(McClatchy-Tribune Information Services) -- Mary Foust knew something was wrong eight years ago.

She was feeling bloated, fatigued and had pain in her abdomen.

"They're all things that women have, so it's real easy to ignore them," Foust said.

Foust, uneasy about the symptoms she felt, scheduled a doctor's appointment, but first planned to go to Ohio to visit family. Her two-week vacation there turned into a six-week stay and a battle to live.

At her daughter's urging, Foust saw a doctor one Tuesday in April 2001. The look on the doctor's face said it all; something was terribly wrong, she said.

Foust had a CAT scan the next day, followed by surgery the day after. Surgeons in Ohio removed a tumor the size of a grapefruit from her abdomen.

Then came the news that the tumor was cancerous. Foust was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

"I'm scared," Foust said. "Am I going to live? Am I going to die? How long am I going to live?"

Foust recovered from surgery at her sister's home in suburban Toledo, Ohio. She went through several rounds of chemotherapy, which began in Ohio and continued at the San Juan Regional Cancer Center.

Every several weeks Foust got another dose of chemotherapy on a Thursday. She rested through the weekend and returned to work Monday at the hospital's Health Department, where she was a nutritionist.

"I was very fortunate that I was at the right place at the right time," Foust said of her trip to Ohio.

The cancerous cells were removed from her body, but

Foust still had to cope with the effects of the chemotherapy treatment.

Her hair began falling out in clumps on the 14th day of treatment. It fell out when she touched her head, especially in the shower, she said.

"I would take the hair out to the garbage because I couldn't bear to look at it," Foust said.

She fought back by trimming her hair short and wearing scarfs to cover the signs of the disease.

Throughout the process, Foust maintained a strict diet of mostly bland foods, avoiding chocolate, tomatoes and spicy foods, she said. The diet was meant to help chemotherapy patients avoid nausea, which can be common in treatment.

Finally Foust went into remission and has remained cancer-free since.

"She's been very lucky," said Eleanor Collins, Foust's sister who took care of her after her surgery.

Collins, a retired nurse, watched over Foust during her stay in Ohio.

"They were supposed to have me for two weeks but they got stuck with me for six weeks," Foust said.

Ovarian cancer is a disease that often is detected late, making treatment difficult, said Fran Robinson, a registered nurse at the San Juan Regional Cancer Center.

It's also a disease that affects a high number of women, Robinson said.

About 21,000 new cases of ovarian cancer were diagnosed in the United States this year, according to estimates by the American Cancer Society.

One reason for the late detection is that symptoms often mimic the monthly menstruation cycle, Robinson said.

"Unfortunately women experience those symptoms on a fairly regular basis," she said.

Robinson urges women experiencing symptoms they can't explain or symptoms that last for several weeks to see their doctor right away.

"We always want women to go in and talk to their doctors," Robinson said. "The more we're able to do that, the more often we are to have an early diagnosis of any problem."

Symptoms

Some symptoms of ovarian cancer include:

--feeling bloated

--abdominal or pelvic discomfort

--gas, nausea, indigestion, constipation or diarrhea

--back pain and fatigue

--frequent and urgent urination

--menstrual disorders or pain during intercourse

Copyright (C) 2009, The Daily Times, Farmington, N.M.