By now, you all know how much Matt and I love meeting our insurance deductibles. Well, we've really outdone ourselves this year and have decided to go above and beyond.

I've been having some abdominal pain for a couple of months now. All of the symptoms—nausea, fatigue, and some vomiting—had logical explanations, such as stress, heat exhaustion, etc., so I wasn't overly worried or rushing to the doctor. Eventually, nothing was improving, my nausea got worse, and then came some extreme bloating and constipation. Yup, we're gonna talk about alllll the things here, friends. That's when we decided to (okay, Matt made me) go get things checked out.

I honestly thought I had a partial bowel blockage or maybe even a little internal bleeding from a pretty epic tubing crash the week before. After a quick visit to Urgent Care, the doctor listened to my stomach and agreed that there was potentially a partial bowel blockage. They referred me to the ER for further scans.

On Monday, August 26th, we spent 7 long hours in the ER. The first CT scan showed no blockage but a lot of abdominal fluid (no internal bleeding) and several lesions in my abdomen. They ordered a pelvic ultrasound, which revealed tumors on both ovaries and a spot on my liver. More on the liver in another post though, so don't go to a dark place.

So what we thought was going to be a "we're sorry you can't poop" visit turned into a “we’re sorry but you have ovarian cancer” visit and absolutely turned our world upside down. In a million years, we did not see this coming. But I know I'm going to beat this. I have the most incredible family, friends, and a beautiful life that I honestly refuse to leave.

Gavin and Garrett know my stomach hurts and that we're working with doctors to find out what is wrong and how they can help make Mommy feel better. Please do not say "cancer" if you talk about this in front of your kids. Matt and I are actively discussing how to navigate what we share with the boys and when to share it, so they can continue to thrive in their daily activities.

I know this is a lot to take in, and I'm still processing it myself. I'm thankful for the incredible people in our lives who love us and will cover our family in prayers and support throughout this journey.