Beyond Being a Best Friend

It was August of 2010,  a little over a year since finishing treatment for my recurrence.  My husband and I started talking about getting a dog. Our son had taken his hound dog, Murphy back to graduate school with him. 

For us it was a bit risky. Taking on a puppy being just one year out of treatment for my recurrence made me a bit nervous. If I had to go back into treatment was that fair to the dog. I had recurred two years after finishing initial treatment for ovarian cancer and the science said if I might recurred it most likely would be sooner. I really didn't know what the future held but we decided to give dog ownership another try. 

Once we decided to adopt, we visited the ASPCA in the next county. I wanted a Cavalier King Charles size dog. My husband was open to any medium sized dog and we both knew we wanted a dog with a long nose. Our two prior dogs were a Boston  Terrier and a Pug. 

We found a smaller hound dog named Kelsey and asked to spend some time with her. We went into the play yard and played catch. She sat when I said sit.  She seemed to be a fun and well tempered dog. When we said we wanted to adopt her, we were told we could not because we did not have a fenced in yard. We live in a 55+ community and not allowed to fence our property. They said sorry. We said we were retired and could walk her multiple times a day. They said sorry we can't allow you to adopt her. We were disappointed to say the least. 

The next month on a Sunday we decided to go for a ride with no actual destination in mine. We would pick a different road to travel down to explore the area around our home. We didn't know that we would be finding our new best friend that day. 

We came home from that road trip with a new dog, complete with a longer nose and floppy ears. We were told she was a  a lab /beagle mix. We named her Amber because of the Amber areas on her white body.  Little did I know how important a role Amber was to play in my life after cancer.

When we brought her to the local vet for an exam he was positive she was a Jack Russell Terrier mix.  He recommended that she go for obedience training at a local kennel that trains dogs and owners. The Vet also told us don't be surprised if her ears end up pointing up . And that is exactly what happened.

After the obedience class, we were given the opportunity to try out some agility equipment. Amber loved the tunnel - she ran right in . Then she jumped on the table. ( Yes, this is allowed in agility.) Those moves changed her life and mine. 

We started to train to do agility. What fun we had. No one there knew I was a cancer survivor until years later. These classes allowed me to do something totally unrelated to my cancer diagnosis. It gave me time to not worry about a recurrence or think about cancer. Instead I was worrying about if Amber cleared the jump or made contact at the end of the A frame. We registered Amber with the AKC as a All-American Dog. Her full AKC title was Amber of Ashton. After she was measured (18"), we were able to compete.  

Oh what fun we had. We were no way as fast as those Border Collies but we were partners. I called her Ams and she kept me to my promise of cheese or hot dogs after running the course. We competed outside at horse parks and inside at sports arenas from Staten Island to Gloucester County, NJ. And we met lots of other amazing canines and their handlers. Friendships formed. We cheered on our friends who competed on the national level in agility at Westminster. 

 

She was my confidant. I could tell her when I was worried about a test result and why I was sad. When ladies with ovarian cancer would ask me what I did when I had scanxiety ,waiting for CT or CA-125 test results, I would say I take my dog on a long walk. And that is exactly what I would do. When Nick had surgery she made me feel safe at night and that everything would be OK. She was the best listener.  

Then she developed a calcium issue cause by an enlarged parathyroid. We stopped competing for a bit after her surgery this happened to coincided with Covid. We competed a few times in 2021 and then she was diagnosed with Cushings Disease and we retired. ( She did achieve the AKC Excellent title in Jumps with Weaves.) 

Amber loved to  travel. We would put on her harness and she knew she was going for a ride in the car. She was welcome at family and friends homes across the country from PA to Kansas to North and South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.  She was a great traveling dog. 

 

We took lots of long walks around the town and then shorter ones around the neighborhood as she and I aged. 

She lost her mobility and her hearing, was having kidney and liver issues along with the Cushings. We had conversations with her vet about her health and quality of life. 

Yesterday, after 15+ years my husband and I said goodbye to our best friend. She was so much more than a pet. She was a special girl who helped me get through some rough times. I am heartbroken. 

But, I have wonderful memories of all our adventures in the rink and on the road.  She was good for my soul and my survivorship.  

