“I should have paid more attention when a well-meaning woman asked me when I was due — but instead, I just got angry,” the 59-year-old said. “It didn’t even occur to me to see the doctor.”
Lewis, a Schenectady, N.Y., science writer with a Ph.D. in human genetics, finally made an appointment to see her gynecologist when her best friend remarked on the noticeable change in her girth. “When the doctor saw my middle, she literally jumped back several feet,” said Lewis. An ultrasound revealed a 23 cm ovarian cyst. “The technologist said it was the second-largest she’d ever seen.”
Fortunately, Lewis’ story had a happy ending: The cyst, which she now affectionately refers to as “Waldo,” weighed in at a whopping 18 pounds and was benign. “When my surgeon came out and said it was not cancer, my husband threw his arms around him,” she said.