My wife Keri Haberstroh was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 at the age of 25. My name is Doug, and I'm here to tell Keri's story. It is what she would have wanted.
Keri had just finished her second round of chemotherapy treatment and breast reconstruction when she noticed a pain in her pelvic area. She had the pain checked, and as it turns out, our battle with cancer was not over yet. A small amount of her breast cancer moved through the bloodstream and took up home in her tailbone.
As she explains below to all our family, it's just another step, but this one really caught us off guard. The doctor visit we had after the scans that proved the cancer had moved was one that will be in my memory forever. It always reminds me of those times when you just shake your head and say to yourself, what now? I actually believe Keri took the news better than I did, but I know we stayed up late that night talking and I'll never forget those moments.
Subject: Update
Sent: Thursday, March 23, 2006 6:08 PM
Hello all,
Once again with the updates. I don't know if all of you will remember so I will be backtracking a little, but a few weeks ago I was having a pain in my pelvic area that was becoming a nuisance. I had it checked out and we believed it to be something dealing with my sciatic nerve. Well, the results of the bone scan and the x-rays did show a point of interest where my point of pain is, but they were not clear enough so an MRI was scheduled.
I went to get that MRI done a couple of days ago after I enjoyed my trip to Oklahoma for a couple of weeks vacation. Well, the MRI is a more extensive test and I laid in one position not able to move for almost an hour. Which is really hard to do by the way. Especially when about half way through you develop an itch.
Anyway the results of the MRI were given to me this morning and it seems that there is a growth in my sacrum bone. It also seems that the growth is cancerous. I have been told that this is more than likely a lingering seed from my breast cancer that didn't get killed from the chemo and has found a new home through the blood stream. So this is not a new cancer it's just breast cancer in a new spot.
I have also been told it is small and obviously it has to be because we didn't finish chemo that long ago. Anyway the treatment for this is radiation instead of chemo. They will not be doing any surgeries because they cannot remove any of that bone. Therefore radiation is the only option I have. Since it is caught so early and therefore is so small I will only have to endure 14 radiation treatments.
They of course have to do a couple of preliminary things, which include my first tattoo of little marks so that they know where to aim the laser. They have suggested a cream for me to use to help with the skin irritation that goes along with the radiation.
I will go once a day Mon-Fri and have the weekends off until my 14 treatments are up. I don't have a date yet on when the first one will be, but I do know it will be as soon as possible so I am guessing some time next week.