I wrote about Amber a few times in my New Year Aspiration blog posts and when I discussed being grateful as well as this one about Parallels ( https://womenofteal.blogspot.com/2022/07/parallels-in-life.html ) 

 

Dee 

Every Day is a Blessing! 

Hello 2026!

We are one week into the New Year. I hope my readers have had a good start to 2026. 

Through the years I have always started my year off with a blog post of aspirations for the New Year. Those who know me know that I don't make resolutions. This way when things don't work out I don't have to be hard on myself. 

 But this year I'm going to try something a bit different. I am going to aspire to only one thing - to be "present". That's it. I have found myself rushing around, getting interrupted by a text or a call ( which usually isn't urgent)  or letting myself be sucked down the rabbit hole of social media - be it on Facebook or X or Pinterest or Instagram. Then I wonder why I feel stressed about having so much to do. 

So what does this being "present" look like for me?

I am going to focus on what I am doing at the time I am doing it. 

When I am playing pickleball, I will focus on my play not what I will be doing later that day. 

When I am walking Amber I will concentrate on my time with her. Checking on nature and listening to the sounds around me.  Not checking my phone. 

When I am reading I will try not to be distracted. Not always easy when Nick is watching TV in the same room. 

When I am speaking to friends and family,  I will keep my phone in my pocket on silence. 

When I set aside time to do my art, I will turn on some music and try to place all the other things I have to do out of my mind. And if I mess up a painting ( those watercolors mix so easily if I am not patient) so be it.  No harm in trying again. 

When I am focusing on growing in my faith - I will find a quiet spot and work on the bible study that I am doing or pray. 

When I am working on my advocacy work I will concentrate on the task at hand - reviewing grants or sharing new research results on X or Instagram. ( This one will be difficult. I start reading posts from the the organizations or people I follow on X and find myself to scrolling.  Bam ... 20 minutes go by and I've shared one post about ovarian cancer. 

When I am doing volunteer work with my local historical society, I will try to focus on my roles. 

So you might wonder how those aspirations for 2025 work out. I was pretty successful at most of them although in my cancer advocacy work I did accept a position on the State's Survivorship Workgroup and no surprise,  I still have not visited Maine. But there is always this year.  

 Wishing everyone a Happy and Healthy 2026! May your presence light up the world. 

 Dee

Every Day is a Blessing!  

 

 

Friendships, Joy and an Anniversary

Past December posts have included photos and stories about the ornaments on my tree. This year there are three new additions and they each bring their own story.  

This year's Mount Vernon ornament is of George Washington kneeling in prayer. Over the course of 2025, I have said many prayers for friends and family members. Those Prayers were not always answered.  Over the past few days,  the losses I experienced break through the festivities and happy times and tinge it with sadness. 

The next ornament was from a friend of 30+ years. This time of year, the value of those long time friendships means so much. This friend came from a time before cancer and has remained by my side when I was diagnosed and is still part of my life's journey today.  It sounds cliche' but those friendships are a blessing. 

Since my cancer recurrence I moved to a small  55+ community. The move 15 years ago has brought new people into my life. These neighbors have become friends. We go out to dinner regularly,  we play pickleball and hang out at the pool and laugh and share our reviews of the new restaurants in town. They haven't walked my entire cancer cancer journey but they have added a sparkle and joy to my life. One of these new friends gave me the ornament you see below.

 

I hope that your friends, old and new, will bring you JOY this holiday season. 

On December 30th, I celebrate the 18th Anniversary of this blog. I am not as consistent now as I was during the first ten years of blogging to post but please stick around! In the new year, I'll be writing posts on newly approved FDA drugs for treating ovarian cancer, antibody drug conjugates currently in clinical trials and the importance of biomarkers and genetic testing in cancer patients. 

Wishing you all a Happy and Healthy New Year. See you in 2026!

 

Dee

Every Day is a Blessing!  

Finding our WAZE

I haven't written a blog post in quite some time. It seems that life got in the way of my writing. Then, once I had time,  I couldn't seem to find the spark to get me writing, until yesterday. 

We were heading out to an appointment and set up Carplay to use Waze on the built in screen in my husband's car. That got me thinking about how I found my way to different places when I first learned how to drive. This was many years ago, so what follows might not make much sense to some of my readers and for others - yes, we are that old! 

