Breast Cancer Awareness Month: A Survivor’s Full-Circle Journey
October 21, 2024 | Episode 27
Producer’s Note: The following is an AI-generated transcript of The Wellness Conversation, an OhioHealth Podcast
SPEAKERS: Lindsey Gordon, Marcus Thorpe, Katie Foster
Marcus Thorpe 00:14
Pops of pink everywhere you turn. It is October, and that means it's Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a time to remember and honor those we have lost. To share hope, support our patients, survivors and their families. Welcome to the Wellness Conversation an OhioHealth Podcast. I'm Marcus Thorpe...
Lindsey Gordon 00:29
And I'm Lindsay Gordon. We're joined by Katie Foster, a physician assistant with OhioHealth and recent breast cancer survivor, Katie, thanks so much for being with us today. You have a remarkable story. Let's begin with your diagnosis. When did you know? How did you find out that you had breast cancer?
Katie Foster 00:47
So I was 19 weeks pregnant with my second son. I had a one and a half year old at home at the time. Well, I guess he was closer to one at that time, and I felt a lump in my breast when I was breastfeeding my first son, that breast got clogged all the time in this lump that I felt, felt exactly like it felt when I would have a clogged milk duct. So, I didn't think anything of it. I figured, oh, just weird pregnancy changes. Our bodies do wild things during pregnancy. So, I didn't think anything of it. But fortunately, I had an upcoming appointment with my OBGYN, Dr. Brianna Donlin, and she said we should probably get an ultrasound. I remember at the time thinking, this is dramatic, but I'm glad we did it, because it saved my life.
Marcus Thorpe 01:33
I kind of think about that time for you and your family, and you've got all this excitement building, and you're ready for this next chapter of having another child in your life, and then all of a sudden, you're having to worry. And not that you don't already have a lot of worry, was that the most difficult thing was that you go from pure joy and hope to oh my gosh, my world's turning upside down?
Katie Foster 01:54
Yes, it was very stressful, to put it lightly. So, when I had that first ultrasound. I'm a PA, so I know a lot of medical things. The radiologist who was doing the ultrasound was using a lot of cancer words at me, but we didn't have a biopsy. So, she wouldn't tell me that I had cancer. So, she was saying all these cancer words. And I looked at her, and I said, Do I have cancer? And she said, Oh, no, we need, we need to get a biopsy first. And I was like, ah, I need an answer. So luckily, through the job that I had worked at previously, I was good friends with a lot of the general surgery residents at Grant Medical Center. So, I reached out to one of them, and she got in touch with Dr. Halaharvi, who's one of the breast surgeons here at OhioHealth. And literally, the next day, Dr. Halaharvi had me in her office, I had another ultrasound, a mammogram, a biopsy, and just based on the imaging, they were able to tell me, yes, this is absolutely breast cancer, but we're very hopeful that it's very early and it's not something that should be, you know, really life threatening to you at this time. So that was comforting. We were able to get some answers, and we were just kind of waiting for the biopsy to see how bad it was. So those two days waiting were torture.
Marcus Thorpe 03:05
Yeah. So then you have to decide on treatment, obviously. And you have to start thinking about, Okay, I have to balance being a mom already. I'm having a newborn child at the same time mixing that with my treatment. How did you decide first on how to do your treatment or what you wanted to do, but then talk about that balancing act at the same time.
Katie Foster 03:24
So the extent of the cancer in my one breast was so much that it was I had to get a mastectomy. So, Dr. Halaharvi told me I will need a mastectomy, and it was my choice to get a bilateral mastectomy. So, I elected for that. And two weeks after I met her, she had me on the OR table. I had a bilateral mastectomy. Her partner, Dr. Mark Cripe, worked on the other side at the same time, so I didn't have to be under anesthesia for any longer than necessary. My baby did great. He was a little rock star through the whole thing, and so did both of the surgeons. They Dr. Halaharvi, got all of the cancer out. So we were really happy about that up until that point, chemo wasn't on the table. It was just I was going to have surgery, and maybe I would have to take a hormone blocking pill. But unfortunately, after surgery, when we got the pathology back, my cancer was upstaged a little bit, and at that point, we started talking about chemo, which was really upsetting, because I held on tight to that fact that okay, I am going through this while I'm pregnant with a baby at home, I'm losing my breasts. I'm not going to be able to breastfeed, but I'm not going to lose my hair. I've always had this long, dark, curly hair that's been a defining feature for me, and that was immediately where I went. So, all of a sudden, chemo is on the table, and I cried a lot. I cried a lot about losing my hair, you know, maybe losing fertility, because there's a lot of other stuff that goes along with chemo. And then all of a sudden I was like, how ungrateful am I? I was I was crying then, because I felt vain, I'm crying about losing my hair, when here I am with a healthy pregnancy, my cancer is gone. So. Just this huge roller coaster of emotions. But fortunately, I did not have to do the chemo while I was pregnant. Some women do have to go through that, which I can't imagine having to do that, but some women do. I did not. They induced me at 37 weeks. I had a healthy, perfect little baby boy. I had my port place the next day. A port is something that they put in your chest to help with IV access for chemo, so you don't have to get stuck in your arm finding a vein every week. So they put a port in the day after I had my baby, and then two weeks later I started chemo.
