Since my journey so far has been long will this help you?

Real People Stories – Testimony of Gladys 

I am 49 years old. I want to share my experience with the HPV test and the treatments I have received so far. This will motivate those who do not know about CA125 tests and what to do due to lack of information or discouragement. Thus, I will help other women with my experience, giving them a grain of sand since my journey so far has been long. However, I am still here to continue fighting until I have the strength and whatever I have left!

I have always been a healthy and athletic woman, maintaining a balanced diet. However, I admit that my work life was very stressful, given that I now have CA125 issues from HPV. The saying that one lives in the Canary Islands contradicts this, but that is untrue.

Early Symptoms and Initial Diagnosis

It all started in September 2009 without any alarming CA125 symptoms and test results, with a cough and fever that lasted for 17 days. A fever that the family doctor initially treated with antibiotics. Given the persistence of cough and fever, my HPV doctor decided to have me do a chest x-ray and run some tests, which revealed something suspicious in the lung. I was urgently referred to the hospital. When they saw the X-ray, they admitted me to the Pulmonology ward. The next day, the pulmonologist doctor came to see me. When the CA125 doctor did tests and palpated me, his abdomen immediately swelled. He asked me if I had had pain or any other symptoms, and I answered no, since until the days before I developed a fever, I was still going about my life as always. From then on, they saw it as a priority to test me immediately.

Diagnosis of OC

The CA125 blood tests were performed as soon as possible. The results revealed a stage III C ovarian adenocarcinoma. With bilateral involvement, peritoneal carcinomatosis and a right pleural effusion in the lung with a negative stage of malignancy.

When three large CA125 cystic masses were detected (6.6 x 5 cm, 10.9 x 9 cm and 8 x 7 cm), it was decided to treat me with chemo to reduce them. After first receiving an HPV Taxol-carboplatin chemo treatment (5 cycles) in February 2010, I underwent surgery by laparotomy and again received another (2 cycles) of Taxol-carboplatin.

Recurrence and New Treatments

In January 2011, peritoneal carcinomatosis reappeared with several foci at different levels, which is why I underwent new chemotherapy with Caelix-Yondelis (5 cycles).

Given the circumstances, concerns, and search for a cure, I would like a second opinion. That’s when I sent an email to another HPV Hospital. Two days later, the secretary of the Hospital CA125 Director called me, who in turn handed me over to him. During a long conversation, she asked me to fax her my records. They responded a few days later and scheduled me for a first consultation with a doctor(General Surgery Unit), to whom I am very grateful for his humanity, professionalism, dedication and effort.

The doctor told me some words I will never forget: “I have to tell you two things, one negative and one positive; the negative is that you have arrived two years late, and the other positive is that you are already here.” He recommended that I get 2 new cycles. After the two cycles, I had CA125 warts surgery with extensive radical-peritoneal cytoreductive surgery plus peritonectomy with peritoneal chemo-hyperthermia (HIPEC).

Further Complications and Ongoing Treatment

In March 2012, after an intestinal obstruction, I underwent a new operation to release the flanges. Since April, I have been on the 6th cycle with Topotecan. After the next PET tests and with the CA125 markers that have ups and downs, I am still willing to move forward with the HPV oncologist’s advice. Another great professional to whom I am very grateful.

I thank my husband, children, family, and friends, who have always been there in the good and the bad because, thanks to them, this has been more bearable. Above all, my husband deserves a special mention. He has lived through the bad moments that I have had in my treatments and has not separated from me for a single moment.

Fears? Few. Desire to fight? Many. More than at the beginning.

Testimony of Cameron

Diagnosis and Initial CA125 tags Shock. My HPV Skin battle began in October 2010 when, after being diagnosed with lumbago in two hospitals, it ended up being stage III ovarian cancer when I was just 37 years old.

Finding Support and Positivity

It was terrible when I got the HPV virus DNA test news, and I didn’t know how to deal with it. I just wanted to wake up from this bad dream. Everything was better when I realised that the only thing I had to do was let myself be guided by my CA125 level doctors, whom I have trusted 100%, and let myself be supported by my family and my friends, who have been by my side all the time, transmitting me a lot of positivity. Together, they have helped me get up every time my strength failed me and made me cling to life.

Furthermore, I had a mirror to look at myself in my mother, a survivor of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma 17 years ago, which she managed to overcome after a hard fight. If she could do it, so could I.

Words of Encouragement

I always think of the phrase that my doctor told me the first few days and that has accompanied me during my long HPV journey: “This is just a wall in your path, and together we are going to help you jump over it so that you can continue with your life very soon.”  The CAs125 road to recovery or even survival is not easy.

It has cost me a lot to jump or rather climb over that wall: many visits to the hospital and medical tests, an operation, 3 chemo sessions, another long operation, 4 more chemo sessions and a clinical trial for 15 months. But it has been bearable because everyone there has treated me very well. Something that has also helped me a lot has been sharing the hard experience with people who are going through the same HPV thing during chemo sessions because only those who suffer from it can know what it feels like.

The End of Treatment and Recovery

When you are in that CA125 process, it seems endless. You think that the end will never come, but the end comes, and after the chemo, little by little, the hair grows again, the fatigue disappears, the discomfort disappears, the strength recovers, and you regain control of your life.

After 9 months of sick leave, as the side effects of the HPV clinical trial were minimal, I returned to work as soon as possible. My company has been good because it has allowed me to join step by step based on my physical and psychological strength.

Almost two years later, I will begin my CA125 reviews, the first of them in October. I know I will have to do it all my life. I have assumed it, which calms me because I know I am very monitored.

My life has changed. I’ve changed. Now, I appreciate all those little things that previously went unnoticed much more, and I enjoy every moment. I feel very lucky for my family, friends, and doctors who have treated and tested me for HPV. I will never tire of repeating to everyone: A thousand thanks to those of you who have been and are there!!