Kay Dee Cole

March 2017

My cancer journey started like so many others. It was a complete surprise. My life had gone through some major changes and I had just opened my own financial planning firm in 2010. My husband and I had never had children; we tried but I had been diagnosed with PCOS at a young age and kids were not in our future. We both worked hard and had our own businesses. We live in Corvallis; life was not slowing down and neither were we.

In November 2012, I scheduled an appointment with my OB GYN to ask about some pain I felt in my abdomen. I was 46 years old and didn’t think too much of it. Looking back, I realized that the bloating, cramps, and pain near my ovaries wasn’t normal. Later, the doctors told me I had a tumor that was the size of a nerf football.

Just before I scheduled the appointment, I had bent over to tie my shoes and got a sharp pain where my ovaries were. I thought to myself “that’s not good.” When I went to bed that night, my belly was bloated and firm, another symptom that didn’t seem right. My pants were getting tighter although I wasn’t really gaining weight. After my appointment, my doctor was concerned about what she discovered. She said that it felt like there was a mass in my abdomen and ordered a CT scan right away.

Five days later when I went back to see her, she immediately referred me to a specialist in Portland, a gynecological oncologist – I knew then it wasn’t good. She said we needed to remove the tumor and that a specialist needed to perform the surgery in case it was cancerous. She already knew my CA-125 reading was 941 but I didn’t realize the significance of that number until later.

We scheduled surgery for a date just after Thanksgiving and I knew I’d better enjoy the holiday as much as I could. My mother and husband traveled with me from Corvallis to Portland. Waiting was much harder on them as the surgery took longer than expected. When I came out of surgery and was in the recovery room, I could hear the nurses talking about what they had taken out of me, including my appendix. In addition to having a complete hysterectomy, my new gynecologic oncologist explained that they had to take extra time to scrape little cancer pieces off my organs. The pieces looked like grains of rice. I learned later that I had ovarian cancer Stage IIIC.

I began chemotherapy December 17th; the plan was six 21-day cycles with a port near my chest (for IV therapy) and another one near my abdomen (for IP, or intraperitoneal therapy). This was the most aggressive treatment at the time and consisted of a combination of Taxol and Cisplatin.

That first chemo treatment was a very long day, as we traveled up from Corvallis and I didn’t get home until 9 p.m. I was still recovering from surgery and when you have chemo in your abdomen you are full of liquid for days. I didn’t have much appetite and I learned to eat things without a lot of texture or spice. “Smooth Move” tea also became a life saver for me. You never realize how you take your bodily functions for granted.

Life settled into a routine of chemo for two weeks with one week off; some of my appetite would return during my off week. My joints were always sore and I slept a lot. The most traumatic thing was losing my hair. I had been warned it would most likely happen and so I got a short haircut. But I remember one night being so distraught because there was hair everywhere, that I grabbed the hair clippers and had my husband shave my head. We got to laughing about it and I felt empowered that I took the hair off instead of it just falling out. I remember looking in the mirror and thinking “who is that person?”

It wasn’t until a few years later that I realized how bad I had felt, but at the time it was just a routine part of the day. You learn to cope and you learn to take one day at a time.

I continued to work during this time. Some days I could last an hour or two and other days I could work longer. I met with new potential clients and although some didn’t become actual clients, those that did have been loyal clients ever since. I was brutally honest with all of my clients and gave them updates. They gave me the strength and support I needed to get through a very rough time.

My family rallied, and friends surrounded me. I valued every one of those relationships and realized how we need to educate others about how to deal with someone going through cancer. Many were too scared to ask questions or just assumed I wouldn’t want to talk about it.

April 8th, 2013 marked my last cancer treatment. I had the ports removed a month later, although it took a while for my hair to grow back. It took another couple of years to get my energy back and the feeling in my feet back. The nerve damage in my fingers and feet was the most surprising.

Today I am four years out and cancer free. I have not had a recurrence, and am finally feeling normal and healthy. I’ve started exercising and keeping my mind and body in shape. Life is precious and I am enjoying it as much as possible.