"At first I wanted to say: No, that can't be. I'm not a cancer person. Cancer is for other people, like getting a tattoo or eating squid. Fine for them but not my style.
"And this wasn't just any cancer.
"I first noticed vague symptoms two months before, but I attributed them to the advancing of menopause. After all, I was 47 years old.
"I'd get severe bloating for a day — I wanted to stick an ice pick in my stomach to let the gas out — and then it would subside. I'd get constipated.
"And I'd get tired. I bought some herbal teas and talked to my doctor about taking estrogen.
"My final symptom was a low-grade fever, but that came along later, just before I doubled over with abdominal pain on a sunny August afternoon."
This story of Donna Trussell, a poet, fiction writer, and former editor and film critic, was originally published in Kansas City Star, September 2, 2002 for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.