{"id":367649,"date":"2025-12-23T23:27:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T23:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/367649\/"},"modified":"2025-12-23T23:27:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T23:27:08","slug":"doctor-ignored-signs-of-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/367649\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Ignored Signs Of Cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most doctors are intelligent, compassionate human beings, but they are human. And medicine is a business, which means doctors can be overworked, pressed for time and dismissive of patient complaints, especially if that patient is a woman<\/a>. In my case, the casual dismissal of my symptoms almost cost me my life.<\/p>\n

It was October 2019 when my new OB-GYN \u2015 let\u2019s call her Dr. Can\u2019t Be Bothered \u2015 gave me what I considered to be life-changing news.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have a two-centimeter tumor on your uterine cervix,\u201d she said, without even a hint of concern. For me, those words felt like a knife to the gut. A tumor? Me? How?<\/p>\n

Then her phone rang, and she left the room.<\/p>\n

By the time she returned, tears had welled up in my eyes. \u201cDo I have cancer?\u201d I asked, terrified and confused. As a non-doctor, when I hear the word \u201ctumor,\u201d my first thought is cancer. Hers was not.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, no,\u201d Dr. Can\u2019t Be Bothered assured me. \u201cThis is not how cancer behaves.\u201d Then she added a sentence I\u2019ll never forget: \u201cFor you to have cancer at this age, with this medical history, it would be like winning the lottery.\u201d<\/p>\n

This did not make me feel better. She seemed unconcerned about the tumor growing in my pelvis, but I was not. She explained I would need a biopsy, but assured me it was probably fibroids, a benign growth, maybe a polyp, or a million other little non-cancer things. I would have to go under anesthesia for the biopsy, and it would be an \u201call-day\u201d affair. Not wanting this tumor-thingy hanging over my head, I asked to schedule the surgery as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n

Dr. CBB once again told me there was no rush, even though the radiology report stated the tumor was \u201cof concern.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, she was going on vacation for two weeks and her schedule was full. We would have to put off the procedure for at least four weeks. I asked if I could get in sooner \u2015 perhaps a different doctor could perform the biopsy?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not necessary,\u201d she said. \u201cJust be patient.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI let it go \u2015 after all, she’d gone to medical school and I hadn’t. She wore a white coat, and I was a 34-year-old whose work wardrobe still included yoga pants.\u201d<\/p>\n

She made me feel like I was overreacting, like I was ignorant of how \u201cthese things work.\u201d I peppered her with questions about the Big C, to which she kept saying, \u201cNo, no, that\u2019s not how cancer behaves.\u201d I let it go \u2015 after all, she\u2019d gone to medical school and I hadn\u2019t. She wore a white coat, and I was a 34-year-old whose work wardrobe still included yoga pants. It was not my place to argue with her.<\/p>\n

On my drive home I called my mother. I explained everything the doctor told me, but I couldn\u2019t stop crying. I felt that something was wrong \u2015 like, really wrong. And I was angry the doctor wasn\u2019t taking this seriously. My mother agreed.<\/p>\n

On instinct, I called up my old OB-GYN. Sobbing, I explained my situation and begged for an urgent appointment.<\/p>\n

When it comes to certain cancers, time matters. Forty-eight hours later I was once again sitting in a doctor\u2019s office, only this time, it was a completely different experience.<\/p>\n

My old doctor spoke to me with kindness and concern. He explained exactly what the ultrasound revealed, and went over all the tests he was about to perform, including another ultrasound, a colposcopy, and an in-office biopsy with no anesthesia and no surgery required. He even said to me, \u201cI know you\u2019re scared, but we\u2019re going to do everything we can to figure out what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turns out, I had won the lottery.<\/p>\n

The biopsy revealed I had a very rare cancer called high-grade small-cell neuroendocrine<\/a>. I would need a radical hysterectomy \u2015 where they remove the uterus, cervix, ovaries, fallopian tubes, a third of the vaginal canal, and multiple pelvic lymph nodes \u2015 along with adjuvant chemotherapy and radiation. <\/p>\n

After my diagnosis, my entire world turned upside down. It was an onslaught of appointments, scans, and hard bathroom-floor crying. My imaging showed only \u201clocal disease,\u201d which means it had not metastasized to other parts of my body. My surgical oncologist said she was relieved. \u201cOften patients with neuroendocrine cancer walk in at stage 4 \u2015 it\u2019s that aggressive,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019re lucky you came when you did.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe author with her husband, Max Gamble, after she completed chemotherapy for stage 3C neuroendocrine cancer.<\/p>\n

