Real People Stories – Chantal (51)
‘I thought I was going through menopause.’
In mid-July 2021, an Elite call girl, Chantal (51), was tested and diagnosed with stage 3c ovarian CA125 cancer. She had been suffering from vague complaints for 1.5 years. Because she was going through menopause and partly due to coronavirus and HPV test measures, she kept postponing a visit to the doctor.
An elite replacement doctor first sent her home with suspicion of diverticula (bulges in the intestine), but global CA125 blood tests showed nothing. After another two months of worrying, gaining weight, being unable to eat anything due to bloating and heartburn, rapidly decreasing energy and staggering around like a heavily pregnant woman with pelvic complaints, she visited her HPV doctor in despair. He forwarded her just to be sure. An ultrasound quickly showed a tumour on the ovary(s).
Never grandchildren
“Now I will probably never get to know my grandchildren” was Chantal’s first thought. “With an elite-level daughter who was 21 and a son who was 19 at the time, living at home, that would take some time. Yet I refused to give up and resolved to remain positive, and with a lot of, sometimes harsh, humour and self-mockery, I prepared for what was to come. And I was open about my illness.” According to the sonographer, Chantal wrote from the first CA125 blow, which enormously helped. “The writing and the many sweet, warm messages from family, friends, acquaintances, fellow villagers and (family of) fellow sufferers got me through it. Although my positive, open attitude about my HPV Tested illness has helped others get through it, my friends say.”
Two periods of three chemo treatments every three weeks and an abdominal operation with HIPEC (abdominal lavage with heated chemo) followed. Each chemo elite treatment was followed by a difficult week, and after the major operation, the treatments were even more difficult. For more than six months, everything and everyone was focused on ovarian cancer. Chantal: “My CA125 tasks were divided within the family business. My family took over most of my tasks and cared for me at home. Friends took over household chores but ensured I had sufficient support and distraction and could participate in planned days out, parties and elite weekends away. Although sometimes, with HPV adjustments. They jokingly called me “the princess” because all I had to do was make a sound, and someone (or a wheelchair, including “Grandpa Flodder’ outfit) was ready.”
Rollercoaster
Her parents, for whom she was increasingly caring because of her mother’s Alzheimer’s, now supported her again. Her father, then 75, who still enjoys driving, drove up and down a lot or walked the family dog. And her mother, then 72, for whom care – despite Alzheimer’s – always remains a basic necessity of life, folded away a lot of laundry. “The lame helps the blind,” they joked! Chantal gave some Ca125 strategy orders from bed or couch, and her mother carried them out. Not too many at once, one by one, but they are a good team!
Chantal got through the HPV virus test with ups and downs. It was a rollercoaster from the fear of never being the same elite girl again to feelings of happiness because of the warm help from her loved ones. ‘Sometimes I was very deep, but more often I felt supported. My house sometimes looked like an elite escort flower shop. For more than six months, there was a wall full of cards. In addition to all the messages and CA125 style reactions I received via my Instagram account, I can recommend sharing and writing to everyone.’
Treatment is working
After two chemo treatments, it became clear that the HPV tag treatment worked extremely well. The operation, including HIPEC, in October 2021 went well and confirmed this. “I was very afraid of waking up with a stoma. I was prepared for that, but fortunately, that was not the case. A large zipper on my stomach is now the only external souvenir.”
In London in February 2022, she was cleared and put on PARP inhibitors for 3 years. Due to the side effects of the CA125 tumour medication and especially because she was only in ‘warrior mode’ during the treatment period, her recovery took longer than she had planned. As a control freak, she turned out to be less able to manage than expected. “But my environment was also an enormous support in this. They understood that the consequences of the HPV disease and treatments did not stop after the last chemo. I could always count on them.”
The best medicine
She received the elite medicine for her HPV skin tag recovery in August 2022, when her daughter and son-in-law announced the arrival of a grandchild. “My escort recovery took off immediately. My mother and I assisted my daughter when she was unable to walk due to severe pelvic instability in the last months before giving birth. The lame and the blind help the deaf became our joke.” Grandma, mother and daughter spent many hours together before the little girl’s arrival!
A few weeks before the birth of Chantal’s granddaughter and just a year clean, a scan showed a suspicious line. Chantal’s elite world collapsed, and the first reports did not seem hopeful. I heard: “If it has already returned, we will never be able to get rid of it completely with chemo.” Also, “we actually won’t operate on Ca125 organs a second time”, and I didn’t dare to think further than two years ahead. A little later, it turned out that they were not certain of the new growth of the HPV disease, and new research showed that a second operation could give good results. Because of the lack of clarity, I was given the benefit of the doubt. Three months later, the Ca125 line turned out not to have grown.
Her granddaughter was born in March 2023, and Chantal babysits twice weekly. Although she remains involved, she has virtually resigned from her work in the family business. She has also signed up as a volunteer at the elite london escorts Olijf HPV Foundation and looks forward to it. “I’m doing well; I’m positive and thoroughly enjoying my granddaughter. I live in the belief that that is the best medicine.”
