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Jenna Scott has been diagnosed with a four -stage colon cancer, 31 years old, despite being appropriate and healthy.
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Incorrect diagnosis of symptoms during pregnancy delayed the diagnosis of cancer, complicating treatment.
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She hopes that the rest will be treated for the rest of her life to keep the cancer.
This essay is based on a conversation with Jenna Scott, a 39 -year -old senior operating officer in Peach Tree Corners, Georgia. Next, it was edited due to length and clarity.
For the first three decades of my life, everything was great. I was at Cheerleader Secondary School and College where I met my husband.
We got married in 2015. And our friends would say we live a fairy tale.
That year I became pregnant with our son Cameron and thought, “Oh, how could life be better?”
Jenna Scott on her wedding day and eight months pregnant with son Cameron.Michael D images
But in 2017, at the age of 31, I was diagnosed with stage fourth colorectal cancer.
The doctor said my symptoms were related to my pregnancy
My symptoms started when I was around seven or eight months pregnant. I told my midwife that I had a really bad abdominal cramps and bleeding of the rectum and vagina, but he said he didn’t worry because they were symptoms of pregnancy.
It was my first pregnancy, so I thought, “That’s what pregnancy is, I can deal with it, I’m cool.”
My stomach pain did not disappear after I gave birth and the midwife dropped it to Chapter C. Cameron was my main concern. I was always tired, but I didn’t want to complain.
Jenna Scott with her son Cameron was long diagnosed.Jenna Scott
I saw a doctor who gave me some IBS tablets and said he would go to a specialist if they didn’t work.
They didn’t do it, so he sent me to a specialist who told me, “Why are you in my office? You are too young.”
2017 On June 29, just over a year after Cameron’s birth, I had a colonoscopy and woke up to four nurses, my doctor and my husband’s room.
The doctor told me: We found cancer.
Cancer does not happen in my family and I did not understand how it could have happened to me 31 years.
Stage fourth cancer changed everything
I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. The oncologist said they did not see cancer so well with computed tomography because I had so much muscle and so little fat.
It didn’t make sense and I closed. My husband and mom were more emotional than me.
After this appointment, we collected my son from day care and I just kept him. He just turned one: how could I process the idea that he might not know me?
Jenna and her husband went to choose sunflower after receiving cancer diagnosis.Jenna Scott
Life quickly became full of doctors’ appointments and scans, and my employer took away my bigger projects to focus on my health. I worked hard to get them, so he felt dishonest, but they were right in the future.
I started chemotherapy on August 9th. The hospital took eight hours every other week, then a 46 -hour drip at home with a portable package. I had insomnia, hallucinations and anxiety. I would look at the baby monitors and see one of my son’s crib, or a tarantula that hiding through my hands.
Jenna Scott’s first chemotherapy (left) and what she thinks will be the last, 2019. SeptemberJenna Scott
I had 11 months of chemotherapy, I stopped for a few months, then I was told that it spread to my colon, liver and lungs, so I started another 11 months of treatment and surgery.
By 2021 I was a lower dose of “care” chemoco to prevent cancer. I will drink six chemoterrab every day, along with various others who were very sick and kept me at home when I wanted to be for my son.
One day I decided that I just didn’t want to do it anymore, and my doctor said I could stop for a while. However, by 2022. Christmas cancer was in my lymph nodes. I waited for the new year to start treatment so I can have my own Storybook Christmas.
Even with insurance, medical accounts were a nightmare
In the first year, I had to pay a lot from my pocket before my insurance provider could compensate me, including $ 500 in advance for colonoscopy. These were a lot of costs such as our mortgage and day care costs.
My husband’s insurance plan was really good, but for a couple of years I started asking questions when the meetings were returned and I created about $ 3,000 a month. The hospital kept calling me to pay and we were considering selling my house and moving with my parents.
Eventually, my husband’s friends encouraged him to set up a Gofundme page, which collected $ 17,000 in just a few hours before I underwent surgery and $ 30,000 in 17 days. At first I felt betrayed, but my mother helped me see it as a blessing.
My son looks me
Seeing that my son grew up, I was always supported by me. We have been reading children’s books on cancer and emotions for Cameron for many years and it begins to understand what is happening.
He once asked me, “Mommy, can you die of cancer?” And I freezed. I didn’t know what to say. At night, he cries about it, holds me and tells me he doesn’t want me to leave. But he cares well. When my hair was longer, he put me in the horse’s tail and put it in chapstick on his lips.
Scott family during the eighth birthday of Cameron.Jommy Photography
Today, my cancer status is “integral”. I have chemotherapy every four weeks and hope that I will keep this care mode unlimited – the idea I first try to deal with.
I work full -time, which is difficult because I had a lot of side effects. I missed a few times, my body is so hard that I have to take off all the clothes, I feel that I have to vomit, but my body will not do it, and I barely sleep for a few days at once. This is my life now.
I try to stay busy to remember the difficult treatments. When I have a chemo and Cameron on Fridays, which is nine on Saturday morning, I make a baseball game, I do everything I can, though I feel tired and nausea and vomit.
Jenna Scott at work in 2023. November And with his family in 2021. AprilCarbon filament agency
I am very grateful to our family and friends who still come to cook and clean after eight years. But since the side effects of cancer treatment are accumulating, happy life is really difficult.
I hope I have a long life, but I do not want to be in this treatment forever and forever crosses my fingers that science can discover new treatments.
I realized that what I was stressed is fully controlled and I have so many blessings. I tell everyone that life is good, you just look at it.
I want young people to understand that they are not touched. You must check and speak for yourself regularly.
Amendment: 2025 June 23 – The earlier version of this story has misconstrued Cameron’s age. He is nine years old.
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