Rachael's Breast Cancer Journey

The evening of January 6th I felt a lump and a mass in my left breast. I cried and prayed that it wasn't cancer. I called and made an appointment with my doctor the next morning. My appointment was scheduled for the following Monday. So I prayed and waited the rest of the week hoping for the best.



I went for my appointment on that Monday January 12th, 2009. I met with the doctor and she said it was a cyst and suggested I take Evening Prim Rose. She was so confident that it was a cyst that even if it wasn't completely gone in 30 days she didn't need to see me. So I called Shane and gave him the "good news". I took the Prim Rose for a week and there was no change in the lumps. I called the Doctor's Office back and asked them to schedule an ultrasound to verify that it was indeed a cyst. I couldn't get in until February 2,2009. It seemed like it was forever. The waiting was torture.




Finally the day arrived and Shane & I headed to the Presbyterian Breast Center downtown Charlotte. I really wasn't too worried. I figured I was just going in to verify it was a cyst and give me some peace of mind. I went back and they had me do an ultrasound and Mammogram. It really wasn't painful. Not at all what I expected. Next the radiologist came in to check the ultrasound himself. He looked quietly at the scans as he monitored the ultrasound pictures of my left breast. He turned the machine off and said he did not see any cysts. I knew something was there and now I knew it wasn't a cyst. He said, "You need to have an immediate biopsy." The tears began to fall and I asked him to go get my husband. All I could think about was by three beautiful children and how they might not have a Mommy to grow up with, about how long I had waited for my adorable baby girl, Caitlyn Rose, and how I did not want to leave my wonderful husband a widower. I know it was the worst but that is what I thought.



The doctor brought Shane back and he asked if we could have a minute. Shane pulled me into his arms and I just sobbed. I couldn't believe it was happening to me, to us. Shane began to pray. We didn't really know what to say at that moment, but that God would give us the peace and understanding to help us with whatever was to come.
They told us we could eat lunch and come back for the biopsy. When we returned they introduced me to two oncologist when I came back from lunch. That made me a little worried more than I already was. I went back and the nurse prepped me for the biopsy. I asked her, "You see this all the time. Do my lumps/masses look bad? I need to prepare myself on way or another." She said, "They are pretty serious looking, but we will know for sure by Thrusday."

The radiologist came in and did the biopsy. They give you local anethesia then put a mini screwdriver looking device to make a path for the biopsy needle gun. Next, the insert the gun and you feel a little stick and they pull out a skin tissue sample.



The radiologist said just for disclosure that my whole family would probably hate him on Thursday when they called to give the results to me. I asked, "Does that me you think that it will be bad news?" He said, "It doesn't look good." They gave me the name of three breast surgeons as I left and said they would call me on Thursday February 5th.



Shane & I went home. He had already started calling family and friends about the biopsy. I cleaned my face up before I got home so the boys would not recognize anything out of the ordinary. The next day I was scheduled to fly out to Oregon to help my cousin Nikki. She is 7 months pregnant with little Ryker Enders. They just finished building a new home and she was so tired. So I love to do the whole unpacking, organizing, and decorating thing & decided the week before to go help her. Now I had to decide to go or not. Shane told me to go that if I stayed here I would only think constantly about what "it" might be. He is right. He knows me so well. He said, "I want to be with you when you get the news. If it is good I will rejoice with you and if not I will cry with you and be here for you." He is the best. I decided to go. I couldn't let "it" take over my life and make changes already.



The next morning, I cried as I left Shane knowing the next time I saw him we would know for sure and that he wouldn't be there with me when I found out. Two days later Thursday Morning they called and told me that I have Breast Cancer. Wow. I never thought it would be me. But here I am. My cousin Nikki cried and prayed with me. I called Shane and told him and he in turn proceeded to call everyone else. Nikki called all the family in Oregon/Idaho to let them know. My little cousin Andrew asked, "What's wrong Rachy?" I told him I was sick and that we needed to pray. With the simple faith of a child he said, "Jesus will heal you Rachy cause he took my cough away when I prayed." Oh that I can hold on to that child like faith. I love you Andrew. More than all the Stars in the Sky!



Family & Friends began to call giving me well wishes, thoughts and prayers that I was going to be just fine. That God would heal me. I know God can, but I just had the feeling after my Monday appointment that God's will was for me to go thru this for a reason. The only thing I tried to pray was God help me to have the strenghth to go thru this and make it for my kids and husband. My cousin, Jenn said she was praying for my healing also and said she felt like the Holy Spirit spoke and said, "This is bigger than just Rachael being sick." I feel that it is. And that God will use this to help someone else. How many times have we all prayed or sung the song, "If you can use anything Lord, you can use me." Or "Whatever it takes, God" Well I guess I didn't realize what that would really mean. But here I am and I am willing. I don't like it but I know God will help all of us thru this valley.

No one really knows  but about 3 months ago we found a lump under Connor's chin. I took him to the doctor and the ugly "C" word showed it's head. We had blood work done, waited & prayed. That night I told Shane, " I wish it was me not him. I would go thru this for him." I didn't want to see my child go thru something like Cancer. His tests came back negative and it has since gone away. But what if God heard the cry of a mother for her child and this was his answer. I lovingly and willingly will go thru all of this for my little boy, so that he doesn't have to.



