I celebrated a milestone birthday in Mexico with my boyfriend Rob in early 2020. Shortly after we got home to Cape May County, I started feeling sick. I had abdominal pain, a fever, trouble eating, and overall, felt really awful.
I encourage patients to get care if something doesn’t feel right. Following my own advice, I went to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center’s (ARMC) Emergency Department (ED). I thought I had a severe case of food poisoning or that I’d picked up a viral illness on vacation.
The Emergency team found a blood clot in my spleen and admitted me to the hospital. Loreta Garretson, M.D., hematology oncologist, AtlantiCare’s Cancer Care Institute, was among the team members who evaluated me.
Nothing in my symptoms, history or diagnostic work up to that point explained why I had developed the clot. Dr. Garretson told me before I left the hospital, “We know cancer can cause these clots, but none of your tests have detected it. It’s a warning sign. We need to watch you closely.”
About two months later, I developed post-menopausal bleeding. Dr. Garretson ordered additional scans. They showed a cyst on one of my ovaries that wasn’t large enough to signal a problem or warrant removing. Dr. Garretson recommended I see my gynecologist and have additional testing. An ultrasound showed the cyst had grown slightly, but was still too small to consider removing. Six weeks later another ultrasound showed the cyst had grown and appeared to be taking on its own blood supply. I knew this meant possible cancer.
Dr. Garretson said, “This is what I was concerned about.”
“The day before my surgery Rob, gave me a ring promising he’d be by my side regardless of the outcome. He told me, “We’ve got this!”
I had robotic gynecologic surgery at ARMC to remove my ovaries, fallopian tubes, uterus, and cervix. Robin Wilson-Smith, D.O., my AtlantiCare gynecologic oncologist recommended this approach to reduce my risk of ovarian, uterine, endometrial, cervical and other cancers.
Biopsy results showed I had stage IIB ovarian cancer and I soon would have developed uterine cancer.
I chose to have my treatments at the AtlantiCare Cancer Care Institute’s Cape May Court House location. This beautiful, patient-centered facility is one of two of AtlantiCare’s outpatient cancer care sites – the other’s in Egg Harbor Township – where I care for patients. It’s closest to my Cape May County home.
I started my chemotherapy treatment the Monday after Thanksgiving of 2020 and finished in March, 2021. I was back to working beside our team in April that year.
Since then I’ve continued to celebrate patients’ survival stories, and to experience and share so many of my own. Rob proposed to me on New Year’s Day 2021 while I was in the middle of treatment. I welcomed a grandson in November, 2022. I married Rob this year. Also this year, Rob and I joined in celebrating the 10th anniversary of the opening of our Cancer Care Institute’s Cape May Court House location.
I’m grateful to be among patients sharing their stories through the AtlantiCare Foundation Healing Arts Program’s Where Hope Grows survivorship exhibit. The portraits in our Cape May Court House location feature patients holding something dear to them. Of course, I chose to hold my grandson Jameson!
Dr. Garretson watched me with this gut feeling that came to fruition. She saved my life. Because of her and my AtlantiCare team, I’m riding the wave of my life, with Rob, Jameson, my children and my new extended family. Rob’s three boys and eight grandchildren are now mine, too! My crew is nearly as expansive as the beautiful beaches we love to enjoy together.
I’ve been part of the AtlantiCare team for seven years. I wish I’d started my career here. The standards we have, and the care we provide are better than anything I’ve experienced in my 31 years as a nurse. I can attest to this professionally, and now personally as a patient. Getting to care is critical.
Be proactive. Talk with your primary, OB/GYN and other care providers about your personal and family history and risk factors and the preventive care and screenings you need. Having a close family member including your mother, sister, aunt or grandmother who had ovarian cancer is one risk factor.
Talk openly. I was always told that my paternal grandmother died of lung cancer. My grandfather quietly told me years later that my grandmother had a “female” cancer. I knew her sister – my great aunt – had died of ovarian cancer later in her life. I suspect that my grandmother might have had it as well.
Seek care. Alert your healthcare provider to any changes in your health. If I’d dismissed my original pain, I might not be sharing this live-saving advice with you.
September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. Eve joined AtlantiCare as an infusion nurse in 2016 in the Cancer Care Institute’s Cape May Court House and Egg Harbor Township locations. Now AtlantiCare’s breast nurse navigator, she works with her AtlantiCare team to coordinate care and support for breast cancer patients and their families.
She also leads AtlantiCare’s breast cancer support groups. Now more than two years past her chemotherapy, Eve continues to see Dr. Garretson and other members of her care team for follow-up appointments, to care for AtlantiCare’s patients, and to promote the importance of early detection and treatment of all cancers.
For more information, visit atlanticare.org or call 1-888-569-1000.
