I was told I was pregnant. Then I Found Out I Was Probably Cancer – And I Was Really Lighter.

I sat quietly in amazement and looked at the doctor in the emergency room trying to process what he said. I was followed by a car accident: a scattered driver at a red light on a clear and sunny day at 12:15 pm. I went to the ER with minor injuries and asked for reassurance that they were not serious injuries. I did a computed tomography, some x-rays and squeezed it into a cup. The doctor just announced the result: concussion, contusion, injuries, oh, and I’m pregnant.

There must be something wrong. He looked at me as if someone was waiting to say, and I looked at him as if one of us didn’t know how menopause works and for me it was better not to. (Spoiler warning: I was.)

“But I’m five in menopause,” I was able to stutter.

“Do you still have all the organs?” churches.

At this point I uttered a rebuke and sat down in a chair and so I banged my confused head against the wall. ako do I have all the organs.

He told me to repeat the blood test with my usual doctor because it was more accurate.

The panic has already begun. I did what anyone in Florida would do in an emergency: I went straight to Publix. I bought a package of twin pregnancy tests and went home. Both negative. It must be cross -contamination – I told myself. But I’m still going to bleed. Now is not the time to be careless.

The next day, in my doctor’s office, she agreed that she could detect traces of my menopause seven years ago and yes, I was still “pregnant” through urinalysis. (damn!)

The bleeding also returned positive. During this time, and with almost every doctor I spoke to over the next two weeks, I discovered that a woman could completely They get pregnant at menopause – they don’t know. The room is spinning. I thought I could get out and move.

The next step was to have an ultrasound, but I couldn’t use it for a month. a month. How pregnant am I? If you are undergoing LMP (last menstruation), I am 53 months pregnant. I laugh at myself. ako Needed The ultrasound Now. I can’t wait a month!

After making several days of frantic phone calls, it became clear that the only way to get it back to the ER – they could order a test and get results the same day. This time I was told that no pregnancy had been identified and I needed to schedule for further testing for ovarian cancer.

Surprisingly, the doctor still didn’t want to say 100% that I wasn’t pregnant – he gave 99.8%. Even though he was discussing the hormone levels they found, I knew they weren’t. They found out they were pregnant in just an hour or a day, so if they didn’t give me medicine and I wasn’t raped, it was something else, probably ovarian cancer. (I’m still waiting for the final batch of tests to confirm my diagnosis.)

A wave of relief enveloped me. The intensity of the stress and anxiety I was going through was suddenly removed from my shoulders. The weak chorus of angels just sang to me.

Yes, cancer can be relieved during pregnancy.

To start, I don’t have to choose one of the three Terrible Choices:

1. Save a child I can’t raise and don’t want to raise at this age (Spend the next 18 years and raise at least $ 250,000 to raise him).

2. Mental scars for myself and for the children I adopted (sorry, we can’t keep your sister).

3. Termination (if possible – who knows how pregnant I am).

Instead, I have a simple way: aggressive cancer treatment.

Also, I don’t have to share my sex life with anyone, explain how to “let it happen” or address any social stigma to a single mother who is unmarried. I no longer have to change clothes, lose control of my body or bring my diagnosis for everyone to see, comment and rub it. Pregnancy is public. Cancer is personal – no one will understand it unless I tell them.

In the event of cancer, disease or dysfunction, there is no state intervention or regulation restricting treatment. Nor can a pharmacist be ashamed of refusing to take my medications for religious reasons. No one is arguing that cancer cells have the right to thrive.

I don’t know what’s next in cancer treatment, but I do know that morning sickness is devastating with every previous pregnancy. I spent 15 hours a day for weeks. I lay down on the cold tile of the bathroom floor because of the proximity to the bathroom and, because of the cold from the heat of the face, took an ultrasound picture of my twin and tried to convince them that it was worth making two of this hell. . Healthy children. Pregnancy was not easy, although we were able to make it seem like no problem.

Make no mistake: I knew my cancer could be deadly. But pregnancy is also possible, especially if it’s a coup against Rowe Wade. I almost die in the back: it’s heterotopic. As I write this, some states are trying to make safety illegal. The United States Has The Highest Maternal Mortality Rate In The Developed World And that’s where we had access to comprehensive health care. I was talking to my twin. They would have lost me (and their younger brother) at age 11 if it had been illegal to remove the fruit from my fallopian tube. The “right to life” for some reason no longer includes the life of the mother (or of another fetus in multiple pregnancies).

We, as women and men with uterine diseases, must now think about whether our partner’s orgasm is worth our lives. When the roe is gone, there is no difference between consent to sexual intercourse and consent to childbirth.

The place of error is gone. When and where our partner experiences orgasm is the only controllable part of the equation – and control is Not us. We cannot control ovulation, childbirth, implantation, pregnancy or childbirth – the only part of the biological process we can talk about is sex. And sometimes, by force or coercion, we can’t tell. However, we are fully responsible for what may result from the action. This is Our A life that will change forever. Men may have to pay child support. Offenders can end up in jail. The baby is always there Our Pasan.

The message the government sends is no matter what you do or where you are in life: as a woman, there is no greater contribution to society than your ability to reproduce. You could be a scientist working to treat or cure COVID, a Supreme Court judge (looking at you, Amy Connie Barrett), a student, a cancer patient, a woman beaten weekly throughout her life, someone trans. Transition period – it doesn’t matter: you need to inspire the child, if possible, whether you want to, whether you want to or not, and whether consent is given.

At what point did women stop being the autonomous people to whom life, freedom and pursuit of happiness were promised and began to reproduce government -ruled goods?

I’m scared of sex now. I know my pregnancy is difficult. I knew I might not Permission Survive the same pregnancy as my last if the roe is reversed. And now I know that candies Pregnancy even at menopause and having an anti-pregnancy reserve, and if I do, I have no idea until the vomiting starts. Then it will all be too late. It was a nightmare.

Cancer can be fatal, but during my heterotopic pregnancy it took only four weeks after delivery (six weeks of pregnancy!) For my fallopian tube to rupture, causing internal bleeding so intense that the doctors couldn’t see my organs because of all the blood. I fell on my stomach. If the roe deer are removed and current laws take effect, some women will have a life expectancy of four weeks. I have twins graduating college in December and I really like it here. How can I engage in behavior that could have killed me before seeing this stage?

No matter how sick you are, yes, compared to pregnancy, the possibility of ovarian cancer is a comfort.

Monica Fox holds an MBA from the University of Florida and has spent 17 years in nonprofit management. She is the proud mother of three brilliant children.

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