I came home the following Wednesday on Feruary 11th. It was so easy to pretend it wasn't happening to me, that I wasn't really sick at all. Nikki and I had gone out shopping one day for some misc. decorations and I totally forgot about it. Then I walked up to the counter at Bed Bath & Beyond and there on the counter was a box of TicTac's with the famous Pink Ribbon. And I thought, Wow that is me. But going home I had to face the reality of it all. And it was pretty scary. I was so glad to be going home to Shane. I think it was good me being gone though. It gave everyone a chance to deal with all of the emotions and getting this horrible news in their own way before they had to see me. The same for me. I could come home get in survival mode and fight this cancer.



Friday the 13th, what a date, I had an MRI done. I cried knowing this was the beginning of a long road ahead of us. I had an appointment with the surgeon, Dr Turk, on Monday the 16th. We went and he set out a treatment plan. Shane created a Hope List to keep everyone updated. Listed Below:



We’ve had a lot of calls asking for updates so I figured I would put together an email on what we know & have found out so far.

I made a distribution list called the “Hope List” of family and friends wanted to keep you all up to date. Hopefully this catches no none by surprise but if it did I apologize. I don’t mean this email to be impersonal or have it come across as clinical but merely a way to keep everyone up to speed.

We met with a surgeon today who went over all the test results & MRI results. He has formulated his opinion & advised us. Tomorrow we have a meeting with what they call the “2nd Opinion Board”. It’s a panel of 3 surgeons, oncologists & others who review all the data, the main surgeon’s opinion & either affirms it or makes another recommendation.

This is what we know right now.

1. The cancer is a high grade, aggressively invasive ductal carcinoma
2. It is isolated to the left side & is not present in the right.
3. Lymph nodes all appear normal at this time. Final determination on this will not be until during the surgery. For them to appear normal right now is extremely good news.
4. CAT & Bone Scans will be ordered & taken this week to ensure that the cancer is indeed localized & not spread to any other areas.
5. Should (4) be negative then the surgery will be scheduled consisting of a right mastectomy.
6. It has been decided that a bilateral surgery not be done at this time to aid in the short term healing & to help better cope with the after treatment.
7. Surgery should be scheduled tomorrow night or Wednesday & the operation should occur within the next two weeks.
8. They stated that recovery time is dependent on the individual but should be between 2.5-4 weeks.
9. At this point the treatment after will consist of approx 4 months of chemotherapy. The frequency during this time is approx every 2-3 weeks.
10. Radiation will not be necessary unless (4) is positive

Of course all this is only what we know at this point. Things could change after the “2nd opinion” clinic meeting tomorrow but so far this is the way things are tracking. We are positive that things are as good as they can be at this point in the journey so all the prayers are working.

Thank you for all the support, well wishes & prayers. Please continue to keep us in your thoughts & prayers.

Sincerely,

Shane Higginbotham



The next day we spent 4 hours with Oncologist, Surgeons, Radiation Oncologist, Nutrition, Genetics, & Social Workers getting an overall second opinion and finding out more about the type of cancer that I have.



I now know that I am ER & PR + Which means that the Estrogen and Progestrone are positive. I am also HER2 + which is good and bad. Bad because it is a serious cancer but good because they have a new drug called Herceptain that treats it very well.



We also decided after our meeting that it would be better to do the Chemotherapy first. For a few reasons:
1. They will be able to physically tell that the chemo is working on the tumors (3).
2. It will give them a baseline to work off of and if it totally shrinks the tumors then my prognosis percentage goes way up.
3. This will also prolong me having to have the one breast removed.

So we have decided that this is the best route to go and discussed it with our surgeon and he agrees. Dr. Turk wants to start chemo treatment immediately. I have to have a CAT Scan & a Bone Scan so that they can verify that the cancer has not spread. So I will probably start chemo next week. I meet with our oncologist tomorrow on Friday @ 1:30pm. Then I will have a chemo teaching class for more information the first of next week then chemo.

So I am sitting here at Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte. I went this morning and had the injection and IV put in for the bone scan and CAT Scan. They injected me with the radioactive material for the bone scan. Now I have to wait 3 hours. So I am sitting in CAT area drinking this powdered Tang tasting mess. The first one isn't so bad but you have to drink about 5 cups of it in 1 hour. YUCK!!!
I am done with the CAT Scan and was finally able to eat. The tracer they injected into my IV for the CAT scan made me a little nauseous on the table. So I got a snack of peanut butter pretzels, almonds & a Sprite. Now waiting for the bone scan that will be in 1 1/2 hours.
That Tang mess is not setting well on my stomach at all. Oh Well only 10 more minutes till the bone scan.
I had the bone scan and everything looks good as far as they can tell. I will have the results tomorrow at Dr. Lementani Office @ 1:30pm.
Well I am going to sign out for the day.
Love to all,
Rachael