Journey through ovarian cancer and life after treatment.

 Journey through ovarian cancer and life after treatment.

In this episode, Jennifer Calogero, alongside Dr. Polly Watson, discusses her deeply personal journey through ovarian cancer, surgical menopause, and long-term recovery. Jennifer highlights the importance of self-advocacy in healthcare, sharing how persistence and listening to her body ultimately led to a life-saving diagnosis of a rare low-grade ovarian cancer.

“Your suffering can be real and valid, and at the same time, hope, joy, and healing can also be true,” says Dr. Polly Watson.

The episode covers the physical, emotional, and psychological realities of cancer survivorship, including chemotherapy, abrupt hormonal loss, cognitive changes, sleep disruption, and identity shifts. Dr. Watson and Jennifer shed light on how sudden estrogen deprivation impacts the nervous system and mental health, and why these effects are often underestimated in standard medical care. Together, they explore the importance of honest communication with providers and building a broader support system beyond the traditional care team.

Jennifer also shares how somatic therapy and breathwork became essential tools in her healing process, helping her regulate stress, process trauma, and reconnect with her body. This episode offers practical insight, validation, and hope for anyone navigating cancer recovery, menopause, or major health transitions—and encourages listeners to cultivate resilience, self-awareness, and proactive engagement in their own healing journey.

• “Low-grade ovarian cancer is slow growing and not well understood, and a lot of women go misdiagnosed for many, many years.” – Jennifer Calogero
• “Focus on the healing, not the disease—because what you give your attention to grows.”  – Jennifer Calogero
• “Your care team can’t be just your doctors. Your support system has to be bigger than that.” – Jennifer Calogero
• “Your suffering can be real and valid, and at the same time, hope, joy, and healing can also be true.” – Dr. Polly Watson 

Disclaimer: https://hormonewellnessmd.com/podcast#Disclaimer

She looks forward to sharing her knowledge with you to help find a solution to address the imbalance in your system and restore your health.

Jennifer Calogero is an ovarian cancer survivor who works in tech and leads a product team at Red Hat. After three surgeries and six rounds of chemotherapy, she no longer had any detectable cancer and entered medication-induced menopause. She has now been in survivorship for a year. Her healing journey has been shaped by somatic therapy and breathwork, which help her navigate side effects with greater ease and awareness.