The last few years have been a difficult health journey for myself and my family. This January I will have to have surgery to remove a tumor and have an oncologist check for cancer. The main story began last year, I discovered I had an ovarian cyst that was large and would not go away. The doctor thought it was just a benign cyst and took it out during surgery last year. No extra precautions were taken because it was thought to be a regular large cyst. I had complications with my surgery and had two hematomas (I was in immense pain) and was also found to have endometriosis ( a continual condition). The Dr. called later that week and told me the tumor was borderline or low malignant (not cancerous, but abnormal). It had the potential to come back and a small percentage of these tumors turn into cancer. I had to take multiple weeks off of work, and as the recovery was complicated, I had doctor appointments and extra days off.

This winter, I was not feeling well and went in for an ultrasound, during which they found another likely borderline tumor. I will have another surgery in early January. The oncologist will check for cancer; we are hopeful it is just a borderline tumor and removing it and some other areas will take away the risk for cancer. The unknowns are hard.

The recovery for this surgery is around 6 weeks. I have a very active job working with young children and returning early before weight restrictions are lifted is just not doable. I will be out of sick time and my employer has no means of other staff sharing sick time for medical situations such as unexpected surgery. While some state paid leave will help cover some of my costs it will not cover all of it. Myself and my family thank you so much for any support you could help us with during this difficult time.