Survivor Story: Misty Worrell
In July of 2015 I was at work on a Saturday afternoon at the Freedom Over Texas event in Houston. I’m a 26 year paramedic who decided five years ago to get off the ambulance and move “behind a desk”. I followed my dream and wound up working in Emergency Management for a contractor of the state of Texas.
I surround myself with medical professionals so naturally, when I complained of calf pain we all joked “oh it’s a DVT” or blood clot. I’d had a complaint of frequent urination for about a month but it was not consistent.
A year prior I had been experiencing abdominal pain and was diagnosed with IBS, and have had a history of heavy menstruation and PMS, so I was taking natural supplements to help with my symptoms. On July 4th while at work, I started my period. I was starled as it was not expected, but with all the crazy history of abnormal periods, I decided it wasn’t a concern. It lasted three days and ended like it normally did.
On Monday, July 6th I woke up with intense leg and foot pain and shortness of breath. My husband, also a Paramedic, and I decided it was time to go to the ER. I was diagnosed with unexplained blood clots, one on the leg and one in the lung that had since been absorbed. I was referred to a vascular specialist whom I saw often for the next two weeks. During one of my visits, I complained that my other leg was beginning to hurt, and we discovered another blood clot in that leg. I was sent for a CT of the chest and it showed multiple blood clots in each lung and a small pleural effusion. So at this point, I figured I was just a seemingly healthy 48 year old with blood clots. On this same day, barely two weeks after my period just stopped, it started it again- but this time, it was extremely different. I had blood clots larger than my fists and filled up overnight pads in just a couple of hours around the clock.
My vascular specialist asked me to go to my OB/gyn to make sure it was okay for me to be placed on blood thinners, and so I did. I almost passed out in her office and for some reason, I looked as if I was six months pregnant. In addition to extreme bloating, I couldn’t eat but was gaining weight, and looked extremely sick. What was going on? What was the problem? No one could tell me.
My gynecologist was given all of my recent history of frequent urgency to urinate, blood clots, bleeding, bloating, unable to eat much, pleural effusion, and general fatigue. She told me it was most likely my ovaries not liking a steroid injection I’d gotten a month before and reacting by causing all these issues. I didn’t like the answer and asked for an ultrasound. She told me to schedule one but it wouldn’t be for another two weeks. I knew something was wrong, I was just too sick to figure it out. I was approved for blood thinners and that was all she wrote! After four days of being on them, I began bleeding so severely that I was bleeding to death. I ended up in the ER again and had two doctors assess me; one was an Emergency Department, physician the other an on-call gynecologist. She was not horribly concerned, but thankfully, my ED physician was. He ordered a transvaginal ultrasound, and found a 6 inch mass on my ovary. I was actually relieved, now I knew. No panic, no fear, just a deep sigh of relief.
I was transferred by ambulance to another hospital in the system and referred to gynecological oncologist, Christene Lee. She scheduled an emergency hysterectomy to stop the bleeding and figure out what all was happening in my abdomen.
I had 8 units of blood, 16 FFP’s, and was released after a few complications.
My diagnosis was stage 3c endometrioid ovarian cancer. I suffered flash pulmonary edema, some less than favorable complications from my effusion and an early start of chemo.
During treatment I developed a very rare reaction to chemo that caused my heart rate to stay elevated, called POTS Syndrome. I was treated for it and was able to be weaned from the medication within three months of completing treatment- for which I’m extremely thankful for.
I was laid off from my job, lost my insurance, and lost our primary source of income as I was the bread winner of my family.
Since treatment ended, the emotional ‘what-if’s’ have taken on an all new life of their own, but I recently woke up and realized “I’m here, I’m alive, and I have to be happy”.
In an effort to pay it forward, a 2-year survivor friend and I met and decided to do something with this experience and created a Facebook support group. This group has now morphed into the only in-person support group for ovarian cancer in the Houston area (outside of MD Anderson Cancer Center). We were asked by Memorial Hermann The Canopy to spearhead the group and our first meeting was appropriately in September, during Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month!
I can’t even describe what happened in that meeting, but I’ll tell you this, God was moving. Together, we will all make Ovarian Cancer awareness a thing…a big thing. This disease is crazy, but we are going to calm that crazy and hopefully help women listen to their bodies and help those who are fighting the fight, who’ve fought the fight, and their caretakers know they’re NOT alone.