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Survival and Self-Care: Insights from an Ovarian Cancer Fighter · The Elsa Kurt Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Every year, 22,000 women get diagnosed with ovarian cancer and 14,000 women die from it.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: To put it in another startling way, one in 78 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: My own grandmother was one of those women, and last year, one of my closest friends was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Thankfully, she is here today, stronger than ever and cancer-free and ready to share her story.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: All right, so we're sitting here with Lynn from Infinity Med Spa, as promised, and we are talking about her cancer journey and all of the things that she's going to be sharing with us, about prevention, about recognition and about the inspiring, hopeful side of all of this, because it is a scary, scary subject.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: So, Lynn, thank you so much for doing this.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: This is such a big deal.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: It is a big deal, and thank you so much for doing this.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Help me spread the word during this time.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: So if you could take us back to that time, like before your diagnosis.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: What was going on?
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: If anything, that gave you an indication that something was up?
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: So it was during the summer months and I had a lot going on.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: So I just stopped my job, opening a new business, got all kinds of things going out of my mind, but what stands out in my mind the most is I remember thinking my stomach a little gassy, a little distension, I was going to the bathroom a little bit more.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: I thought, well, maybe I'm getting UTI and I was a little tired.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: But on the other hand it was summer, we get together more often.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Maybe we have maybe two cocktails instead of one.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: So that would be reason to use the bathroom a little bit more.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: And I remember thinking it's nothing, I'm busy, so take a little gasex.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: You take a little over the counter to help with your UTI symptoms.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: And just kind of left it.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: One notable symptom that I had, that I had some distension.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: So I never had where my stomach.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: I actually saw the bloating and I looked down and I laughed and I thought, oh my gosh, what did we eat?
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: So I'm going.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: Okay, I kind of watched that happened again, laughed about it and said and I'll talk to my doctor about it when I go see.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: So that was thinking back, but nothing that would make me call the doctor.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: And I think that's really probably the most important message to drive home here with this that it's these little things that we all experience, that we all feel at different times, and you know, not to be ringing the doom bell or anything and to make people fearful, but just to be aware, right, of your own body and what's normal for you and what's a little abnormal, because all of those symptoms are things that honestly I can tell you.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: I would just, you know, justify as something else and pass on.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: We all do, and as women especially, we have kids, we have jobs, we have grandchildren, we have so much on our plate.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: So these little minor irritants, really we're not going to stop and take the time.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: So you know when I think about it and the research that I've done and I talk to my patients when they come in and I talked to them and say, do you have a couple minutes?
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: I'd like to talk to you about ovarian cancer awareness.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: So being aware of our bodies is really the important, not just for ovarian cancer, but just aware, because our body will tell us if something's not right.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: So with ovarian cancer, those few symptoms and there are others.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: So I tell people in this day and age, with the computers and the internet, be mindful of what the symptoms are.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: It's so easy, but don't be afraid.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: You know, if you have those symptoms for greater than two weeks, make a call, call your doctor and say this is what's going on.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: I think we need to talk and that's absolutely what I think stops people.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: One, we just miss things because it's similar to how I felt at another time and all of those things.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: But then that secondary problem is fear.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: We get in that mindset and I can speak for myself and shame on me, of course, having had my grandmother who passed from ovarian cancer, and I still will dismiss things.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: But it is fear, a lot of it is fear, and I know there's so many women out there right now that can relate to this and you don't want to know because you're afraid to know.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: You're afraid of what happens next if the answer is cancer.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: Now tell me about.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Now.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: You have the worst case scenario.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: You went in and you weren't necessarily thinking anything and you get the news.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Take us from that point getting that news and what?
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: happened.
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: So I went.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: I was fortunate I had a physical scheduled already.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: Nothing, it was a year in advance.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: So we were talking and she said let's do a CA125, which is a cancer antigen, ovarian cancer antigen test.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: Then she said you know what?
