Warning: This article contains discussion of cancer which some readers may find distressing
A doctor who discovered her own cancer when she was 37-years-old has spoken out about the two symptoms that told her something was wrong.
As of this month, Dr. Lauren Juyia, a gynecologist in Florida, has thankfully confirmed there are no signs of cancer in her system - but the situation was very different two years ago.
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It was August 2022 when Lauren began to notice a couple of changes in her body, and her experience helped her recognize it was something to be check out.
She went to HCA Florida Oak Hill Hospital and underwent an ultrasound, which revealed she had large masses in her ovary.
Within two weeks, the mass had expanded from eight centimeters to about 24 centimeters - something Lauren had 'never seen' during her time working in healthcare.
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Speaking to Good Morning America in 2023, Lauren recalled: "I had never seen anything benign, meaning not cancer, grow that fast before. So we kind of knew, deep down, that this was not going to be good. And we suspected ovarian cancer of course, because it was the ovaries being the masses."
The following month, the masses had spread to Lauren's ovaries, uterus, omentum, appendix, and her abdominal area, and she was scheduled in for surgery to try and remove them.
However, it wasn't until later that Lauren learned of her diagnosis: stage four colon cancer.
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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, colon cancer typically has a number of symptoms people can look out for, including a change in bowel movements, blood in the poo, constipation, diarrhea, abdominal pain and cramps or weight loss for no obvious reason.
However, Lauren hadn't really experienced any of these - at least not to an extent that raised any red flags.
Instead, one of the symptoms that prompted her to go to the doctor in the first place was when she noticed a 'pelvic heaviness', which turned into a 'pelvic mass'.
"Having a background in obstetrics, we describe size by weeks of pregnancy and so I was like, 'Oh my god, I have a 16-week-size mass.' From experience, I could tell that this was my ovary," Lauren said.
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Looking back, the doctor also admitted she had experienced 'a little bit of fatigue' in the weeks leading up to her ultrasound.
She explained: "I was a little tired in the afternoon for about two months previous to this and as a mom with two little kids - I had been recently nursing them, they were still waking up in the night, I work full time - I didn't think anything of saying, 'Oh, I think I need a tea in the afternoon'. Whereas maybe someone in their 50s or 60s would be much more tired from stage 4 tumors taking up their energy."
Following her diagnosis, Lauren began chemotherapy treatment while she also continued to work, trying to take her mind off her cancer.
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By March 2023, Lauren underwent one more surgery, and was declared as having 'no evidence of disease'.
She continues to share updates about her journey online, and has encouraged people to go for a colon cancer screening if they notice anything out of the ordinary.
"People that are younger than the screening age (45) should still be paying attention to our symptoms because we're not eligible for screening usually," she said. "We might not have any symptoms because we are young, our bodies are more resilient. We can tolerate more symptoms."
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the American Cancer Society on 1-800-227-2345 or via their live chat feature, available 24/7 every day of the year.
Emily Brown