My Fibroid Tumor Symptoms

One day between Thanksgiving and Christmas 2010, I looked at myself in the mirror as I was getting dressed and I turned sideways to look at my stomach and it was still there...smiles....but I had a thought run through my head.  I looked a little bit larger in my upper stomach, between the ribs.  Didn't think much of it, although it puzzled me.  For the past year, I had been having heavier periods, especially the first two days.  I would have pretty heavy bloodclots.  Seemed like each period would get a little worse as far as heaviness of the bleeding and clots, and I had pretty bad cramping too.  Still, I thought it was because I had been off of the pill for a couple years and that at my age, 43, I was probably just headed toward the change of life.  I was told by a friend, that yeah, it was probably perimenopause.  I had never really heard that term before, but I ran home and searched it online.  I guess that's what it could be, I thought.  I had been really tired alot though.  I started having to take naps almost daily.  I felt bad about doing that since I am a mom and my two boys, 11 and 4 need my attention.  But, it wasn't a choice.  If I didn't take a nap, I just couldn't go on and I would get a bit grouchy.  The boys were awesome though.  They would play and stay quiet so I could get an hour or two of rest.  Finally, in February 2011, right after Valentine's Day, I had my period but this time was definitely different.  I made it through the few days of agonizing pains and bleeding, but the bloodclots were so bad that it was scary.  I won't go into anymore detail, but I thought...am I bleeding to death?  I got through it and when normally after my period, I would lose the water weight and bloating, but this time, I got bigger and not just in a subtle way.  I thought, what is going on here?  But, I went back to school the next day where I am a supervisor of elementary school children and that same day, one of my fifth graders that's in my son's class, said, Miss Sandy, are you giving birth?  And she touched my stomach.  I said, no, it's just fat.  I knew right then that what I had been thinking in the back of my mind had to be true.  Something was definitely wrong.  I hadn't seen a doctor in about 2 or 3 years because I had lost my health insurance.  But, this time, I knew I had to see one.  I made an appointment at Planned Parenthood because I knew they would use the sliding scale and charge me according to my wages.  Well, as soon as I was examined by a nurse practitioner, she said to me that she could feel something there and that my uterus was a bit enlarged.  But she said, until we have an ultrasound, it will be hard to know for sure what it is.  She said, I am going to make you an appointment with a gynocologist that I know and they will also charge you based on your income and then he can order the ultrasound.  But, before I left, she said, do you mind if we do a CA125 blood test on you?  I said, what is that?  And she said, it is a test that is associated with ovarian cancer.  I almost fell off my chair!  I said, what?  I was clueless to any of this.  She said, I'm not saying that it is, but I would like to get a base line on you just to see where you are.  I said, OK.  I went home in total disbelief and shock to say the least and I waited and prayed.  At this point I looked about 5 months pregnant.  That's how much my stomach grew in just a few days time.  When I got in to see the gynocologist, he had the same grim look on his face and said definitely we need to schedule an ultrasound and they did another CA125 test.  At Planned Parenthood, the results of that test were 96.  The normal reading should be 30 or below.  Just two weeks later at the new doctor, the test came back 176.  This however, is not a positive reading for ovarian cancer, but it was an indication that something was wrong for sure.  I came in a couple days later and while on the table having my ultrasound, the technician said, do you mind if I get my supervisor in here?  She also had that look on her face.  They finished and never said one way or the other what they thought.  But the results showed numerous little nodules, or cysts all over my left ovary.  When the doctor consulted with me, he said I can't be sure this is cancer, but it's a possibility.  He said you are going to have to have a hysterectomy for sure, but he said, if I open you up and it's cancer, I will be of no service to you.  He said, I know a very good cancer surgeon and if this is indeed cancer, he is the best.  I walked out of that office and was numb with the possibility.  All I could think about was my little boys.  A few days later, I went to my appointment at the hospital.