No Turning Back

I was called by my NP at 9:44am on a Friday.  I stepped out of the charge meeting to take the call.  She wanted to know if I was okay hearing news that was not good at work.  As soon as she said that, I knew what was coming.  Ovarian Cancer...the silent killer...bloating the hidden sign, my mind was racing trying to grasp my worst case scenario since realizing the bloating I had been experiencing was not going away...since being asked by a colleague the week before if I was okay.

My NP had gotten me in quickly, ordered all the labwork and Abdominal CT STAT.  She was calling to report the results she had been given.  I told her I was in the best place to hear this kind of news.  The James Cancer Hospital, the place I had worked since I was 20 years old.  She said it appeared to be Ovarian Cancer and she wanted me to go to the Emergency Department since I had so much fluid in my abdomen and a little in my lung.  I thanked her and told her I had it from here.  I knew so many people and they would take care of me.  I work with the BEST people!!

It was going to be easier to finish my obligations at work until the next Charge Nurse arrived, than it was for me to face what I had just been told.  I went to my managers office and told her what was going on, asking her to start the process of what I needed.  Maybe an inpatient bed but most importantly a GYN Oncologist.  She tried to get me to pause and let someone else take over sooner but it was so much easier to run the OR for another hour than it was accepting how my life was going to be flipped upside down.

In the next hour, my NP put in my STAT GYN ONC consult, I was scheduled for surgery the following Monday at 7:30am, I reported off to the next Charge Nurse, who would ensure I had ALL the best people to care for me on Monday and I was walked over to see my GYN ONC.  We went over every possible scenario, which I knew since I had been involved in these surgeries since 1997.  Just had to get some blood drawn and then I had to break the news to my family and friends.  My plan was in place and EVERYONE knows Jenn Gall LOVES a good PLAN!!