WOMEN WITH OVARIAN CANCER IN ELCH TELL HOW DIFFICULT IT IS TO DETECT THE DISEASE
He 80% of women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer is in advanced stage of the disease (stages III and IV) when the probability of survival drops to 30%. Diffuse symptoms that may be confused with intestinal diseases, and the fact that the disease is not suspected in primary health care, and that scheduled tests In gynecology, these tumors are usually undetected and are the main factors causing patients to spend months trying to find the problem while it continues to get worse.
This is what several victims from Elche, who have been fighting for many years with a disease that can to your face again, even after removal. This type of cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecological cancer and it is the sixth most common type among women. In Spain, some are diagnosed 3600 annual cases, which represents 5.1% of cancer cases are in women.
Cases in Elche
In Elche, the Vinalopo unit, managed by the Ribera Salud group, treated 24 patients over the past year, while the General Hospital sees an average of 16 patients a year. Ten years ago, this health department became a pioneer at national level in the province of Alicante, including a unit dedicated to surgery and chemotherapy peritoneal carcinomatosis, that is, dissemination or spread of ovarian cancer, colorectal cancer and gastric cancer.
This Wednesday the city council held an institutional event dedicated to the memory of World Ovarian Cancer Day, anniversary, which has been promoted by 140 associations around the world since 2013. In Spain there is only one association (Asaco) dedicated to supporting people with this type of cancer, making it difficult to have a dedicated support network locally in cities like Elche.
Affected
Zoraida Lopez, visibly emotional, spoke yesterday as a spokesman for the growing group. A woman from Elche, a member of the aforementioned organization based in Madrid, spoke about her case and how her life was cut short on July 30, 2021, when they gave her first and last name as what she suffered. although in most cases diagnosis between 45 and 75 years, With an average age of around 61-63 years, younger cases like her, who were diagnosed at 34, or even teenagers who had already been diagnosed, are being identified.
“I could have been saved if I had been given a new course of chemotherapy Pipak”
Both she and the women who have experienced a similar situation urgently additional research to explore specific treatments, as many of them relapse because the disease is resistant to platinum-based drugs. “The bad thing about us is that the moment comes, as we say, we are evicted, that is, there is no longer any treatment,” she laments.
Because of this, they believe that the disease is still very invisible, so they are demanding awareness campaigns not only to ensure that women go to the doctor when they notice something strange, but also that specialists explore the described discomfort more deeply patients when they come for a consultation, so that in most cases it does not reach stages close to metastasis which significantly reduce life expectancy. If at stage I the cure can reach 95%, at stage II – 70%, and at stage III – it decreases to 30%.
Proof
At this stage, survivors emphasize the need to offer tests that can see the cancer, such as a tumor test, intravaginal ultrasound or CT scan, which shed light on what may seem unimportant.
“These are quite normal symptoms, such as bloating,pain lumbar and you can blame it on the fact that you made a bad move. This is what happened to her until she received news that changed her life.
Inma Mora, Health Advisor, and Celia Lastra, Social Action Advisor, extended the demands of those suffering from the disease to the entire corporation and said it was important. “give birth to” because although it is not a very common cancer, since for example breast cancer the number of new cases in recent years has exceeded 32,000, according to the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology, it is one of the leading causes of death.
Juani Molina Garcia, 54, has had ovarian cancer surgery twice in the past five years. He will never forget that second Easter Monday, when the intense pain he attributed to a urinary tract infection continued. After passing PEC TAS When a tumor was discovered, doctors decided to operate. The disease was already in an advanced stage, despite the fact that she was under constant medical supervision, during which the tumor was never observed, even a year before she also had to undergo surgery for fibroids.
Surgery and chemotherapy technology in one operating room against ovarian cancer
“I went to the emergency room and they made me analytics but I might need a CT scan,” he says. The last bad news was reported in 2023 when malignant cells They went into the small intestine and forced part of it to be cut off, “which meant more chemotherapy, which I finished in December.”
Inconvenience
Maria Mondejar Hernandez, 70 years old, was diagnosed ten years ago. At first I felt discomfort in the bladder area. After undergoing a cytology test, he was told there was “nothing malignant” until he started bleeding.
And then it began travel of specialists until they had to intervene and remove her ovaries and uterus. Five years later, he had a relapse again, so he again underwent cancer treatment and now, with no trace of the disease, has to undergo six-monthly check-ups.
The story of Angeles Sánchez Montalvo also shares misunderstanding of the disease who knocks on the door without warning, just like others. The former patient, 63 years old, first encountered the pathology two decades ago. She said they discovered a 12-centimeter tumor and she was operated on four times in total because her body continued to contain malignant cells that were resistant to treatment.
Treatment
Looking at the present, he notices that the treatment They increased efficiency and stopped being so aggressive, and that there were even treatments available that he could not access, such as brachytherapy.
In her case, she attributed the pain she felt to poor digestion, “because I have a very sweet tooth and I blamed it on eating too fast.” After going to the doctor to be prescribed syrup for his stomach pain, he learned that it was a tumor pressing on his intestines. According to medical professionals, since the ovary is a very small intra-abdominal organ, the cancer spreads expansively, affecting the entire abdominal cavity in a short period of time.
This woman from Elche, like previous women whom INFORMATION was able to contact, agrees that this was necessary for them. express what they felt and give a voice to the disease. It was for this reason that they all wanted to gather this Wednesday in Elche and with T-shirt with flowers, try to pave the way for those who will go through this process. They also miss that there is a big mobilization so that the disease is not seen as just another one so that the curve can be reversed and caught in time.
Montserrat de la Casa, 65, says she suddenly woke up one day with discomfort, as if you were on your period. At first he didn’t think much of it. Then sporadic bleeding began. Her health center referred her to the emergency maternity ward of Elche General Hospital, where she was diagnosed with a bleeding fibroid.
“But we see something different, we see something like a shadow,” the professionals told him. After countless tests, because the initial diagnosis was inconclusive, she was treated for ovarian cancer, undergoing four rounds of chemotherapy and 28 radiation treatments. She had surgery a year and a half ago, and she says she still feels “great.” She has to visit a gynecologist every four months for follow-up.