New Medicine, New Adventures
Hey there!
If you’re reading this it means that I officially have made it through my first dose of “AC.”
I feel like this is definitely a big accomplishment considering I have been so nervous about this drug regimen for months, ever since first hearing about it. The cancer community talks about how harsh this drug regimen is and it has caused this ominous looming feeling leading up to experiencing it myself. I try not to let the experiences of others get in my head but it’s hard to ignore statements like “intolerable nausea”, “walking to my mailbox was my exercise” and “It took everything in me to tie my shoelaces.” when others talk about the extreme side effects from the medicine.
Any normal person wouldn’t be psyched about this, but hey as the doctors say “Everyone is different” - right?! I have heard this term so many times since diagnosis that I actually am going to have it made into merch… coming soon!
So far my side effects from “AC” are increased hot flashes and dry mouth. This builds on top of my current side effects of extreme bloating, heartburn, and continued not wanting to get out of bed-ness (okay, I guess that’s called fatigue). My doctor said a few things are extremely important during this regimen - sleep, exercise, and water intake. So I let my body rest when it wants to, walk 30 minutes at least 5x a week, and drink lots and lots of water! Luckily, I have no nausea and vomiting which I am counting as a huge win!
Since this drug regimen is so rough, they do prescribe you two additional meds to take after treatment to help get you by.
Dexamethasone: Yay, more steroids! (This is pure sarcasm) You take a low dose of steroids for three days post-treatment to help prevent nausea and vomiting.
Nuelasta Onpro: This drug regimen really wipes out your white blood cells, causing you to become neutropenic and making you extremely susceptible to sickness and infection. So before you leave your healing session you get a cool little gadget attached to the back of your arm that administers a white blood cell stimulant 27 hours after treatment. This is really nice because it saves you a trip to the hospital!
Cheers, to only having THREE healing sessions and doses of “AC” left!
Now that I’m finally seeing the light at the end of the treatment tunnel, I’ve started the process of meeting with specialists at the Mayo Clinic Breast Clinic. They are helping me prepare for my double mastectomy which will tentatively take place on March 27th. I am not very excited about the surgery itself, but one thing that has made me excited is the surgeon I get to work with. She is a world-renowned breast surgeon and I am very honored that I have the access and opportunity to work with her. I’ve heard nothing but amazing things about her in local “breastie” Facebook Groups so I can’t help but to be excited to meet her as she is very highly recommended.
It’s hard, thinking about permanently removing a part of my body after all I’ve already been through. But on the flip side, these darn boobies tried to kill me and I’m willing to part ways with them knowing that new ones can be rebuilt. What brings me peace of mind is honestly that people go through this for fun. Not chopping off their boobs, but rebuilding new ones, better ones. So if people can do this for fun, I can do this for health and longevity. I can do hard things!
When I met with a surgery specialist the first week in January I was surprised she found another lump on the right side of my breast. I’m telling you, if you go looking for things you are bound to find something. It’s very odd because this lump could be felt but wasn’t found on my ultrasound and mammogram that took place two days prior. It also wasn’t felt by my oncologist who did a breast exam two weeks ago. Where did this thing come from? Trust me, it sent me down a spiral.
After this scare, I was scheduled for an MRI that took place on January 10th. After getting the final results it seems it was likely just dense breast tissue that the specialist was feeling. PHEWFTA! Because if there were any new masses they would need to biopsy them and potentially pull me from treatment and send me straight to surgery. Further, the MRI results showed that the original “thing” I found is no longer visualized. There is currently just one smaller mass, one that I’ve never felt, that they can see on the scans. But scans show it has shrunk in size compared to previous imaging. Looking at the results and seeing the words “positive response to treatment” has never felt so good!
Any cancer patient will tell you that one of the worst things is waiting to get in for scans and waiting for results. We like to call it called “scanxiety”.
Scanxiety (noun): the anxious feelings that arise in the time leading up to a cancer imaging scan, during the scan, and while waiting for results.
When you find something like a lump, you are terrified for your life. Yet, life around you doesn’t stop. You’re at a standstill and can’t mentally move forward until you find out what the heck is going on inside of you. You need to remind yourself to eat food, drink water, and let the dog out. You keep your phone on loud in case you get a call and continuously check your portal. Most of the time the results of scans or bloodwork are uploaded to your online health portal BEFORE you actually get to speak with a doctor. This leads to Googling random doctor terms that don’t seem like English. Not good.
