Woman issues urgent warning after unexpected diagnosis: 'They saved my life'

A woman took to Reddit to warn other women about the importance of paying attention to the warning signs their bodies send them — even when doctors won’t.

On August 5, the woman — who goes by wanttobreathe on the platform — shared her experience with “horrific pain” six years ago.

‘The E.R. doctor saved your life’

Posting in the r/TwoXChromosomes subreddit, wanttobreathe explained how when she was 29 years old, she went to the E.R. “doubled over in so much pain that [she] could barely walk or talk or see straight.”

The first thing the E.R. doctor did was set wanttobreathe up with IV painkillers and send her away for scans. Though the scans “looked normal” and her bloodwork “was fine,” the doctor still wanted to do exploratory surgery “with the intent of removing [her] ovary, gallbladder or appendix, most likely.”

Wanttobreathe consented to the surgery, and when she woke up, she was informed that her appendix had been removed “due to some discoloration.”

When she went into the surgeon’s office a few days later for her follow-up, she was told that the surgery had saved her life.

“Turns out I had carcinoid cancer in my appendix,” she wrote. “Its usually pretty asymptomatic, hard to spot, and typically found after it has metastasized all over the place.”

“On paper, I should have been sent home with nausea meds and maybe light pain meds and told to see a GI (which would have taken months for an appointment),” she continued. “Statistically, I should have been told to suck it up and it was just a belly ache. But they both believed me. They believed I was in so much pain that the standard diagnostic tools were clearly missing what was actually wrong with me.”

“They saved my life. And I still think about those two men frequently … how they believed me, a 29 year old woman, about my pain, and took a risk to help me.”

‘This is why empathy matters in medicine’

In the comments, many Reddit users applauded the doctors who took a chance and saved wanttobreathe’s life.

“This is why empathy matters in medicine!” one person said. “Your case should be a textbook example they use in medical school to remind doctors to remember their patients are actual people.”

“Seeing the title, reading on about you visiting the ER in huge pain … I gotta be honest, I did not expect this to be a positive story,” another user commented. “Too many times I’ve read about womens pain and issues being ignored.”

“But I’m so glad this was not the case,” they continued. “We matter, we SHOULD be heard and it’s so good to hear that doctors out there listen to us, and believe our pain. And I’m so glad that you are healthy and cancer free!”

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