Carla Peoples says she’d been “totally healthy” all her life when she noticed subtle changes in her body.
There was some bloating that progressed to the point where it caused her belly stick out. “I literally could put my hand on my stomach like you do when you’re pregnant,” Peoples, 67, tells TODAY.com.
“I [felt] like I’m 10 months pregnant. And I looked it, too, because I’m a small person. And oh, my goodness, my stomach was just out there.”
At the same time, she was unexpectedly losing weight.
As society columnist for The Galveston County Daily News in Galveston, Texas, Peoples often wears ball gowns as she covers galas and parties in the area, which is sometimes called the Hamptons of Texas.
She was surprised that the normally tight-fitting tops of her dresses were becoming very loose. Peoples has never dieted and doesn’t own a scale, but she felt the weight loss in her clothes — “my biggest sign that something was majorly wrong,” she says.
“My belly was big, but I was losing weight,” Peoples recalls. “There were two symptoms of ovarian cancer that were just right out there in front of my face. And I didn’t really acknowledge it.”
The warning signs of ovarian cancer can be frustratingly vague, as a Mayo Clinic doctor told TODAY.com about the symptoms she monitors in herself.
Peoples’ diagnosis would come only after an emergency sent her to the hospital. There was more startling news to come as genetic testing offered important clues.
Scan Reveals Shocking Findings
Peoples was adopted from Bogotá, Colombia, and doesn’t know any of her biological family’s medical history.
But she had no health problems until the mystery symptoms began in the fall of 2022. Besides the bloating and weight loss, Peoples also noticed she had to urinate more often and felt full quickly after eating.
When she went to the doctor the next year, she was diagnosed with a prolapsed bladder.
The condition usually happens when supportive tissues around the bladder weaken, allowing it to move out of place and bulge into the vaginal canal, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
Peoples was supposed to have surgery for the problem in July 2023, but a few days before, she felt excruciating pain and saw her symptoms worsen, so she went to the emergency room.
When doctors rushed her for a CT scan, it revealed two huge masses on her ovaries — one the size of a football and the other the size of a small watermelon.
This wasn’t an ordinary bladder prolapse. The massive tumors — not weakened muscles — were the true cause of the problem.
“It was such a thunderbolt,” Peoples recalls. “The world just kind of stopped.”
Suspenseful Surgery
She had a new gynecologic surgeon who scheduled an operation that would determine what happened next.
If doctors opened up her body and saw no more tumors, they would remove as much of the cancer as possible, known as a debulking surgery, plus her ovaries, fallopian tubes and uterus.
But if they saw more cancer, they would have to stop, close her up and start with chemotherapy first.
Peoples had no idea what would happen when she was wheeled into the operating room at 10:30 in the morning. When she woke up and saw it was eight hours later, she knew doctors were able to proceed with the much longer debulking surgery. It was considered a success.
Her doctor gave her the thumbs up, and Peoples burst into tears.
The tumors had not spread beyond her pelvis. The diagnosis: Stage 3 high-grade serous ovarian cancer.
Genetic Testing Provides an Answer
When Peoples underwent genetic testing, it revealed she had the BRCA1 genetic mutation. Up to 58% of women who inherit this harmful change will develop ovarian cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute.
“That was a shock to me, of course. I’m adopted, but it still was a shock because I had been utterly healthy up until all this happening. I wasn’t expecting that at all,” she recalls.
Had she known, Peoples says she would have had a hysterectomy after giving birth to her last child at 38.
She did six rounds of chemotherapy and continues to take olaparib, a type of targeted therapy drug used as maintenance therapy in ovarian cancer patients.
Peoples says she’s back to a normal routine, but is hyper vigilant for any symptoms.
“You just go on — you have to — and you’re grateful to go on. The little things don’t bother you anymore,” she notes.
Ovarian Cancer Symptoms
Peoples urges women to pay attention to their bodies and get checked out right away if something doesn’t feel right.
There’s no screening test for ovarian cancer, one of the reasons it’s detected late.
The CA-125 blood test can measure tumor markers in the context of ovarian cancer, but it can be elevated for other reasons, so it’s not a reliable screening test, the American Cancer Society notes.
Warning signs of ovarian cancer are vague and include:
Bloating: Because ovarian cancer tumors cause fluid, called ascites, to build up inside the abdomen.
Feeling full quickly: Because a tumor or fluid buildup in the abdomen can limit how much food the stomach can hold.
Frequent urination: Because the bladder can’t fill up all the way and hold as much urine as it normally would if there’s a large mass taking up space in the pelvis.
Unexplained weight loss: Peoples suddenly lost about 10 pounds from her 4-foot, 11-inch frame, a big change. The weight loss can be triggered by cancer-causing changes in metabolism or appetite, the Cleveland Clinic notes.
Bowel habit changes: Because a tumor could press on the colon, resulting in either constipation or looser stools.
Peoples feels misdiagnosed by that first doctor who told her she had a routine prolapsed bladder and regrets not asking more questions and being more aware of the warning signs.
“I wish so bad I would have done that,” she says.
“Women, be in tune with your body and don’t ever just assume that it’s one thing when it could be ovarian cancer.”