Kristi ( ~ ) ( . )

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All these ladies are Angel's amongst us now. They lost their battle with Breast Cancer, these are my gurls!!! .
I am 35, I am a 5 yr breast cancer survivor. I was diagnosed at the age of 30. My page will be dedicated to my SISTERS that I have made in my journey. I will be updating periodically with new pictures. If you have any questions or concerns please don't hesitate to ask. I am not embarrased about my disease, I would rather spread the news about this beast.
My name is Kristi; I was diagnosed on 3-4-02 at the age of 30 with breast cancer. Type 2a, Estrogen/Progesterone and Her2Neu positive. I had one node positive. I had 7 chemo treatments, once every three weeks, followed by 6 weeks of daily radiation treatment. Now I am on a drug called Tamoxifen once a day for 5 yrs. So far I’m NED (no evidence of disease).
Here is my story
We had just PCS'd to Bolling AFB, in DC 6 months prior to my dx. I knew no one, no family near by and my husband was in a traveling unit. I found the lump myself not by doing my self breast exam but while taking off my bra. I figured I would get the "oh, your to young, come back in 6 months." line, but the doc's that felt it didn't like the way it felt, so immediately sent me for an ultrasound, and mammogram.... I thought 30 yrs old and doing this, this is crazy. Once they did the mammo and US, they didn't like what they saw, so they highly recommended a biopsy. So 10 day's later, I had a stereo tactic core biopsy. That was on a Thursday afternoon. They said that it would be about 5-7 business day's for the results to come back...... I got a call on Monday afternoon (3pm to be exact - woke me up from a nap), it was the head of the pathology department. She introduced herself, I tried to make small talk, she was very serious, she asked if I was alone, and I was, Eric was at work.... She said "Kristi, I've got some bad news", which I figured something was wrong since she wouldn't small talk, "your biopsy came back positive for cancer." I was crushed, but since I was alone, I didn't freak out. She said are you okay, I said "No, but I will be as soon as I call my husband." She gave me her phone number to call if we had questions....
I immediately called my husband, but he wasn't at his desk. So I paged him with 911. I didn't know he was in a meeting but he was. He said what's wrong, and at that point I just lost it. I calmed myself down and said, "ITS CANCER". He got a lump in his throat and said are you sure?? And I said yes, and he said I'm on my way home. I was numb, I had no feeling. I then called my brother and told him, then called my dad... or vice versa, don't remember anything after talking to my husband. My mother passed away when I was 19 and my brother was 17, of a heart attack, she was only 42, so my brother was really shaken up about it. So, that was 3-4-02, on 3-7-02 I was back at the doctor's office for a multi - disciplinary class. It is an 8 hr day at the clinic, talking to all the doc's that are going to be taking care of you thru your cancer journey.... Surgical oncologist, Surgeon, Oncologist, Radiation oncologist, fellow's (oncologists in training), social workers, etc, etc,etc...That was a day of a lot of talk, but if you asked me what they said, I couldn't tell you. To much information at one time.
I was scheduled for surgery on 3-19-02; they would do a fairly new procedure called a sentinel node biopsy along with the lumpectomy and full axilary node dissection (all the lymph nodes under the arm). The day before surgery I had to go and have a radioactive dye injected into the tumor area so they could see where it was draining to. Luckily it only had broken out of its "shell" and spread to one lymph node, however, the node it spread to was a sentinel node. The sentinel nodes are the main nodes that all infections drain to, and then they go thru the rest of the lymphatic system.
On 4-11-02 is when I started chemo. That was a scary day. I was in the waiting room of the hematology/oncology dept.; I kept seeing women come in with no hair, wigs, hats, or scarves. And I just started to cry. Knowing that that would be me in a few weeks, and realizing that this is real, and not a dream. Everyone told me to cut my hair before treatment; it wouldn't be as traumatic when it started to fall out... Yeah, right. This is me before my hair started falling out and before my first treatment. My hair started falling out on day 13 and on 4/28/02 we shaved it bald and Eric shaved his as well.
I had the popular cocktail... A/C - adriaomycin and cytoxan – “the red devil” is what we all call it. :) I started to feel the tingle on my head about the 11th day. My head then started to hurt, that is caused by the follicles opening up to release. I started loosing hair on the 13th day, then on 17th day, we shaved it. WOAH!!!, talk about a cry fest. I cried all the way upstairs before we shaved it, during the shaving, and after the shaving. My husband didn't want to do it if it was going to cause me that much pain. I told him I wanted it off; it was in the refrigerator, on the floor, on the bed, HAIR WAS EVERYWHERE. And my head hurt. So we shaved it, Thank God I had a perfect round head. Once I was done shaving, Eric shaved his head too. :) I wore hats mostly, at home I didn't wear anything, and around my friends, if they were comfortable seeing me bald, then I would go "topless". I did most of the time anyway because the hot flashes caused by the chemo were horrendous. My husband and I would be sitting on the couch watching a movie and I would be fanning myself, he'd look at me and I'd be all red, and he'd say "Having a hot flash dear." They were awful, but with the right medication, they are at bay now. Thank goodness.
For the month of October 2002, National Breast Cancer Awareness month, I decided to stop hiding behind my hats, or scarves and I decided to go in public with nothing on my head. It was strange at first, because I got a lot of stares... (I was just to gorgeous for everyone to stand. ha ha ha....) We are all use to seeing bald men walking around on an Air Force base, but not a woman. I was wearing my pink ribbon, so if they could see it then they knew, but no one came up to me and asked me, they just stared. So I stared back, they quickly turned away. It was fun. And I would do it again if I had to. My hair quickly grew back in, I got my first haircut in March or April, and I forgot already, that was hard too... I didn't want to cut off the hair that I struggled so hard to get. It looks good now, I'm happy with it, but I would part with it again, ITS JUST HAIR.
I am 5 yrs out and doing well. I do my BSE every month and so should you ladies/and gentleman. Men get breast cancer too... More often than we think. It could truly save your life. I tell everyone I see to do them. Some just look at me, but some say okay I will. Now whether or not they do it I don't care, but at least I asked them to.
Thanks for reading my story
Thank you all for passing this along.
Young women CAN and DO get breast cancer and SURVIVE.......I'm living proof!!!!!!!!
Sincerley, Kristi
All these women in these pictures are my SISTAH'S. They, like me, were all diagnosed with Breast Cancer under the age of 40. The one with the pink hair, her name is Dana P, she was diagnosed at the age of 22. She is now a 10 yr survivor. You GO GURL!!!!!! The picture of us with a shot is my tradition to my SISTAH's, every year that we meet, I buy each survivor a slippery nipple or buttery nipple (depends on where we are on what they are called). We then go around the table and toast each other and those that we have lost.