Signs from a silent killer

This is a follow-up story to “Embracing her Second Chance,” published Feb. 21. Laura Houk, Humboldt, diagnosed with ovarian cancer, has battled the disease for almost four years. Diagnosed in an advanced stage, the cancer had spread from an ovary to her lung, liver, spleen and colon. Houk dismissed the subtle symptoms in the earlier stages of the disease. In 2007, J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, said  most ovarian cancer is diagnosed after it has spread from its primary site, and that late diagnosis greatly decreases the…