Breast Cancer
Fighting for my life.
No one wants to hear the words. It's CANCER. It's life changing, each shattering and all of a sudden you're lost. What's next? What stage am I? Do I need chemo? Is this genetic? My mind was racing.
The Journey
I immediately started my research. I need to find an oncologist. Someone who works at Cedars, someone comforting, someone who can step me through this. I found my doctor, had my best friend come with me for the consultation. She answered my questions. I was HR+ (Hormone Receptor Positive), HER2 -, Stage 2 with metastasis to the lymph nodes. My genetic test was positive. I had the CHEK2 gene. Apparently a rare one. Fear kicked in for my daughter. Would she carry it? I pushed that aside, I need to be healthy before I could tackle that.
Meet The Team
The Outcome
I did it. I kicked Cancer's ass. It took
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16 rounds of debilitating chemo that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy
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Nausea inducing -35 degree (yes that's a negative) Penguin Cold Caps to preserve my hair which fell out anyways
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A double mastectomy with lymph node removal and reconstruction
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27 rounds of radiation that seared my skin and made it peel in layers
The Moral of the story is FUCK Cancer.​