When I got diagnose

Before I was diagnose with cancer I participated in Seattle Marathon in November 2006. I joined Team in Training for Leukemia Lymphoma Society. I raised money for their cancer research, and at the same time this was a way of honoring my father who died of cancer. (Actually today is the day that the Seattle Marathon is being held.)

In May 1, 2007 I went to see a doctor because I woke up with a sharp pain on my pelvic which I thought was odd. She examined me and sent me to have a CT- Scan that morning and by afternoon she called my house to tell my husband that she thinks I have cancer and it metastasize to my lungs. My husband didn’t tell me until the next day.
After the initial shock wore off I immediately phone the oncologist office that my doctor recommended only to be told that he was on vacation and would not be able to see me for three weeks. Obviously three weeks was too long to wait for something this magnitude.

I called my employer to tell her the news not knowing how it would affect my employment with her. After consoling me she began making phone calls in hopes of helping me battle this illness and defeating it.
Within hours she phoned me back informing me she had talked to a specialist at Swedish hospital and that I was scheduled to see him the next day. After being examined by him and studying my CT-Scan I was diagnosed with Leiomyosarcoma and scheduled to have an operation the very next week.


I have never heard of a cancer such as this, and according to my doctor it is very rare only effecting 4 out of 1 million women. This was happening so fast that I had no time to think at all. I stayed at the hospital for four days. The recovery from the surgery was extremely painful. On May 25, 2007 I started chemotherapy. I was on Gemzar and Taxotere. After my first session with chemotherapy I was exhausted and felt so nauseated that the nausea drugs sometimes didn’t work. Two weeks later my hair started to fall off. I cried so much because reality began to sink in. I had a lot of emotional ups and downs.

I am incredibly grateful to my family especially my husband who is there for me through thick and thin, to all my good friends and last but not least my employer who’s my friend and my angel. She’s been incredibly supported to me and also very generous. I don’t know what I would do without her support. I thank her from the bottom of my heart.

Everyday is a challenge especially the side effects of the chemo drugs. I tried to fight every step of the way. I also try to be positive and look for a good thing, my situation could be worse, thank goodness that it was detected at the time that it did not do a lot of damage in my other organs.