Indeed, that\u2019s an understatement. Even with the quick biopsy, I ended up at stage 3C. My odds of survival were a mere 0% to 7%<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The truth is, high-grade small-cell neuroendocrine cancer is highly aggressive, with poor prognosis rates. Even at stage 1, the survival rate is only about 30%. The time between my scans, which showed local disease, and my surgery, which found cancer in one lymph node, was just five days. Had I waited for Dr. CBB to care about my condition, I would have been stage 4 at diagnosis and probably dead now. Median survival is less than 16 months. <\/p>\n

Weeks later, after my surgery was completed, I finally got a call from Dr. Couldn\u2019t Be Bothered\u2019s office. They wanted to schedule the biopsy she\u2019d put off. I laughed. \u201cAre you kidding me?\u201d I asked. \u201cI\u2019m about to start chemotherapy!\u201d Then I angrily hung up the phone. <\/p>\n

I know I am lucky to be alive. I have now been cancer-free for two years. My oncologist recently said I was a \u201cmiracle.\u201d In order for me to survive this cancer, everything had to go my way. I was fortunate that the second doctor I saw spent over an hour with me, listened to my concerns, tested me for everything on the spot and cared enough to pay attention to me. If my surgery, chemotherapy or radiation had been delayed by four weeks \u2015 as Dr. CBB wanted \u2015 it would have cost me my life. Instead, a team of doctors stepped up and recognized a needle-in-a-haystack cancer. <\/p>\n

My intention is not to vilify doctors, but rather the system they are forced to operate in. According to studies, 56% of primary care physicians spend less than 16 minutes<\/a> with patients, and much of that time is spent filling out electronic health records<\/a>. Indeed, the bureaucratic side of American health care is not what doctors signed up for<\/a>. Between growing pressure to see more patients, insurance pre-authorization codes<\/a>, after-hours phone calls, portal messages, peer-to-peer insurance consults, patient paperwork<\/a> and medical history reviews, many physicians are burned out. <\/p>\n

\u201cWomen are underdiagnosed for depression, cardiovascular disease and many types of cancer, often seeing multiple doctors and waiting more than a year for a diagnosis.\u201d<\/p>\n

That said, studies have shown women are often dismissed<\/a> in health care settings. They\u2019re told severe abdominal pain can be chalked up to period cramps, while painful conditions like uterine fibroids, endometriosis and ovarian cysts go undiagnosed for months or years<\/a>. In fact, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists estimates that endometriosis takes an average of six to 10 years for a diagnosis<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Not to mention, women in America have the highest maternal mortality rate<\/a> compared to other developed nations, and for Black women, it\u2019s even worse. <\/p>\n

But the dismissal of women\u2019s pain is not exclusive to gynecological or pregnancy-related conditions. Women are underdiagnosed for depression, cardiovascular disease and many types of cancer, often seeing multiple doctors and waiting more than a year for a diagnosis<\/a>. Women are 50% more likely to be misdiagnosed for cardiovascular disease<\/a> than men, and 30% more likely to be misdiagnosed when presenting symptoms of a stroke. <\/p>\n

Women have to advocate for themselves the moment they walk into a doctor\u2019s office, because that\u2019s the health care system we live in. We have to fight to get tests, labs and appointments, all while being labeled pushy, hysterical and overdramatic. And don\u2019t even get me started on weight stigma. News flash: Not every condition can be solved by losing weight (cancer comes to mind). What\u2019s more, too many women (and too many people in general) don\u2019t have access to insurance, affordable health care or the resources and time to take advantage of it, but that\u2019s a whole other battle. <\/p>\n

Ultimately, if battling a rare and deadly cancer has taught me anything, it\u2019s to never stop fighting for yourself. I spent countless hours fighting with insurance, begging labs and imaging centers for earlier appointments, and emailing every oncologist in the country for help. It\u2019s your health, and your life. If you have to ruffle a few white-coated feathers, so be it. You\u2019re worth it. <\/p>\n

This piece was originally published in January 2022 and we\u2019re rerunning it now as part of HuffPost Personal\u2019s \u201cBest Of\u201d series.<\/p>\n

Taryn Hillin is a journalist, screenwriter and cancer survivor. She is currently in the Sony Television Diverse Writers program. Prior to that, she was a writer and producer at TMZ, HuffPost and Fusion. When she\u2019s not writing, Taryn helps cancer patients, and people suffering from chronic illness, through her Instagram, @TheAntiCancerLife<\/a> and TikTok, @TheAntiCancerLife<\/a>. She is a graduate of Yale.<\/p>\n

Do you have a compelling personal story you\u2019d like to see published on HuffPost? Find out what we\u2019re looking for here<\/a> and send us a pitch<\/a>.<\/p>\n