Hi everyone,
I have posted to this forum a few times now about cancer in the past year and unfortunately I am back for another post. The first post was about my skin cancer scare in which I had a mole removed in July of 2025. The second post was about the bowel cancer scare of October in which I had an urgent colonoscopy after a positive FIT test of >200. The third post was about my mum’s sudden diagnosis of metastatic lung cancer and finding out on Christmas Eve that she had less than weeks to live. My mum passed away on the 5th January 2026.
I have had problems with severe pelvic pain and other troubling symptoms such as nausea and bloating since around mid-September. My GP arranged an ultrasound which revealed a 9mm “haemorrhagic cyst” on my left ovary. I was told because it was so small and because haemorrhagic cysts go away after 8 weeks that I should be fine and I just have IBS. A rescan in 6 weeks was advised but I missed the scan because I was looking after my mum who was in the process of dying. I ended up having the repeat scan on the 13th January 2026.
6 days after the scan, I begin to experience severe abdominal pain on the lower RIGHT side of my abdomen. My partner had to carry me into A&E (in a different city to where I had my scan last week) at 3 in the morning where I was treated actually quite promptly because the A&E doctor thought it was appendicitis. I had another ultrasound scan which revealed not only had my left cyst got bigger but I now have one on my right ovary too!
The day after I got discharged from hospital I got a text from my GP asking me to ring them as soon as possible. The results of my scan on the 13th came back which indicated that I needed an MRI scan for the left ovarian “cystic lesion” to confirm the diagnosis of a “dermoid” cyst. No cyst on the right ovary was visible!
I get a call a week after, expecting the call to be about arranging an appointment to see the GP to organise the MRI scan, informing me that I’ve been referred to gynaecology under the Urgent Suspected Cancer pathway and to expect to hear from them in 2 weeks. The referral form stated the reason for the referral was “ultrasound was suggestive of ovarian cancer”. I had the Ca-125 blood test which has also come back elevated. I am now more frightened than I have been with any of my other scared.
I am beginning to grow very very sick of cancer being such a huge part of my life. I can’t quite express how indignant I feel about the whole situation. Not only is this my 3rd 2WW referral in a year, my mum unexpectedly died of cancer not even a month ago. I am 24 years old, already severely affected by my mental health, have just applied to university after being too ill with my mental health to go at the usual time, and now all of this is happening. I am not one to get caught up in my afflictions usually but this feels so, so bitterly unfair.
I apologise for the entire essay I seemed to have written but I wanted to get my thoughts and fears out without having to burden my already suffering loved ones. All I want is a hug from my mum.
