Vicki Adsit
Vicki is my friend and coworker.
This is Vicki's story, in her own words:
In September of 2011, I found a lump in my left breast. Seeing as how I had inflicted some trauma to the area in the weeks prior, (an elbow to the breast while playing volleyball followed by a bike handle-bar jab), I thought that this possibly could be some sort of contusion. I waited a week or so and reevaluated...along with the umteen million other times I checked it out...no change....ugh! I came home from work one morning, rechecked, and the light came on, it was then that I knew...I knew I had breast cancer. I called my PMD, asked if I could come in right away as I needed a mammogram because I most likely had breast cancer. They thought I was nuts, but thankfully did get me in right away...and that is when all of the diagnostics began...
I started with a mammogram. The radiologist showed me the films and there were actually two sites that had abnormal tissue. To confirm what these growths were, I underwent a needle biopsy to the sites on September 14th, 2011. During the biopsies, the radiologist had mentioned that the growths were "acting like cysts". For some reason, I knew otherwise...I just had that gut feeling that I had cancer. The following day, on September 15th, 2011, the radiologist apologetically called to inform me that I had ductal carcinoma. He was very kind and offered some very positive words of encouragement to me. Then, all of the phone calls started coming in...
The following two weeks were filled with meeting doctors, blood work, port placement and a PET scan. My scan, of course, showed the two sites in my left breast, but another area "glowed" as well. I could see it the technician’s face that something else showed up. I spent the next gut-wrenching days waiting for the results. I received a call from my oncologist and he explained to me that my ovaries were also slightly "glowing"; however, he said this may be attributed to my young age, and because of that, we were going to forge on with treatment as planned. My doctor had also recommended that I undergo genetic testing which would not only influence my treatment, but also provide information for my family members as well. I tested positive for the BRCA 1 genetic mutation, along with my mom and cousin.
So...a medical oncologist, breast surgeon, plastic surgeon and gynecological oncologist later, I, with the support of these wonderful doctors and nurses, was ready to start treatment. Given the type of cancer, ER+ (slightly), PR -, Her2 Neu -, my age and previously healthy state, we were going to be aggressive. Thankfully, there was no lymph node involvement! It was decided that I would have chemo first, undergo a bilateral mastectomy, and then potentially radiation. He wanted to start me with chemo so that he could assess the effectiveness of the drugs on tumor shrinkage.
On October 5th, 2011, I started by first cycle of what would be a total of four every two weeks of adriamycin and cytoxan. My cousin came with me to every infusion...I sort of believe we provided some comic relief to many of the other patients...we made many friends!! After the second cycle, my oncologist could no longer feel one of the two tumors. The next toxic gun was Taxol. I received one round of this and my doctor wasn't satisfied with the results on my stubborn, larger tumor so he added more. I received taxol and carboplatin every three weeks for five more cycles. We saw some shrinkage of the tumor but it was clearly still there. Next step, mastectomy and hysterectomy...
But, before the surgeries, I had a repeat PET scan. The results of this scan were much better than the first. Although the stubborn tumor was still there, as I knew it would be, the second tumor was completely gone and my ovaries were no longer "glowing". Yay!
On April 24th, 2012 I had a complete hysterectomy. My GYN oncologist used the DiVinci robot for this surgery, leaving me with smaller laparoscopic scars instead of one larger scar and a quicker healing time. I decided to have the hysterectomy due to my BRCA 1 status. People with this gene mutation have an 87% chance of getting breast cancer and an almost 50% chance of getting ovarian cancer. I was also at a slighter risk for uterine cancer as well, therefore, I had it all removed. My mom had ovarian cancer when she was in her 40's, it was a very scary time for us, so I certainly wanted to eliminate this risk. As I said before, my mom and cousin are both BRCA 1 positive...with this information, they both underwent prophylactic mastectomies. Thankfully so, because my mom had ductal carcinoma in situ in two sites in her left breast (stage 0/pre-cancer). No further treatment was necessary for her :)
On May 2nd, 2012, I underwent a bilateral mastectomy with immediate reconstruction (expanders) and sentinel node biopsy (wow, did the dye injections hurt!). The surgery went well. The tumor was "abutted" to my pectoral muscle so they did have to shave off a little of my muscle for a cleaner border. My lymph nodes remained negative which was awesome news.
Then, at the end of June I began radiation. Although my borders were all negative, my oncologist wanted me to do so because of the close proximity of the tumor to my pectoral muscle. I went five days a week for six weeks. I was also finally able to come back to work at this time...it seemed like forever. I was so happy to come back, but it was also strange for me to flip back to the other side of things...to go back to nursing rather than being the patient, after all, that was all I knew for 8 months. I learned a lot about myself and my strength and determination during those eight months...I guess I am a pretty tough cookie :)
I am currently just a year past my last day of treatment...I can't believe it!! I will continue to take tamoxifen for at least 5 years, I can certainly handle that. And now, I have graduated from every three month doctor visits to every six. I value and love life and appreciate every single day...
Vicki chose Mile 19 in honor of her grandma, whose birthday is January 19. She wrote, "I sadly lost my grandma, my best friend, two days after my first round of chemo. She is now my angel that watches over me and protects me....there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of her and miss her!"
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