'I knew there was something wrong with my body'

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

(HealthDay News) -- The horse was bucking, but Pam Faerber had been riding for years, long enough to know that some pain came with the pursuit.

But the ache in her back, that was unusual. Terrible. Excruciating.

She'd felt bad for several months. Tired all the time and bloated. Pain on her right side every time she made love. Terrific back pain with any strenuous activity.

"I knew there was something different," Faerber said. "I knew there was something wrong with my body."

That was 14 years ago, when she was 44. She went to a doctor, but he initially thought it was a symptom of premenopause. Two months later, however, holding onto that bucking horse during a country ride, Faerber knew it was something more than just her body preparing for menopause.

"By the next day, I couldn't hardly sit or walk," she said. So, she went back to her doctor, convinced she was suffering from appendicitis, even though she didn't know any of the symptoms of that condition.

Her doctor ran blood tests, performed a vaginal ultrasound -- and found a large mass around her right ovary. Ovarian cancer.

"I thought, 'Well, I'll be dead in two years,' " Faerber said.”Everyone I'd known who had cancer, you go through surgery, get chemotherapy, lose your hair, look ugly and die. That's how I figured it always happened."

But her doctor suggested a gynecological oncologist for her surgery, instead of an obstetrician/gynecologist.

The surgery revealed cancer in both ovaries, as well as a tumor outside her right ovary. That tumor was the cause of her pain. A hysterectomy was done, and, afterward, she went through six rounds of chemotherapy.

"I was really blessed," Faerber said. "They'd just introduced some new anti-nausea drugs that worked great during the chemo."

Faerber was blessed in other ways, too.

Even though the cancer had spread, doctors told her it was still in its early stages. The pain in her right ovary helped save her life by alerting her quickly to the problem.

Now 58 and living in Indianapolis , Faerber said she feels an obligation to help other women facing ovarian cancer.

She helped co-found the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance, a network of ovarian cancer groups that has worked to promote ovarian cancer education, policy and research issues.

"My hope now is, we can get physicians to react quickly to symptoms, like my doctor did," Faerber said.

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