Ovarian cancer is very difficult to diagnose.
Symptoms can be confused with other less life-threatening illnesses and usually don’t present until after the cancer is in its advanced stages. For example, I had a friend in nursing school who was very promiscuous. Despite rules forbidding visitors in the dorms after 9 PM, this sistah always found a way to sneak men into her dorm room at night.
The next morning in class, she regaled us with graphic details of her nightly romps with men. In our final year, her stories took on an ominous tone. She complained of sharp pain during sex, spotting and vague lower back pain. She attributed her heavy menstrual bleeding to her fibroids.
In our final year, she was diagnosed with aggressive ovarian cancer, and she passed away a few months after we graduated.
She was only 21-years-old.
Ovarian cancer is very difficult to diagnose in its early stages because there are usually no symptoms. Ovarian cancer is almost always difficult to treat once diagnosed.
94% of women diagnosed early live longer than five years, according to the American Cancer Society.
For more info on ovarian cancer, visit Cancer.org.
This has been your Medical Minute.
