Melanie's Stage IV Metastatic Cancer
Donation protected
(From Melanie) Just about a year ago (2018) I woke up with a protrusion sticking out of my left breast. Weird, I thought…that shouldn’t be there. And mother f***er it hurts. Cyst? Let’s hope so. Make call to primary physician. Come on in he says.
July 2, 2018 - I head to primary physician – he does cursory examination. Let’s get you scheduled for a mammogram and ultrasound. Okay dokey.
July 6th - Mammogram/Ultrasound done. Ultrasound tech sets me up with the nurse navigator who immediately schedules me an appointment with the surgical oncologist for a biopsy of the lump in my breast.
July 12th – Head to surgical oncologist office for biopsy of breast. He asks me to raise my arms above my head…I comply. Was your armpit swollen last week? No. Well, he's just going to biopsy that lymph node as well. (Yippee)
July 23rd – meet my oncologist for the first time. DING DING DING – you have Stage IV Triple Negative Breast Cancer. EXCUSE ME WHAT???? What in the ever-loving shit is that??? You have TNBC which has metastasized to your right lung. We are going to start chemotherapy immediately. We think we can maintain and contain it…not curable, but manageable. Again, WHAT?!??!! I go home and google TNBC…HUGE MISTAKE. Google is not my friend. TNBC is no joke. I had a mammogram in 2017 – all clear..WTF. TNBC is super aggressive….perfect. Again, DO NOT Google your own diagnoses…find a research buddy to do it for you.
July 26th – MRI and WELCOME TO CHEMO class. Here’s you laundry list of possible and likely side effects. Hair loss, neuropathy, constipation, diarrhea. BTW – it is possible to have both constipation and diarrhea in the same day. Ask me how I know.
Then chemo every single week for 24 weeks August thru January. Took a few weeks off in February ‘19 (huge mistake as the tumor doubled in size). Started chemo back up in March on an every 3rd week cycle, lost all my hair. (Bald is not a good look for me.) It was then determined in mid-May that the IV chemo regime isn’t working, so switched to an oral chemotherapy regime. I meet with the oncologist again today – I’m not sure the oral chemo is working. Fingers crossed that we can figure out something that works.
February 2020 - So, Melanie has been on chemo for almost two years now. She has two more months of chemo. Then she needs to get scans done again before deciding the next course of action. Currently, her large tumor is still palpable and the status of the "mets" in her lungs are unknown until the scans are completed in April.
Melanie currently is attempting to work from home a few days a week. She gets tired very quickly and everything is a struggle for her right now as she tries to navigate this life long diagnosis.
GoFundMe Goal: provide a financial safety net for her to be able to focus on sticking around long enough to be able to see her granddaughter grow up.
Additional Support: Since Melanie tires quickly, a Mealtrain link will be provided for you to sign up to assist with housecleaning (help or gift of cleaning service), assist with running errands for her, fold laundry, light cleaning or give a Giant food store gift card or something similar.
https://mealtrain.com/w3l900
July 2, 2018 - I head to primary physician – he does cursory examination. Let’s get you scheduled for a mammogram and ultrasound. Okay dokey.
July 6th - Mammogram/Ultrasound done. Ultrasound tech sets me up with the nurse navigator who immediately schedules me an appointment with the surgical oncologist for a biopsy of the lump in my breast.
July 12th – Head to surgical oncologist office for biopsy of breast. He asks me to raise my arms above my head…I comply. Was your armpit swollen last week? No. Well, he's just going to biopsy that lymph node as well. (Yippee)
July 23rd – meet my oncologist for the first time. DING DING DING – you have Stage IV Triple Negative Breast Cancer. EXCUSE ME WHAT???? What in the ever-loving shit is that??? You have TNBC which has metastasized to your right lung. We are going to start chemotherapy immediately. We think we can maintain and contain it…not curable, but manageable. Again, WHAT?!??!! I go home and google TNBC…HUGE MISTAKE. Google is not my friend. TNBC is no joke. I had a mammogram in 2017 – all clear..WTF. TNBC is super aggressive….perfect. Again, DO NOT Google your own diagnoses…find a research buddy to do it for you.
July 26th – MRI and WELCOME TO CHEMO class. Here’s you laundry list of possible and likely side effects. Hair loss, neuropathy, constipation, diarrhea. BTW – it is possible to have both constipation and diarrhea in the same day. Ask me how I know.
Then chemo every single week for 24 weeks August thru January. Took a few weeks off in February ‘19 (huge mistake as the tumor doubled in size). Started chemo back up in March on an every 3rd week cycle, lost all my hair. (Bald is not a good look for me.) It was then determined in mid-May that the IV chemo regime isn’t working, so switched to an oral chemotherapy regime. I meet with the oncologist again today – I’m not sure the oral chemo is working. Fingers crossed that we can figure out something that works.
February 2020 - So, Melanie has been on chemo for almost two years now. She has two more months of chemo. Then she needs to get scans done again before deciding the next course of action. Currently, her large tumor is still palpable and the status of the "mets" in her lungs are unknown until the scans are completed in April.
Melanie currently is attempting to work from home a few days a week. She gets tired very quickly and everything is a struggle for her right now as she tries to navigate this life long diagnosis.
GoFundMe Goal: provide a financial safety net for her to be able to focus on sticking around long enough to be able to see her granddaughter grow up.
Additional Support: Since Melanie tires quickly, a Mealtrain link will be provided for you to sign up to assist with housecleaning (help or gift of cleaning service), assist with running errands for her, fold laundry, light cleaning or give a Giant food store gift card or something similar.
https://mealtrain.com/w3l900
Organizer and beneficiary
Heidi Karpa
Organizer
West Chester, PA
Melanie Ottersen
Beneficiary