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: Forget it, you're so helping.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: And at the end she said you know we're going to do this.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: She said let's add it, we'll get a baseline.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: She said but you're all set.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: And I never mentioned my symptoms, which is so funny Because I thought about it.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: She's like anything going on.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: I'm like no, I'm good, I'm good, everything's good, right, wow.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: And so I got home and I'm looking at my back yeah, this is good, this is good.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: And then I saw a slight elevation in it and my doctor called me and she said you know, it's not worry yet it's very low.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: Normally we seal ovarian cancer levels a little bit higher, but let's do an ultrasound just to be on the safe side.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: And two days later I had my ultrasound.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: And there it was, and one ovary looked very different.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: I like to equate it to people like you can read ultrasound.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: I said no, but it's like Sesame Street, you know, or this one and this one.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: So one was black, one was white.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Something's not right here.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: And you know, and, speaking of your medical background, you're a longtime nurse, so you know, in a sense you have, like that, one leg up because you know how to advocate for yourself.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: You know, you understand the medical terminology and what things mean, and I'm sure there's some downsides to that too.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: There are some downsides, I would imagine there's a bunch of downsides to that.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: But for women who don't have your background in the medical field, advocating for yourself is really difficult when you don't know the terminology, when you don't know.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: So what is the?
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: Tell me again the test that your doctor was wonderful enough to consider giving you, and why that one was important.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: So it's called the C125.
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: That's a cancer antigen test looking for ovarian cancer.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: The problem with that test is premenopausal women can be elevated and you can get a lot of false positives.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: And you can get it even postmenopausal If you have an illness or something's not right.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: But on the flip side it's a 15 minute ultrasound, you know.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: So if you do get a false positive you go in and they see the ultrasound.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: Either they see something or they don't.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: So I don't understand why we don't look for it.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: Why more doctors aren't ordering it?
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: Why we're not?
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: Why aren't we looking for it?
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: Right, yeah, and you know, you're very fortunate to have a doctor that is proactive and that did have that bit of intuition, and boy, oh boy, I hope there's a lot more doctors like that out there.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: But just in case you don't have one, in case you have one that is maybe a little dismissive but you do have to be a little proactive.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, absolutely so.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: Know your body is what I say.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: You know your body.
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: If you have symptoms greater than two weeks, make that phone call.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: And what I tell my patients when they come in now is when you get dismissed because they're so busy and it's so hard to come by an appointment and say, well, aren't these the early signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer?
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: Now we're on the ball field, Something's here, we need to look and make sure that it's okay.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: So then you go from there in the testing and you know let's be honest about you knew your grandmother had ovarian cancer, right?
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: I did not know my grandmother's history.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: I knew that she had breast cancer, but apparently she also had endometriosis, which is what I had, and my mom shared that with me during all of this.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: But back in that time our medical histories were private.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: We grandparents didn't talk about.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: Everything was fine, everything was good, Even my mother.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: They're very private, so we honestly don't know.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: So if the doctor does ask you, unless you pull out 100%, no, you don't know, right?
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: We don't know.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so important to pass that along, and I'm so glad that you actually brought up the endometriosis too, because that correct me if I'm wrong the type of ovarian cancer that you had is linked to the endometriosis, or Okay?
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: it is.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: So I have no genetic mutations.
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: Mine is from endometriosis.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: A lot of women have endometrial tissue.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: We know what that is.
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: It can be very painful, it bleeds, it's crampy.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: So, again, we're kind of used to those symptoms.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: But it does put you at increased risk and I've read anywhere from three to nine times greater increased risk of developing.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: What I have is clear cell carcinoma, so it is a very different.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: It's a rare type of ovarian cancer, so it was very frightening because it's like, okay, what do we do now?
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: Because we don't have a lot of statistics on it.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: Ovarian cancer is considered a silent killer and that's part of why we're talking about this right now, because it doesn't get the attention the way that you mentioned breast cancer.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: It does not get the attention that breast cancer does, and yet it is.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: I think the numbers were something like 14,000 women dying from ovarian cancer yearly.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: So that's a big number.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: That's a scary number and I think did you tell me that it was like one in 75?
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: So one in 78 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: Greater than 85% of these women that will be diagnosed in stage three and four.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: So that is a much different and that's why they call it the silent killer, because it's always found so late.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: Again, going back to advocating listening to our bodies, it is scary.
