|
|
| Thursday, September 2, 2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
Marketplace
|
|
Sections
|
|
Service Center
|
|
 |
|
Ovarian cancer: On the road to recovery
Published May 4, 2010
Kathy Stewart said she didn’t look like what most people think a cancer patient would —she didn’t feel sick all the time or vomit constantly.
In fact, she said, she worked full time throughout the time she was receiving chemotherapy treatments for ovarian cancer.
“I’m just think by the grace of God I was able to do as well as I did,” said Stewart, who has worked at Alacare since 1993.
Stewart was diagnosed with stage 111, grade C ovarian cancer in November 2008. She said that on October 29, 2008, she had been feeling sick at work and decided to see her family physician, Dr. Andrew White in Scottsboro.
“The doctor told me that it might be the stomach flu, but that he did not want to rule out my gall bladder,” she said. “He sent me to the hospital the next morning to have an ultrasound of my gallbladder done.”
After the ultrasound, Stewart had to have a CT scan, which showed a large ovarian mass. She later saw her gynecologist, who told Stewart — a wife and mother of two — that she probably had ovarian cancer. Stewart, having had appointments with a Dr. Joseph Kelly, a gynecological oncologist with the Clearview Cancer Institute in Huntsville, underwent an abdominal hysterectomy and gallbladder removal surgery on November 11, 2008.
Stewart was formally diagnosed with ovarian cancer and began a course of chemotherapy that included the drugs Taxol and carboplatin, as well as a study drug for which she had enrolled in a clinical trial.
A year and a half later, Stewart has completed her treatments — she had her last chemo treatment Friday, April 23 — and will have a followup scan tomorrow.
Stewart said she will have to check in periodically with her doctors to make sure she's still doing well.
"I feel so blessed because I'm doing pretty good, so let's hope the scans say I am," Stewart said.
Share |
Save |
Mail |
Print |
Comment
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|