

I thank God every day for my daughter¡¯s dog now. Every time I see her, I give that dog a bone. I thank God for MD Anderson, too. Because there is hope here. And without that, what do you have?

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