Kari's Fight Against Stage 4 Breast Cancer
Donation protected
Most of you that read this remember I was in Virginia for 4 months for Radiological Tech Qual School. While I was down there I started to get sick. Weird things I thought were just food poisoning or not being used to the area. I started retaining fluid in my belly. Maybe water weight? Then the localized pain around my liver. Still stress, I was 100% sure. A week before and right after my final, I went to walk-in care. They said I had elevated liver enzymes, perhaps fatty liver disease. I had to have my husband come get me in Virginia and leave school a month early. The pain was becoming unbearable.
I came home on Oct 4th. I reported to work like normal on the 7th, but on the 8th I felt beyond run down. I could barely walk or catch my breath. I went to walk-in and they sent me immediately to the ER. Everything was about my liver still. That's where all the pain was. They had all the notes from Virginia to work with. Still thinking fatty liver disease or some type of hepatitis. In the middle of the night, I was transferred to SMHC and admitted. For the next 6 days, the doctors were trying to figure out what was going with my liver. Multiple ultrasounds CT scan MRI and Xrays. Only finding elevate enzymes and a blood clot in the liver initially.
On the 14th they determined that is was being caused by something elsewhere so they started to look for other causes. They found a large tumor in my left breast. A biopsy was done that night and initially was determined it was stage 2 breast cancer. The next night we were told that it was, in fact, stage 4 and had spread to my liver. Obviously, we were shocked. By this point in my hospital stay, I was beyond exhausted. With blood draws, my roommate and constant alarms going off, I was only getting about 30 minutes of sleep. After 9 days, I was put in a single room and slept for over 24hrs straight, just in time to start chemo. I started to feel a little bit better. There was the talk of even going home soon. Then on Sunday the 20th I took an abrupt turn for the worse. I started vomiting, couldn't catch my breath and had chest pains. I had a blood clot in my lungs and ended up in essentially a coma for 4 days. On October 29th I was finally able to leave the hospital, just in time to be home for my youngest daughter's 9th birthday.
I had my second round of chemo on November 7th. I'm on Taxol for my treatment which carries some gnarly side effects. Namely nausea and fatigue, which means I haven't been able to return to work. Down to one income with 5 kids has left our savings gone and now we're at the scrape stage. Everyone asked how they could help and this is it. We need help with making sure the major bills go out on time. At least until I can get the side effects under control and can return to work.
I came home on Oct 4th. I reported to work like normal on the 7th, but on the 8th I felt beyond run down. I could barely walk or catch my breath. I went to walk-in and they sent me immediately to the ER. Everything was about my liver still. That's where all the pain was. They had all the notes from Virginia to work with. Still thinking fatty liver disease or some type of hepatitis. In the middle of the night, I was transferred to SMHC and admitted. For the next 6 days, the doctors were trying to figure out what was going with my liver. Multiple ultrasounds CT scan MRI and Xrays. Only finding elevate enzymes and a blood clot in the liver initially.
On the 14th they determined that is was being caused by something elsewhere so they started to look for other causes. They found a large tumor in my left breast. A biopsy was done that night and initially was determined it was stage 2 breast cancer. The next night we were told that it was, in fact, stage 4 and had spread to my liver. Obviously, we were shocked. By this point in my hospital stay, I was beyond exhausted. With blood draws, my roommate and constant alarms going off, I was only getting about 30 minutes of sleep. After 9 days, I was put in a single room and slept for over 24hrs straight, just in time to start chemo. I started to feel a little bit better. There was the talk of even going home soon. Then on Sunday the 20th I took an abrupt turn for the worse. I started vomiting, couldn't catch my breath and had chest pains. I had a blood clot in my lungs and ended up in essentially a coma for 4 days. On October 29th I was finally able to leave the hospital, just in time to be home for my youngest daughter's 9th birthday.
I had my second round of chemo on November 7th. I'm on Taxol for my treatment which carries some gnarly side effects. Namely nausea and fatigue, which means I haven't been able to return to work. Down to one income with 5 kids has left our savings gone and now we're at the scrape stage. Everyone asked how they could help and this is it. We need help with making sure the major bills go out on time. At least until I can get the side effects under control and can return to work.
Organizer
Kari Zielke
Organizer
Sanford, ME
