Teri's Story

I was diagnosed with breast cancer on November 30, 2006 at the age of 37. I was totally shocked as I was relatively young, very fit and healthy and didn’t fit the profile of any of the typical breast cancer risk factors. I had found a lump in my left breast in September, but I was nursing my sixth baby and didn’t think too much about it. Nursing makes things lumpy. By mid October the same lump was still there and my husband and I decided that I had better get it checked out. The first available appointment was on November 3. That began the chain of appointments and tests that led to my diagnosis. I had a biopsy on November 22nd just before Thanksgiving. Since it was a long holiday weekend I wasn’t able to get the results for several days. I started to get the feeling by the way my questions were not being answered over the phone that the news wasn’t good. I met with my doctor and he told me that I had breast cancer.

My mom had already been battling inflammatory breast cancer for 18 months when I received my diagnosis. She had already completed chemotherapy, radiation, and a mastectomy of her left breast only to discover the cancer had spread to her liver. Now we were both being treated for cancer. Having just watched her go through the process of what I would now be facing myself gave me courage as I felt I didn’t have to be so afraid of the unknown. Two of my husband’s sisters and his mother had also recently been treated for breast cancer as well. But with me being the mother of a large family of six young children, ages ranging from 17 years to 16 months, my attitude was “I don’t have time for this, I need to be taking care of my family.” Also, just the thought of possibly not being around to raise my children broke my heart. I couldn’t stand the thought of my 16-month old not remembering who her mommy was, or not being around for all of the events in their lives – the first day of school, snuggling in a chair while reading books, discovering the world, play dough, dating, picking out prom dresses and wedding dresses, staying up late into the night talking and laughing about nothing at all, watching my boys get taller than me, playing sports, driver’s licences, watching them grow into adults to see who they become – I didn’t want to miss a minute of all of the things we love to do together. I was determined to get through this. I prayed and prayed for courage and strength.

December was filled with doctor visits and many tests to determine the severity of my cancer. My amazing husband was there supporting me through each visit. We had “fun” picking out a wig together. I tried all sorts of different colors and hair styles and ended up with a nice wig similar to my hair style at the time. I was setting up a schedule for surgery when my PET scan results came back. It reveled that the cancer was “locally advanced” and had spread through the left side of my chest, into several lymph nodes, and was starting to infiltrate the pectoral muscle and a spot on my thyroid. That was a day filled with tears. The plan was changed by my doctors to start chemotherapy first in hopes of stopping the cancer from spreading further and shrinking the tumor to make it easier for the surgeon to do her job. I had a port-a-cath placed in my chest on the December 19th, and my oncologist wanted to start chemotherapy the same day. Luckily I was very sick from the anesthesia and couldn’t start my treatment that day. This allowed me to spend a wonderful Christmas with my family before starting chemotherapy.

On December 28th I had my first chemotherapy treatment. I was scared but still determined to be a good patient and try to follow all of the instructions of my doctor. Unfortunately, the chemo was just as determined as I was and I ended up very sick, but after a few days I was able to get out of bed and do my best to try and resume normal life. I found that after each treatment I would spend a couple of days being very sick, and then I would slowly recover and could resume a semi-normal life until the next treatment. The time it took to recover after each treatment grew longer (I’ll spare you the details), but I discovered that I could still be happy even though I felt totally miserable. I was able to find something to be grateful for every day.

My hair started falling out on schedule. The good news was I didn’t have to shave my legs anymore. The day after my second treatment my grandmother died. The funeral was six days later and I felt good enough to attend. Her funeral was my first attempt to wear my wig. I felt like I had a big bearskin cap on my head, but I didn’t want to go without it.

Sixteen week and eight treatments later, on April 9th, I received my last chemo treatment. Yippe! The PET scan results after chemo came back as “All identified sites of tumor have resolved. No new or residual masses are identified.” Chemotherapy had virtually wiped out the cancer! But this wasn’t the end. I still had surgery and radiation to go. I escaped with my husband for a short trip to the beach in San Diego before phase II of my treatment began.

Due to severity of my cancer I knew I would be having a mastectomy, but with my now known genetic risk factors my surgeon and oncologist both recommended a double mastectomy as a preventative measure. My husband and I decided this was the right thing to do, so we reluctantly decided to have this procedure done, and on May 22nd I had my surgery. My surgeons did an amazing job!

Recovering from surgery was very slow, painful and frustrating. I remember laying in the hospital bed after surgery and the nurse told me to press the button if I needed any thing. I couldn’t move my arms to reach the button. I needed help with everything. It took a lot of work to get function and strength back in my arms. After chemo and surgery I felt like I had been run over (several times) by a truck and left for dead. However, I gained appreciation for the fact that I would heal and be able to use my arms again. There are many people in the world who live every day with pain or permanent damage to their bodies with no hope of relief.

One month after surgery it was time to start radiation. I admit I had a grumpy attitude and wasn’t mentally or physically ready to take on any more punishment. I still couldn’t lie down or sit up easily by myself. Gratefully, I did very well with radiation, and getting on and off the table every day was good therapy for my healing body. After I was done feeling sorry for myself I was filled with determination again to get back to where I was before surgery. I kept my toddler daughter’s sippy cups on the top shelf so I would have to reach for them. I put tape marks on the wall and would try to reach higher every day.

After surgery my pre- and post-chemo tissue biopsy came back with conflicting ER and HER2 results, so my oncologist recommended that, just to be safe, I have infusions of Herceptin for the next two years. This was a big psychological setback as I thought I was just about to cross the finish line. But now, it would be back to being a pincushion. As I sit in the infusion room now receiving my Herceptin treatments I have a totally different perspective and have to hold back the tears as I watch a new cancer patient come in for his/ her first chemo treatment. Sometimes we share stories and I try to give words of encouragement and hope. I am glad that I can be an example to some of theses patients of someone who has made it through and can be living proof that there is hope, health and happiness at the other end of the tunnel.

Unfortunately, as I regained my health and strength, my mom’s health declined. The cancer that had spread to her liver was inoperable and she wasn’t responding well to medications. She died on September 16, 2007 due to liver failure caused by the spread of breast cancer to her liver. I attended one more funeral wearing my wig.S

ince completing my treatments I’ve had two more surgeries. The first was an oophorectomy to remove my ovaries as a preventative measure against ovarian cancer. This surgery was easy and I felt great after just a few days. The second surgery was to complete breast reconstruction and exchange the tissue expanders put in during my mastectomy surgery for permanent implants. This was also an easy surgery and things felt so much better after the expanders were removed. Once again my surgeons did an amazing job.

These past months I have hit several one-year anniversaries cancer free. My life has been spared and I am so grateful for each day I get to spend with my family. I can’t thank my family and friends enough for their outpouring of love and support during my treatments. They brought meals for my family, did stacks of laundry, took my car pool shifts, prayed for my recovery, sat with me during treatments, and entertained and cared for my kids so I could rest. My oldest two daughters stepped up and took care of so many things at home while my husband was at work. My friends that I played basketball every week had jerseys made with “Teri’s Team” and a cancer ribbon printed on each one to show their support while I was gone.

I can never repay those who helped me, but hopefully I can pass it on and help someone else in need. I had the example of those who sat in the infusion room with me and shared words of comfort and encouragement. I discovered that attitude is everything. You can be happy when things are down right miserable because there is always something to be grateful for. You just have to be willing to look.. Now, each day while I am exercising I think to myself “You’re not going to steal my life from me today - NOT TODAY!!! I am a survivor!!!”