Breast Cancer Stories

Between esophagitis (thanks, radiation) and a mysterious lump that turned out to be fat necrosis from reconstruction, the post-cancer medical drama continues.  But instead of spiraling, Kristen went full “eat, pray, ground yourself”—ditching Prozac cold turkey after forgetting it on a trip, attending back-to-back retreats in India and Australia, and healing her body by standing barefoot in the dir...

Returning to life cancer-free hasn’t been easy, but Tita stays positive and isn’t letting anything take her spirit down.  Her chest is healing, and she doesn’t feel like any less of a woman without breasts. Rather, it reminds her that she's alive and kicking. She continues with regular immunotherapy, and it's doing wonders. Feeling more like herself, she’s working out without any joint pain, and h...

When she first looked down after her double mastectomy, Tita didn’t panic. But adjusting to life without a bra has been strange.  Nothing could prepare her for the emotions of losing a part of her body. But her tumor is gone, and no cancer was found before it was removed.  Tita reflects that while chemo saves your life, it takes a piece of your life with it. She finds peace by focusing on her spir...

Tita's finally starting to feel like herself again after six grueling months of chemo. With no more nausea, she can actually enjoy pizza and pasta without feeling sick. Her mastectomy is coming up soon, and her oncologist is calling for radiation. She's not exactly thrilled about it, but she’s determined to never have to deal with this cancer again. About Season 3 After her mom's death and some fa...

Tita's latest MRI shows her tumor is shrinking. She's planning a butterfly tattoo after her double mastectomy to symbolize her metamorphosis.  She shares what keeps her strong and optimistic: a job focused on helping others and a supportive circle of friends and family. She believes the key to staying positive is surrounding yourself with people who lift you up and share laughter. About Season 3 A...

Tita’s white blood count drops so low she has to reduce her chemo infusions to every other week. Zarxio injections and immunotherapy help keep it in a healthy range. The new schedule extends her treatments through May, leaving her mentally drained. Always perceived as strong and optimistic, it’s tough to be in tears. Empathy from her doctor is a huge help. Although the lump is shrinking, it's stil...

Feeling worse than usual and suspecting her chemo dosage might be too high, Tita asks her doctor for another mammogram and ultrasound to check visually for signs of cancer. Dismayed to find out she needs two more months of chemo than expected, she schedules an appointment with a surgeon to discuss whether a double mastectomy can remove any remaining cancer. About Season 3 After her mom's death and...

After her second triple infusion of chemo, Tita is feeling worse than ever—no appetite, headaches, achy joints, the whole side effect shebang. The silver lining is that her oncologist can no longer find the lump. She checks herself regularly, hoping it stays gone. Emotionally drained, she cuts all her hair off herself and thinks through her reasoning for wanting a double mastectomy when the time c...

Triple negative breast cancer means aggressive chemo, and for Tita, dealing with everyone else's worry on top of it is too much.  With her first chemo session completed, she's determined not to let cancer overshadow her gratitude for the good things in her life. After her mom's death and some family issues, Tita found a lump in her breast, leading to a biopsy that confirmed breast cancer. In seaso...

Following the loss of her mother and some traumatic family drama that came with it, Dr. Tita Gray discovered a lump in her breast. Scared but determined, she moves quickly to get a biopsy and finds out she has breast cancer. Further scans show it’s worse than initially thought, so her doctor recommends aggressive chemo ASAP.  Links How Not to Die by Dr. Michael Greger  Breast Cancer Stories is a p...

The results of Kristen's PET scan showed two lymph nodes lighting up, one in the gastro-hepatic area of her abdomen and the other in the lining of her esophagus. While it could just be inflammation, Dr. Ali wants her to see a gastroenterologist but the earliest appointment is almost two months away. Puzzling through the scenarios (as if she has a choice), Kristen hopes for a second, new kind of ca...

After a fiasco in Escondido involving multiplying rodents and toxic air quality, Kristen’s on the move again.  The pulmonologist found ground glass lungs and an enlarged heart, then Dr. Ali found an enlarged lymph node between her liver and stomach and asked for a PET scan. With recurrence always lurking, we play the old, familiar waiting game. ==== Season 3 is coming soon and we need your help! ...

