I was working as a bus driver for the Chicago Transit Authority, and one day in January, as I climbed the steps of the bus, I passed out. I was taken to the ER, and this time I had a blood draw. The doctors thought maybe I was having a heart attack. My hemoglobin was 6.4—12 to 15.5 is normal for women, according to the Mayo Clinic—a sign that I could have internal bleeding.
I had a history of uterine fibroids and endometriosis, so that’s what they assumed was wrong. I had a blood transfusion and was sent to my ob-gyn, where it was confirmed that I had fibroid tumors and ovarian cysts. Eventually, I had surgery to remove my ovaries and my uterus, which had a lot of fibroids and some cancer cells. Those surgeries and another blood transfusion were supposed to fix the problem.
But by June 2003 I started having intense nausea and frequent vomiting. I couldn't stop; I couldn't even keep water down. My primary care doctor told me to go to the ER and call him when I got there. He instructed the ER team to do another blood draw; my hemoglobin count was 5.2. I remember the look on the nurse’s face. "How did you get here?" she asked in shock. "I drove," I said. "You shouldn't have been able to drive," she replied. "You’re near organ failure."
A fecal test showed blood in my stool, so I had an emergency colonoscopy. They found a grapefruit-sized tumor on the right side of my colon. I never even left the hospital; I needed emergency surgery to remove the tumor right away. I was diagnosed with stage 2B colon cancer. I was only 36.
I was shocked and in a daze. I didn't even really know what colon cancer was or how you get it. I didn't have a relationship with my father’s side of the family at the time, so I didn't know that my father and two other family members all died in their 40s with colon cancer. (They died of other causes, but were found to have the disease after autopsies.) I figured I would do whatever was necessary to do to fix it. The surgeon was able to do a resection to my rectum, which means I don’t need a colostomy bag. I also had one round of radiation, and then my doctor was confident all traces of cancer were removed.
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