When you do speak with doctors in person it’s not what you think. You usually cry when they walk in the door before they even say anything to you. There is no corner office or mahogany desk like in the movies. You get told life-changing news in an awkwardly small exam room or on the phone. It’s heavy being told what is happening in your body, being told about your livelihood. The best doctors do it with grace and empathy, but there are definitely some who lack that which makes the encounters worse. Luckily, I feel pretty blessed with the wisdom and grace from a majority of the doctors I have worked with during these last few months.
Let’s shift to some brighter news…
I’ve added two NEW people to my healing squad.
Lindsay Condon
Cousin
My sweet cousin payed me a visit during her winter break from college. I chalked it up to a learning experience as she is currently in her third year of nursing school at SDSU and I thought it would be interesting for her to see what happens at an infusion center during a healing session. She got to see the nurses access my port, take my vitals, administer my pre-meds, and give me the healing meds. I was so thankful that she wanted to spend her time off from school with me in the hospital. She will be such an amazing nurse one day :)
Lindsay came to town the night before and lovingly helped me wrap up some Christmas projects I had been procrastinating. We laughed a lot because we ran into a lot of issues (as we normally do) between running out of ingredients for the cookies and missing all of the measuring cups and spoons we needed. She asked me where my 1/2 cup is, and I replied nonchalantly with: “In the dog food.” That’s normal, right? Needless to say for Christmas she gifted me measuring cups and spoons so hopefully we don’t run into the same issues again.
Emma Koenig
Friend & Fellow Hormel Wife
I’ve known Emma for almost 8 years now and we both currently live in Austin, MN. She is my closest friend in town and has two littles, so when her husband was off from work during the week she was able to come to one of my healing sessions.
She has been one of my constants in this healing journey and is one of the angels who has helped me by bringing over items I need when I am down bad on my couch. You could say that Emma is super special too because she is one of the very few people I see right now because I am keeping my circle small. She has been there since the beginning when I found the lump and had concerns, so everything came full circle when she was able to come to one of my healing sessions with me.
The healing session with her was the final one of Taxol, which means I no longer have to do cryotherapy on my hands and feet to prevent neuropathy! Emma brought me a whole bunch of snacks and goodies, including an elderberry wellness shot - which I took in celebration of no longer having to freeze my hands and feet during my healing sessions. Woohoo!
I was able to spend the holidays with family.
After dealing with my new diagnosis of adrenal insufficiency over Thanksgiving, I was blessed to feel good enough to spend Christmas with family! I am grateful to have had both good energy and a good appetite to attend three different Christmas celebrations.
The holidays for the Spitzack family looked a little different this year as my sweet 91-year-old grandma (who I call Granny-O’s) is in hospice. We made the most of it and brought the food, fun, and games to her building! It was so fun to see her face light up at the crazy holiday games we were playing. One thing to mention is that our family has chosen not to share my current health situation with her. But with the beauty of cold capping, I can more easily conceal my diagnosis from her as I don’t have physical evidence of the cancer treatment. This is just one of the many reasons why people may choose to invest in cold capping, and I’m so glad I did because now that she has been placed in hospice this time with her is just too precious to pass up.
I was able to have a little northern getaway for New Years weekend.
While we are sad to miss out on spending our annual time with the Bortner family in Mexico, we decided to plan a getaway to their cabin in Remer, MN while they were away. We invited our friends Jim and Emma and their two kiddos who are 2 1/2 and 6 months old.
The cabin is the perfect retreat, especially in the winter, because it’s so cozy. They have a wood-burning fireplace that keeps the place toasty and you have absolutely nowhere to be or nothing to do. We played games, went on nature walks, and spent time cooking yummy meals. I also started a new book which was a highlight. So grateful for a little getaway in what feels like months!
After returning home from the cabin I had a big week of appointments, 8 to be exact. But now that they are over and I am 1/4 of my way done with the AC regimen I am finally starting to see the light at the end of this very long, windy, dark, tunnel.
In other news, I am happy to announce that there is a group of amazing women who have formed a Brave Beautiful Boobies team for the upcoming Plunging for Pink event in Austin. As they are dedicating their jump in a freezing cold lake to me, please consider donating to the team and furthering cancer research by clicking the link below.
Donate to the Brave Beautiful Boobies Team.
Stay warm & stay healthy,
Xo, Breanna
