{"id":885485,"date":"2026-06-22T19:18:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T19:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/885485\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T19:18:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T19:18:14","slug":"ovarian-cancer-survivor-i-wish-id-gone-to-ut-md-anderson-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/885485\/","title":{"rendered":"Ovarian cancer survivor: \u2018I wish I\u2019d gone to UT MD Anderson first\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you\u2019ve just been diagnosed with cancer<\/a>, it\u2019s easy to just go along with whatever your doctor tells you. You\u2019re really scared<\/a>, you can\u2019t think straight and you don\u2019t know what to do. But if I could offer other newly diagnosed patients<\/a> just one piece of advice, it would be this:<\/p>\n

Take a minute to step back and really think about things for yourself. Then, take a few deep breaths<\/a>, and get a second opinion<\/a> from a hospital that specializes in cancer<\/a> \u2014 and treats you respectfully \u2014 before making any big decisions. You don\u2019t know how important this is.<\/p>\n

I wish someone had told me that back in April 2022, when I was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer<\/a>. My experiences at the first hospital I went to near my home in Boston were so terrible that I still have medical trauma-related PTSD to this day.<\/p>\n

I wish now that I had gone to UT MD Anderson first. My experience there has been really good, from start to finish.<\/p>\n

Making sure I got the best ovarian cancer care this time<\/b><\/p>\n

I made my initial appointment at UT MD Anderson in March 2025, after some abdominal scans<\/a> taken during a routine follow-up visit revealed an enlarged lymph node<\/a>. My doctor in Boston suspected an ovarian cancer recurrence<\/a>, but she wasn\u2019t sure if I should have a second surgery<\/a> or not.<\/p>\n

As a veterinary nurse, I\u2019m a very research<\/a>-driven person. I like facts and statistics. But I didn\u2019t feel like I had a chance to really look into that stuff after my original diagnosis<\/a>. I was so rattled back then that I just took whatever was given to me and didn\u2019t ask any questions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This time, I wanted to make sure I got the best. So, I searched for the No. 1 cancer hospital<\/a> online \u2014 and found UT MD Anderson.<\/p>\n

The best of both worlds at UT MD Anderson: compassion and expertise<\/b><\/p>\n

At UT MD Anderson, I met first with Dr. Alexandra Bercow<\/a>. She\u2019s a surgical oncologist who specializes in the treatment of gynecologic cancers<\/a>. After my previous experiences with other specialists, I felt pretty nervous. She turned out to be awesome.<\/p>\n

Some people don\u2019t have the greatest bedside manner, yet you know that they\u2019re really skilled doctors. At UT MD Anderson, I got the best of both worlds.<\/p>\n

Dr. Bercow is clearly super smart and an expert in her field \u2014 but she\u2019s also extremely compassionate and down-to-earth. She explained things in such a way that I felt really comfortable and reassured.<\/p>\n

A thoughtful approach to ovarian cancer treatment and a sympathetic ear<\/b><\/p>\n

After conducting her own examination and tests, Dr. Bercow said she believed I was having a relapse. She recommended surgery. Unfortunately, I still had one last consultation scheduled with a specialist near my home. I felt like it was too late to cancel that, so I went ahead with it.<\/p>\n

Big mistake.<\/p>\n

That visit was so horrific that I literally left the doctor\u2019s office in hysterics. I called Dr. Bercow because she\u2019d been so kind to me. I needed a sympathetic ear. She called me back personally and helped me settle down, then calmly laid out her own plan.<\/p>\n

She said that because this was most likely a recurrence, surgery was probably the best option. But she wanted to go in laparoscopically<\/a> first to look around with a tiny camera. She explained that when ovarian cancer is confined to one area, it\u2019s better to start treatment<\/a> by removing as much of it as possible, in what\u2019s called a debulking surgery. If there\u2019s too much evidence of metastatic disease<\/a>, though, it\u2019s better to start with chemotherapy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She also said that while my case was not unusual, she wanted to review it with a group of her colleagues to make sure there wasn\u2019t anything she was overlooking. She also wanted to coordinate with another specialist, urologic oncologist Dr. Jos\u00e9 Karam<\/a>, to make sure he could be present during the entire procedure, just in case my kidney became compromised and had to be removed.<\/p>\n

I really appreciated her thoroughness. I was also struck by all of her thoughtful approaches. She wanted to do what was best for me. As big as UT MD Anderson is, you\u2019d think I\u2019d get less personalized service. But I felt so heard and respected there, I think I actually got more.<\/p>\n

A very positive experience<\/b><\/p>\n

I had surgery at UT MD Anderson on April 22, 2025, followed by six rounds of chemotherapy locally. After that, I started taking a PARP inhibitor<\/a> called olaparib, which I\u2019m still taking to this day. I\u2019ve shown no evidence of disease<\/a> since last December.<\/p>\n

The only lingering side effect I have now is a lot of anxiety<\/a> in some medical settings. But that\u2019s due to my previous experiences, not UT MD Anderson. I\u2019ve noticed that I don\u2019t even get triggered anymore when I go to UT MD Anderson. Looking back, it\u2019s easy to understand why.<\/p>\n

I had a panic attack at another hospital right before a procedure. But I couldn\u2019t get anyone there to take my anxiety seriously. When I asked Dr. Bercow and Dr. Karam if I could have something to quiet my nerves before surgery at UT MD Anderson, though, they said, \u201cOf course.\u201d They didn\u2019t even hesitate. They listened to what I had to say, actually heard me and then responded compassionately. So, dealing with them \u2014 and UT MD Anderson \u2014 has been a very positive experience.<\/p>\n

Request an appointment at UT MD Anderson online<\/b><\/a> or call 1-877-632-6789.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When you\u2019ve just been diagnosed with cancer, it\u2019s easy to just go along with whatever your doctor tells…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":885486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5130],"tags":[37967,138220,349577,4345,359419,16771,269694,18301,3314,358,3187],"class_list":["post-885485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-caregivers","tag-family-friends","tag-gynecologic-oncology","tag-houston","tag-minimally-invasive","tag-ovarian-cancer","tag-patient-caregiver-stories","tag-patients","tag-survivors","tag-texas","tag-tx"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116795376000285209","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=885485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/885486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=885485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=885485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=885485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}