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: I've been there, I've been through it.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: I know it's scary, but would it be more scary, as if it wasn't found early?
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: So my prognosis is excellent right now About early stage one C1.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: I have everything to live for at this point and I feel healthy and I'm good and I have to mow my cancer free.
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: So it is really time to start spreading that awareness and talk to your mother, your sister, anybody with ovaries.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: We have to spread the word in potential, absolutely, absolutely.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: Now I know there's going to be people who are watching, women who are watching, and saying, okay, let's go.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Worst case scenario, let's go.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: Worst case scenario I have ovarian cancer.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: How am I going to feel?
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: What's going to happen to me All of those things?
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: And then the second scariest thing after hearing you have cancer is you have to have chemo.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: So what can you share about your experience with chemo that can help others navigate that part?
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: Sure.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: So when I first found out, yes, I was frightened and I'm pretty strong cookie, I'm pretty strong woman.
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: But it was frightening and it was very internal.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: It's a very personal journey and part of you know, telling my children, my grandchildren, my mother, my sister, my friends, my family incredibly hard.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: And somebody said to me I said, part of the hardest part of this was telling everybody I loved that I have what we all think is a death sentence.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: And you do, you hear ovarian cancer.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: You think, okay, well, I'm going to die.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: How do I prepare for this?
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: What do I need to do?
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: And I tell people that I love.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: And she said to me she said, lynn, it's not time for you to worry about how they are going to respond.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: They will all find their way.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: And they do find their way.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: And you have to concentrate on yourself and advocate for yourself Once you get over that.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: Now you've got this force field of people that you love all around you.
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: And I took the guy to the point with me that I had so many people that I was like, oh, I can't answer another phone call.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: I can't answer another text message.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: You're overwhelmed, but it just all lost your words.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: It was overwhelming.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: And then I had my surgery and I had to have chemo and I said, okay, found out right, everything about it.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: I said I do this scared to death.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: I walked on that chemo floor over at Yukon and the uncouch unit and I walked in and I just started sobbing and I'm like, oh no, this is real.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: This is real.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: I can't say enough wonderful things about the entire oncology team over at Yukon.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: They took something that was so frightening to me and so I didn't know how I was going to get through that first one and I left there with a smile on my face, which is incredible.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: You touched on something that I think is so, so important.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: You gave such a really important message.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: We, as women, we're nurturers, we're caretakers.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: We put others ahead of ourselves.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying that we're saints, I'm not saying that we're perfect.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: I mean pretty darn close to it, Sorry guys, we're mothers, we're mothers and your point to saying that you can't be responsible for how everyone else is taking your prognosis or your diagnosis and you have to focus on you know your part of it and they will find their way.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: And I think that's a really important message for women, because our role, you know, because our nature, is to protect everyone else and to insulate everyone else from scary things, and I think you could forget yourself a little bit in that.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: So I'm so glad that you said that.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: It's huge.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: Well, you know who said that.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: So a little shout out to Ellen.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: Thank you, ellen.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: Ellen, yeah, she's like Lynn, because when I told her I could barely form the words.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: Sure, I've known Ellen 56 years now Long time and she's like Lynn.
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: This is your time.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: And she is absolutely right.
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: She was right.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, so true, and it gave you.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: You were able to kind of regroup, right, yes, find your inner strength because you were able to.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: You weren't worried about everyone, you weren't focused on everyone else, you were able to focus on yourself and that ended up, in turn, becoming your way to actually be able to advocate for others and to educate, educate and advocate, which is, you know, so huge.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: And, and I have to say, you know Lynn won't tutor her own horn, but I'm going to tutor her.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: Lynn, you know, was doing this very early on, like you, really put this warrior mindset on very quick, which is, of course, not to say that you didn't or shouldn't have periods where you break down, because I think it's very healthy to have those moments to just let yourself fall apart.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: And it's healthy to let people help you.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not good at that, no right, but helping others cope with what I was going through, letting them help me, was a way to help them as well, which was interesting, right yeah.