Julie's Surgery/Battle for Health

Hello! My name is Julie Saechao, and this is probably one of the hardest things I've ever had to do so please pass no judgments and provide good vibes only. I'm going to start off by saying that it took a lot of encouragement, reassurance, and convincing by my closest family and friends for me to finally give in and seek financial help. I have always been a very private person when it came to my health so in joining the GoFundMe campaign, I knew all of that was about to change. But, with my pride aside I am here today to ask for help in any able way and this is my story.

On Wednesday, March 13th, 2019, I had yet, another surgery..
December 2016: My fight started back in 2016 when I was sent to the emergency room for severe abdominal pain. After several ultrasounds and lab tests, my suspected diagnosis was a left ovarian cyst; 'a condition where fluid-filled sacs form inside/on the ovary.' I was advised by the ER doctors and specialist that this was very common for woman and would go away on its own. 


May-December 2017: Well, that just wasn't the case for me. After several months of bearing the ongoing pain and not being able to afford hospital visits, constant doctor's office copays, or meeting my insurance plan deductibles, I had no other choice but to cope. The pain grew stronger and stronger as time passed until late December 2017, I found myself curled up in a fetal position on an exam bed at the clinic I work at, in tears wondering, “WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!”

January 2018: January 18th a follow up ultrasound confirmed that the "suspected cyst" had grew almost three times its original size and was taking up most of the space in my abdominal cavity. This caused excruciating pain and was pressing against my nearby organs. I was then also showing signs of endometriosis; 'a condition where the tissue that makes up the uterine lining (the lining of the womb) is present on other organs inside your body, outside of the uterus' but there was no way of confirming this without a laparoscopic procedure which was going to be performed to remove the abdominal mass. January 22nd, I met with an OBGYN. He tried to reassure me that I was going to be okay but after discussing all the possible routes my surgery could go, he stated, "we need to schedule for an urgent laparoscopic procedure for my next OR day." Two days later, January 24th, was surgery day. My surgeon confirmed that the procedure went well and only had to remove my left ovary. He explained that I did indeed have a major case of endometriosis, but he was able to cauterize most of it. He was being very conservative with my treatment considering my age of 24 and knowing that I wanted to try to have more children. (Already have 1 healthy 9 year old) With the endometriosis only aggressive on my left side, a full hysterectomy was not warranted at that time. A couple hours after being in recovery, I was admitted to the hospital for “routine surveillance”. I found a nurse coming in to draw my blood about every 1-2 hours, but I was too drowsy from the procedure to let it bother me. January 25th, the next morning my surgeon came to visit me in the hospital. I asked him if he visited all his patients the day after surgery and he said not usually but he was nearby. At that point something didn’t feel right but I was so focused on recovering and wanted to go home. January 26th, I was finally going home! After passing all the discharge requirements, I was so ready to be out of the hospital. Recovery was rough but I managed. 


February 2018: Post-Op follow up appointment! Eager to find out the results of the pathology and being so happy that this thing was finally out of me, I didn’t really think much coming into this appointment. I was officially pain free for the first time in a long time and that was all that mattered to me. Then quickly after being called back, I realized that my appointment wasn’t going to be what I expected. My doctor had a look on his face and approached the conversation with, “should we start with the good news or the bad news?” Immediately, my heart sank. I started to panic and felt the warm sweats forming in my palm. I went with the bad news first thinking that the good new can make up for it… He reported that the mass was complex and was a huge endometrioma but also contain some characteristic of cancerous cells. “WHAT THE HECK?! I HAVE CANCER?!” was my immediate outburst followed by LOTS OF TEARS!! I knew my life was not going to be the same after this.

March-April 2018: As if grieving this news wasn’t enough, my insurance changed through employment and I was not able to pay the out of pocket cost to keep seeing my current specialist. I was left in the dark without any answers. I didn't know whether or not I had cancer! This was a very emotional stage for me as I waited until the new insurance kicked in and was able to meet with a new doctor that was contracted with my new plan. At my first consultation, I had a million questions. My specialist now was an OBGYN that specialized in oncology as well. Final pathology results were discussed, details of the procedure were relayed, and treatment plans of chemo was next in line.


May-September 2018: I had my chemo treatments and was doing okay. Luckily, I was only doing half doses so not all my grown cells were affected. Things were great and this became my new normal. Then after October, I became very sick.

October 2018-January 2019: Month after month I picked up a new virus. I was not able to continue the scheduled treatment, so we continued to monitor my labs. Results were stable and looked great and after recovering from a hard winter, I started feeling good again. I had my energy back and didn’t look so sick anymore.

January-February 2019: Abnormal womanly symptoms presented. My cycles were out of wack and things started to pick back up again, FAST! I was dealing with a different kind of abdominal pain with very irregularly spaced cycles even being on birth control. I met with my PCP and was encouraged to have my follow up scans and ultrasound. Imaging confirmed that another mass has formed. Once again, I had to wait for my new insurance to kick in.

March 2019: March 4, I met with my Gyn-oncologist and was advise, another surgery was needed at this time. March 13th Surgery #2. Everything went well and I got to go home that very same day. After almost a week of recovery, March 19, 2019, pathology results confirmed that my treatments are far from over. After struggling to make ends meet after last year’s surgery, even though I was working full-time, had medical insurance, and supporting a child, I decided to reach out to the world to see if any help can be provided because honestly, EVERY LITTLE BIT is going to help.  This includes payers, happy thoughts, and motivation! :) Thank you all very much for hearing my story. My fight is not over yet!