A little bit of background about me…
I am a military wife and my husband and I have been married for 13 years. We have 2 daughters ages 6 & 4. My husband and I married when we were 18. We have moved 7 times. Our most recent move was from KY to PA in November of 2018. Our goal is to get back to our home state of Ohio and build a home. I have worked as an insurance agent for the last 7 years, but since our move I am now a first time stay at home mom. And I’m really enjoying it. After going through my cancer journey, it is nice to slow down and focus on my family and myself. I enjoy being active and living a healthy lifestyle. I also enjoy reading and also helping people with their finances. My husband and I recently paid off almost $70k in debt.
I like sharing my cancer story to help other people and lift them up.
I found a lump by doing a self exam at home in the shower. My youngest daughter was born in January 2015 and I breast fed her until she was 6 months old. October 2015, I found the lump. It took me ONE YEAR AND A MONTH before I was diagnosed. I went to 3 different doctors and they all said “it was normal” I even had ultrasounds done and a mammogram. Nothing showed anything out of the ordinary. They just kept saying it was normal. One doctor said it was “scar tissue”. Finally in November of 2016 I was referred to a breast surgeon and she gave me 2 options in the office that day 1) I could get an ultrasound every 6 months for the next 2 years to keep an eye on it or 2) do a biopsy that day and she would get it sent off and tested. I opted for the biopsy because I was tired of not knowing what it was. I got a call the day after Thanksgiving and the doctor asked if it was okay to tell me the results over the phone. I said yeah, still not even thinking the worst. But unfortunately, I heard the words “You have breast cancer” I was diagnosed with stage 2, HER2 Positive, estrogen & progesterone negative.
I went to my dads and then we went to my Grandma’s house. She had breast cancer 20 years ago, so she is the one I wanted to talk to the most. I told the rest of my family at a Thanksgiving dinner. 😦 I then started a blog post for everyone to keep track of what was going on. karakickscancer.wordpress.com.
After they did the biopsy they also did a biopsy of my lymph nodes to see if it had spread, I did another mammogram, and a MRI. The MRI is the only thing that actually showed my cancer. My surgeon said that we were going to do the Mastectomy 1st and then start Chemo and then radiation after that. The cancer was just in my left breast but it had spread to my lymph nodes. So they removed those as well. I opted to do the double mastectomy because I didn’t want to risk it coming back on right side. And plus I didn’t want the visualization of what I used to look like compared to what it was now.
The side effects. The worst for me was the first round of chemo I had horrible nausea. But then they adjusted the nausea meds and I was fine after that. I was surprised that I actually had cravings, like when you are pregnant. One treatment I would crave sour stuff, the next treatment it would be sweet, and then salty. I also experienced horrible nose bleeds which I was surprised about. To the point where I ended up going to the ER to have them cauterize it, because it bled for 3 hours before they did that.
DO NOT RESEARCH ON THE INTERNET! It’s so scary when you first find out. But just try to wait until you meet with your doctor to find out what type and the stage. You are already so emotional that the internet will be a dark hole you don’t want to travel down. I also treated my cancer journey like a job. I went out and got a notebook, folders, a journal, and a tote bag. Every appointment they were giving me brochures and so much information that it was overwhelming. I would get home and write in my notebook questions, I wanted to ask the DR. And I journaled how I was feeling.
As a mom and wife, my biggest concern was my kids and husband. So my friend started a meal train for me. Kind of like a GO FUND ME, but for meals. They could go online and choose what to send and Omaha steaks would send the meals frozen in a cooler. All my husband would have to do is stick it in the oven. I would eat if it sounded good. Or I would eat whatever I wanted. Donuts, candy, cereal, chips and salsa.. whatever I was craving. Because I didn’t know if the next round would kick my butt and I might not be able to eat anything.
My tips for radiation. I don’t know if it actually help, but I believe it did. It’s called Miracle II. You can order it online from certain sites. I would rub that on the radiated side every night before bed. I did 28 treatments of radiation. Monday-Friday. But with radiation, I just got red and it felt like a bad sunburn. I didn’t end up with the blisters or rash like some people get and I attribute that to that Miracle II gel.
The best book I read, was Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips by Kris Carr. It was funny and informative. It made a very scary time in my life be a little easier as I was able to laugh at some parts. For me I wanted to get through treatment as fast as I could. I envisioned myself as a locomotive and I was just trying to get to my destinations (cancer free). I continued to try to live a normal life as much as possible. I went to a wedding, a concert, out to eat, lunch with friends, shopping. There were days that I couldn’t, but I tried my best to keep my life as normal as possible. For myself and my kids. They were 1 and 3 when I was starting all my treatments.
There is always someone that is going through more than you. You can do this. God’s got you.
Tata to Cancer 