I would ask my Dad for one of his ESSO road maps.  I'd look up the street coordinates and using  the rows and columns, find my destination. Then I would plan my route. I'd usually write down the directions -  Take Route 22 till Route 82 and go north etc. I would bring those notes in the car with me and off I went. I tried to gauge how long it would take based on how far away my destination was. If there was road work I'd just have to hope they had detour signs telling me where to go. And if there was traffic, I'd just sit in it. I wouldn't take other roads because I wasn't sure if they would take me closer or further from destination. 

Yesterday process for directions was different. We plugged in the address in the app and the screen in the car  highlighted our route in blue on a map as a voice gave us directions. The screen showed us our speed and our arrival time. As we drove, I saw so many other Waze users ( cute little icons)close to our route. Most were getting on or off the NJ Turnpike. Then the app gave us notifications about two cars on the shoulder of the road. These notifications came way before we even saw the vehicles. This happens because other Waze users tell the app they just passed a disabled car on the shoulder or they saw a police car.  The app also told us how far it was to our next turn. And soon it told us we had arrived at our destination on the right. 

Now you might ask why am I talking about directions and traffic alert applications.  What did this have to do with cancer? Over the past 20 years, I have gone from reading books about ovarian cancer, seeing brochures about peer support programs in my gyn oncs office and looking at flyers about support groups on the bulletin board in the waiting room. Just like using a paper map to find a location. 

Today, I read published journal articles about ovarian cancer online the day they are published.  I interact with fellow survivors and health care professionals on various social media platforms from Inspire and Smart Patients to Facebook, X and BlueSky. The ability to find support and information online is like those fellow Waze drivers giving me an update of traffic ahead. Those drivers have already experienced the traffic accident and can warn me of what lies ahead. Just as there are fellow cancer survivors who can act as a "driver" to tell me what side effects to expect when in chemo, what it is like being in a clinical trial or how important it is to have genetic testing.  

I know we do have cancer centers and organizations that offer resources and support such as  OCRA, FWC, SHARE, FORCE, Cancer Hope Network, and others. But are those resources readily available to all women with a gynecologic cancer as easily as those drivers on Waze can warn me of cars on the shoulder?  Or are women turning to AI or Dr Google to find answers?   We all know that some sources can be misleading and offer solutions that may even be harmful. 

So lets all make an effort to have information available for women diagnosed with gyn cancers and make sure that information is from reliable and accurate sources.  We can help "drive " and support the experience of women with cancer. 

 

Dee 

Every Day is a Blessing  

 

 

 

#GCAM Diagnosis and Types and Stages of Ovarian Cancer

I spoke about how there are symptoms of ovarian cancer( gloating, freq urination etc) in my previous post. What happens when you go to your gynecologist or primary care physician with these symptoms? Your doctor may image your pelvis with an ultrasound. If something is abnormal you may have a CT or MRI. You also may have a blood test for a protein in the blood called CA-125. The marker is raised in most serous ovarian cancers ( I'll discuss the types a little later in the post) but it may not be elevated  in other types . It can  also be elevated if the women is still menstruating which is why the CA-125 is not used as a screening test for ovarian cancer. The Foundation for Women's Cancer has an informative book on CA-125 ( https://foundationforwomenscancer.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/FWC_CA-125-Levels-Your-Guide.pdf )

If these test come back abnormal it is important to see a specially trained gynecologic oncologist. Studies show that survival rates for women treated by a gyn onc are higher than those who have treatment.   

Staging OC 

It is important to know if the cancer has spread from the ovaries to other areas of the pelvis or abdomen. Two organizations the  International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics and the AJCC  (American Joint Committee on Cancer) have systems for staging called the FIGO and TNM staging systems.  Both look at the size of tumors,  Lymph node involvement and spread beyond the ovaries. 

The stage is determined by the amount of spread and size of  tumors. 

 Below is a diagram of the stages from FWC. 

 Types of OC 

 The most common type of ovarian cancer ( 85%) is Epithelial ovarian cancer. The develop on the Fallopian tubes or on the surface cells of the ovaries. These epithelial cancers can be from mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes. Epithelial ovarian cancer can be high grade or low grade. Knowing the difference provided information to develop the best treatment. There are a number of histological ( structure at the cell level) subtypes of epithelial ovarian carcinomas :

Serous - most common type may be high grade or low grade 

Endometriod 

Clear Cell

Mucinous

Transitional Cell  

 

Germ cell cancers make up about 5% of OC diagnosis. Germ cell cancers start in cells that are found in the follicles or eggs in the ovary. Usually adolescents or young women develop this disease.   