About to turn 60, Natasha is in a dark place thinking of other things that can go wrong with her health if she’ll have to go it alone. Even though a routine MRI is clear, she obsesses about cancer spreading to other areas that aren’t being checked. Following her mother’s recent lung cancer diagnosis, Natasha worries more for her than she did for herself. Staying close to her, she plans to visit an...

5 months after her DIEP flap reconstruction surgery, Alicia returns with an update. Although the original plan was to do a DIEP flap on both sides, it didn’t turn out that way and she still has an expander on the other side. Still unsure what to do next, Alicia is taking her time to decide. If she had known things would go the way they did, she believes she would’ve just stayed flat. Support the B...

With the BRCA mutation and a family history of breast cancer, the “clock” started ticking for Alicia with biannual screenings at age 30. She tried to keep up with the screening schedule, but had young children and decided to go to nursing school. Nine uneventful years went by until she was diagnosed with Stage 2 HER2 negative hormone positive breast cancer in March of 2021. Although her mastectomy...

Natasha’s port is out and is huge, resembling a miniature computer mouse. She still believes getting a port was the best decision she’s ever made and now that it’s gone, she can wear her old clothes again. While she enjoys living alone and is back at work five days a week, advice from her oncologist has her rethinking her relationship with alcohol. Fatigue sometimes holds her back, but she still m...

In this episode of Cancer U Thrivers, hear Kristen’s interview with author, speaker, entrepreneur, and patient advocate Andrea Wilson Woods on her podcast Cancer U Thrivers. Kristen walks Andrea and her audience through her experience with stage 3 breast cancer, from finding her tumor in the shower, to chemo, her mastectomy and reconstruction, to radiation and beyond. Listen to more episodes of Ca...

After a hard fall, Kristen breaks several ribs and at a scan to check for a ruptured implant, the radiologist sees a Skittle-sized spot near her breast implant just in time for the two year anniversary of her diagnosis. On the heels of a brand new set of post-treatment horrors and indignities, Kristen returns to share the good, the bad, and the ugly, including why she moved *again* and how she end...

Natasha adjusts to post-treatment daily life, continuing with hormone blockers and finally seeing a mental health professional. While working with less fortunate patients who don't have mittens or cold caps, Natasha looks back with gratitude on how privileged her treatment experience was. At work, she finds herself pushing patients much harder to advocate for themselves around symptom management a...

After a scan shows a 1.2 cm nodule on her thyroid, Natasha goes for a biopsy which comes back with complicated results. Not wanting any more surgery or radiation right now means there’s a difficult decision to make. Three and a half weeks of radiation end without any terrible burns or skin issues, but celebrating feels phony because it’s never really over. Transitioning back into work is feeling g...

The radiation oncologist sends Natasha to a psycho-oncologist (did you know that was a thing?) because her antidepressants aren’t working, making self-care too hard. This forces her to confront the mental health struggles caused by the abrupt end of her time in Malawi, the surprise end of her 25-year marriage, and a cancer diagnosis all happening at the same time. Missing her old pre-cancer life,...

Natasha is given three options for radiation treatment, but it’s a challenge since everyone has been making decisions for her up to this point. She decides on three and a half weeks of radiation to the breast and the lymph nodes in the armpit. Down to just 104 pounds, she feels like a scarecrow in her clothes. Hoping to gain 10 pounds by the end of the hormone blocker infusions, she finds high cal...

It’s been two weeks since Natasha’s lumpectomy and because no evidence of cancer was found during surgery, she has been declared “cancer free” by her surgeon. The day of surgery was long and a little emotional from the anesthesia, but recovery has been less painful than expected. Food has flavor again and in her words, “it’s about bloody time!” The road ahead includes more hormone blocker infusion...

After Natasha and friends travel to Mexico to celebrate the end of chemo, it’s her turn to catch COVID which delays her lumpectomy surgery for a week. Her nerves are shot from constant fear of the unknown. Because there’s nothing visible on her most recent mammogram, she worries they’ll find all kinds of horrors during surgery and with chemo behind her she’s scared the tumor will grow back. Links...

Thanks to the incredible cold cap technology, Desert Essence shampoo, and seldomly using a brush, after six rounds of chemo Natasha still has her hair. Meanwhile, everything else is falling apart. Plans to celebrate at a fancy restaurant are wrecked when her date gets COVID and none of her friends can go. An insurance snafu just 2 days before her last chemo causes her to run out of Zofran and gett...