How Breast Cancer Changed My Life and Me

src="https://webmd-a.akamaihd.net/story-telling/st-73792218-c722-ec11-8d5b-aa6cb854a633/storage/app/media/kristy-centerpiece-title-with-space-100621-1.mp4" type="video/mp4">October 8, 2021

The desert heat is oppressive and our adventures are strenuous. But I feel great. My sons, Milo and Evan, are caught up in the moment. They don't yet know the secret I am carrying. I have no intention of upsetting them here, halfway around the world from the security of our home. I want us to savor this unique experience. I don't want to ruin their memory of this time together.A few days before Jordan, we had been in Beirut visiting my husband Nabil's family.

Before my diagnosis, I led WebMD's 90-person editorial team in Atlanta and managed a household with two active teens. When it came to my family's health, I was the one in charge. If anyone got sick, I did the research, asked the questions, and chased down the answers. I grew far too sick to advocate for myself.

"No, go on your vacation," the doctor said."We're not going to be able to get you into treatment that quickly if it does turn out to be cancerous."We flew home from Jordan on a Sunday. The next morning, I went to my oncologist's office for a mammogram, a PET scan, and other tests. We needed to know if the tumor had spread beyond my breast.

I was elated when I learned that I did have the right protein receptor. In August 2019, within a month after my diagnosis, my doctors started me on a regimen of Tecentriq immunotherapy, along with the chemotherapy drug Abraxane. I confided to only a small circle of close friends and family. At work, only my boss and a few direct reports knew. I didn't want my cancer diagnosis to overshadow everything else in my life. Everyone I told was incredibly supportive.For 5 months, I underwent treatment and continued to work. Then, in January 2020, I started getting headaches. My oncologist ordered an MRI scan of my brain. The results were normal; no signs of cancerous activity. In March, my vision became blurry.

My hospital would schedule me for a brain MRI at 8 in the morning and a spinal MRI at noon. That kept me trapped in the diagnostic center for more than 3 hours. I once spent an entire day in chemotherapy because my pharmacy had a question about my blood work and didn't hear back from the doctor's office. Apparently the pharmacy had no workflow system for handling such glitches.

Byebye. Pleasant journey.

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