Teratoma

Dysgerminoma

Immature Teratoma

Yolk Sac tumors 

Mix germ cell tumors 

Sex cord- Stromal Cell Cancers develop in the cells that produce female hormones ( such as estrogen). 

It is important when treating ovarian cancers that information about the histology, molecular structures and morphology be considered. 

 

Next week I'll share resources on Treatments. 

 

 

Dee

Every Day is a Blessing!  

  

 

Sources https://foundationforwomenscancer.org/gynecologic-cancers/gynecologic-cancer-types/ovarian-cancer-primary-peritoneal/ 

https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/ovarian-cancer/detection-diagnosis-staging/staging.html

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8774015/ 

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/6186-ovarian-germ-cell-tumors 

https://www.mskcc.org/pediatrics/cancer-care/types/germ-cell-tumors-sex-cord-tumors

#GCAM Ovarian Cancer Risk Factors

Since there is no screening test for ovarian cancer understanding your risk for the disease is important. 

Family history is a strong risk factor for being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. 

Does your family - mother, sibling or daughter have ovarian cancer?  According to the American Cancer Society your risk is 4 times the general population. If your mother, sister or daughter has been diagnosed with breast cancer your risk is increased by 70%. This increased risk is due to mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. If you are of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry you have a 1 in 40 chance of having a BRCA1 mutation placing you at risk for ovarian cancer and breast cancer. There are a number of online resources that can help you have that conversation with relatives about family history. The CDC has an app My Family Health Portrait: Cancer app you can use to collect family history.

Other risk factors for ovarian cancer include:

Lynch Syndrome ( 12% lifetime risk of ovarian cancer)  

Your history of other cancers( breast, uterine, colorectal) 

Your history of endometriosis ( Associated with Low-grade serous carcinoma, Clear cell carcinoma, Mucinous carcinoma, Endometrioid carcinoma)

Age ( the median age of diagnosis is 63)

Early menstruation, no childbirth,  child birth after 30 , no oral contraceptive use  and infertility 

Obesity

  

We may not be able to prevent cancer but there are ways to reduce your risk of ovarian cancer? 

If you use oral contraceptives for five years you can reduce your risk by 50%. Multiple pregnancies ( ovulating less)  and pregnancy before 26 years old can also reduce your risk. 

Another way to reduce risk is to have your Fallopian tubes removed. Many High grade serous ovarian cancers originates in the Fallopian tubes.  The surgery to remove the Fallopian tubes when done during another gynecologic surgery such as a hysterectomy is called opportunistic salpinectomy. This surgery leaves the ovaries intact. 

For women with a BRCA1 or 2 genetic mutations risk can be reduced by having a  bilateral  salpingo-oopherectomy where the fallopian tubes and ovaries are removed surgically. Primary peritoneal cancer may still occur after this surgery but it is rare. 

Sources : https://ocrahope.org/for-patients/prevention-risk/ , https://www.cancer.org , https://www.basser.org/brca/brca-ashkenazi-jewish-community

 In my next post I'll talk about diagnosis and types of ovarian cancer. 

 Dee

Every Day is a Blessing! 

#GCAM Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer

I follow the Foundation for Women's Cancer and loved the design of this graphic for #GCAM. I would change the hashtag #ASKHER to #ASKME. 

 

 

There is NO screening test for ovarian cancer. That is why it is so important for women to know the symptoms of the disease. If these symptoms last more than 2 weeks please see your gynecologist. 

bloating, 

urinary symptoms (urgency or frequency), 

pelvic or abdominal pain,

 difficulty eating or feeling full quickly

Mentioning the pain I was having on the left side of my pelvis to my gynecologist during my annual exam made a difference in my life. I thought it was nothing - a pulled muscle maybe. But she knew it didn't sound right and she sent me for a transvaginal ultrasound.  I was on my was to a diagnosis. 

Next post will be about Family History and Risk Factors for Ovarian Cancer. 

Dee

Every Day is a Blessing!