Patricia Durham

Survivor

I am an Ovarian Cancer survivor of 25 years. How does one tell the story of your life when you've met death more than once in your life?

Now the biggest battle of all had to be fought, the big C. It wasn't fair, had I not already been through enough. At age 14 on Thanksgiving weekend in 1966, I was in a horrible auto accident. I was thrown 175 feet thru the windshield, and that saved my life. When the cars collided again, my best friend Donna Mullens was killed. It was her 16th birthday. I was in a body cast with broken pelvis, broken ribs, dislocated hip and in a coma. I was in traction, hospitalized for 3 months. I remember fighting death, God was not ready for me yet.

I met my husband, JT in December 1978. We fell deeply in love and were married on the 23rd. What a God send. He knew what was ahead of me and I would need a good, stand by your woman man. We had been married for one year when my husband and I decided to go through fertility studies to start a family. I had trouble ovulating in the past and had taken Clomid for six months before cysts formed and I had to stop. So at 26 yrs old, I knew time was ticking away. A fertility specialist was also coming to Wilson NC and it seemed the time was right. While going through an exam, the doctor thought I might have a tubal pregnancy. A sample was sent to UNC. The gyn exam really hurt, causing severe cramping and spotting that evening. The results were negative for pregnancy. I went in for another exam a couple of days later and my right ovary had a growth the size of an orange. Exploratory surgery had to be scheduled, but the Wilson Memorial Hospital was full with flu patients.

During the next few weeks of waiting for a bed, the left ovary developed a growth also. The right side was now close to the size of a grapefruit. I had really been feeling bloated with terrible indigestion, eating a bottle of Alka Seltzers or more a week prior to the growths. All I had ever wanted in this world was to be a wife and mother. Now I had to sign papers that during surgery if I had PID (Pelvic Inflammatory Disease), a hysterectomy would be performed and I would not be able to have children. Cancer was remotely mentioned. I knew if I woke up with just a band aid on my tummy, things would be fine, if covered with bandage, my world would fall apart. Well, my world fell apart that day, February 22, 1980. It was several days before I was told that I had Ovarian Cancer Stage 3 with less than 6 months to live. The doctor told my husband, JT that if I was his wife, he would pick me up and go to Duke. This was the only hope I had. If it had not been for this doctor insisting to find out what was wrong, the early detection of my cancer would have gone unchecked.

I went to the Morris Building at Duke where chemotherapy was began immediately. My hair dresser contacted Redken Labs to see if there was anything they could suggest so I would not lose my hair. You see, I am vain, my female workings were gone and I couldn't lose my hair too. It really seems foolish now, but Redken suggested that he remove all the weight off my hair and to try their men's shampoo for thinning hair. So my hair was cut as short as boy's hair. I cried each time my hair was cut and that was every six weeks. I also tried the shampoo. My hair got really thin, but I didn't have any bald spots. Maybe this might help someone out there.

I then had the honor of being the patient of Daniel L. Clarke-Pearson, MD in 1981. I also met the young John T. Soper, MD. Dr. Soper has had to put up with me since 1982. He's unbelievable. I have not always been a good patient. Radiation was given to the point that I can't have any more. A blood disease would develop. The P-32 was inserted into my abdomen. I was rotated all around, upside down. When I saw the x-ray screen, my stomach looked like a diamond field, sparkling all aglow. I made a joke with the radiologist that diamonds were my birthstone. I had surgery again in 1982 and 1984, when ten days later while still in the hospital, my small bowl collapsed. Ten feet of small intestine were removed. This was my fourth abdominal surgery. I do not know how many times I have been hospitalized with small bowl obstructions thru the years. I took chemo thru 1987. Pain was unbearable. I went to the Pain Clinic to learn how to cope with the pain, how to space my time, and most important how to say no to folks when I needed down time. I was unable to take their pain medication because it caused my bowl to obstruct. The last year I took those pain meds, I was hospitalized six times with obstructions. That was 1986. Dr. Soper said he would put off surgery until there was no other option. Finally, after ten years, in 1997 another 16" of bowl had to be removed. Dr. Soper said my insides were like a plate of spaghetti, all stuck together.. He did the 5th abdominal. The cancer is no longer present. My body has lost a lot of strength from these major surgeries, but my life wasn't to be battle free just yet. In 1999, I was DX with Lower Lumbar Disc Disease. I had spinal surgery with disc removed. In 2000, spinal fusion. 2001 a spur was removed from my right shoulder. Ten days later, I started to fall and caught onto the kitchen sink banging my shoulder onto the tile counter top, fracturing my right shoulder and tearing the biceps loose. A second shoulder surgery. In 2003, I had left knee replacement. This is possibly the best thing I have done even though again I was the youngest one there having this surgery. My knee is nearly pain free. Then in 2004 my rotator cuff was torn and surgery performed. Needless to say, I have had four years of Physical Therapy. I was then told I had to have shoulder replacement since the rotator cuff was completely gone.

Why? Why? Why me? Have I not lived right? I put the surgery off until July 28th this year. Dr. Moorman said any other person would had been in surgery before now. JT said he should know that I'm not any other person.

God isn't through with me yet. Maybe I can be an inspiration to someone. Maybe I can help in a small way. Maybe. Maybe. I pray so.