December 29, 2011
2007 was a life changing year for me. September was the month I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. After the discovery of a 6cm lump in my breast, I was initially diagnosed as having what was then identified as Stage 3A, HER 2 Positive Breast Cancer. It would eventually become Stage 4 Triple Negative Breast Cancer, a particularly difficult type of breast cancer to treat successfully. Of course, after such a diagnosis, difficult thoughts began to creep in, and I couldn’t help thinking of my two young daughters, Lauren and Lexie, then just 9 and 10 years old. How would they deal with this? How would my husband Eric deal with this? All of my dreams for the future, for my family’s future, seemed thrown into uncertainty, even chaos. But I had to regain my composure and focus on the treatments needed to defeat the cancer. And take it a day at a time.
Christina Dudley and her Family
After the diagnosis, it was determined that a mastectomy, and a partial lymphectomy would be the best course of action, since some of the cancer had in fact spread to my lymph nodes. I began my surgery and treatments at The Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which my husband had researched and found to be a center that had vast experience and expertise in the treatment of this rather aggressive form of breast Cancer.
After many weeks and several trips to and from Philadelphia with Eric always by my side, we came back to California to continue the radiation and chemotherapy treatments recommended by CTCA. I began the treatments in Murrieta in December of 2007 and had 6 months of chemotherapy, followed by 1 month of radiation. We had a lot on our plates while we dealt with the diagnosis and treatments. Eric’s mother Shirley, at 60 years old, lost her battle with cancer, the economy spiraled downwards, our medical bills spiraled upwards, and all while Eric worked hard to open our new wine shop, Dudley’s Wine & Gifts. In fact, my last treatment of radiation was during the “soft opening” of our wine shop, and our “Grand Opening Day” celebration was the first day I wore my newly returning hair without a wig!
After the completion of my treatments, and for approximately a year, I went on with life. After all, in my mind, assuming my cancer was in remission, I was cancer free! My oncologist in Murrieta recommended I have a blood test every 3 months to determine if I needed any further treatment. My insurance company denied what we later learned was the much more effective PET and CT scans as a means of detecting any new growth of the cancer, so the blood work would have to suffice. My blood work continued to come back negative, and I continued to stay busy working at my day job while helping Eric in the new shop in the evenings. Unfortunately, in the summer of 2009, I noticed a lump on my neck and when I had my next doctor’s appointment (again with clear blood work), I pointed out the lump. The doctor now suggested I get a scan and submitted the request to the insurance company, and sure enough there were three new growths that showed on the scan, one in my neck, one in my left lung and the third in my mammary lymph node (just behind the sternum). The cancer had spread and was now metastatic. I went back to the doctor, asking why the blood tests didn’t show anything, and why I had to discover this new lump on my own. He informed us that only 40% of patients show a recurrence in their blood work. I was devastated that I put so much faith in blood work, when in more than half of the people tested, it would not show a positive result. I only learned this from the Murrieta oncologist after the recurrence.
After a biopsy in October 2009, my cancer diagnosis was changed from HER II positive to HER II negative, now being referred to as Stage 4 Metastatic Triple Negative Breast Cancer. The Murrieta oncologists had little experience with anyone’s cancer registering differently from the original diagnosis, so he recommended a 2nd opinion. I pooled opinions from Loma Linda University Hospital, City of Hope, and finally to UCSD Moores Cancer Center, where I am currently undergoing chemotherapy and have been since 2009. I have also undergone additional radiation therapy and am on my 4th chemotherapy drug since my recurrence. Unfortunately, the cancer has continued to spread to my liver, both lungs, spine, breast plate and near my gall bladder. It’s been a long road. Four and a half years now. But we take it a day at a time.
Yet in many ways, I’m the lucky one. I have such wonderful support from my family and friends and I don’t know what I would do without that wide and beautiful network of support. They keep me going, without even knowing how much they are helping me. The comfort of distraction is a powerful tool with which to battle this cancer, and friends help me in that endeavor by inviting me places, sitting around chatting with me at our wine shop, and having good conversation. I know the level of concern without a word being mentioned, and I appreciate everything that is done for me and my family, because we couldn’t do it without you. Me, my family, and my friends. Together, we’ll take it a day at a time.
Christina