Lindsey Gordon 05:34
I mean, I'm exhausted thinking about, you know, giving birth and the newborn stage you're caring you're on that two, three-hour cycle of, you know, feeds, it's there's no beginning of the day, there's no end of the day. You just don't sleep. And then you have a little one already at home. And now you begin this journey of treatment, the next phase of your treatment journey. I want to ask you more about the cold cap therapy, as you mentioned. But first Do you ever look at your son today and think this little buddy we went through this together?
Katie Foster 06:05
Yes, that's going to make me cry. Yeah, he's my special little guy. When we were trying to come up with a name for him, my husband said, Oh, we should name him after you. First of all, I was like, well, that's a little morbid. I'm not dying, but okay, I see where you're going with this. And he came up with the name Cade because it sounds like Katie, and we already knew we wanted his middle name to be Brett, which is my dad's name. And I said, Cade, Brett doesn't sound great. Let's try Caden. And then we looked it up and it meant fighter, so it just kind of like fell into place. So he's our little fighter.
Lindsey Gordon 06:37
I love! Goosebumps. Oh my gosh.
Marcus Thorpe 06:40
He's one and a half, right? Yes,
Katie Foster 06:41
he is one and a half.
Lindsey Gordon 06:43
Wow. Little guy. What a little trooper. Yes, oh my gosh. I mean, of course, you had the support of your whole little family unit, but it's different when you talked about going under anesthesia and, you know, weighing your options for treatment while you were carrying him, you know. But let's go back to the cold cap therapy, because you briefly mentioned it before, but let's talk more about that. What is it and how was that part of your treatment journey?
Katie Foster 07:08
So when I was told about chemo, my oncologist mentioned cold capping to me, and I had never, ever heard of that. I had no idea what it was, so we did some research. And cold capping is a way for some patients, depending on which chemo you go through to help save your hair through treatment, it is a cold cap that you put on your head, but it is cooled with dry ice to literally negative 35 degrees, and you wear it for a very long time. You have to wear it for about an hour before treatment. You have to wear it while the chemo is being infused, which is usually a couple hours. And then, depending on your hair type and the thickness you I had to wear it for another two hours after so I wore it for about five to six hours a day, and has to be changed every 45 minutes. The idea is that you are causing vasoconstriction. All of the blood vessels are squeezing down so much you're literally freezing your head so that the chemo doesn't reach the hair follicles, and hopefully then they don't fall out on top of that is obviously so cold it hurts. There's a lot of work that goes into maintaining your hair. So, I was only able to wash my hair once a week with cold water. I had to use special shampoos and conditioners without, you know, the ferret, parabens, all that stuff. And I couldn't put any heat on my hair. I couldn't manipulate the follicles in any way. So not fix it, not do our top bun, messy mom bun, trying not to sweat, which in the middle of the summer, was very difficult. So, a lot of work goes into it on top of that, to try and help prevent it falling out. But it worked. So, I would do it absolutely every time. I wish everybody got the option to do it. I lost a lot of the hair on my face and about half of it on my head, but my hair is so thick, anybody who saw me who didn't know me well could not tell at all, but unfortunately, it's not covered by insurance, which is just really difficult, because as a cancer patient at this point in time, you've had biopsies and surgeries and so many different appointments with different specialists. You've already had 1000s of dollars of medical bills. Things are so out of control. All of a sudden you get presented this idea of cold capping, and you say, okay, I'm not going to lose my hair. I'm going to I'm going to preserve that dignity where I can go to the grocery store and people aren't going to look at me.
Lindsey Gordon 09:18
Your kids aren't going to know any different, they won't see a different mommy.
Katie Foster 09:22
My babies aren't going to be scared because Mommy doesn't have hair on her head. So, all of a sudden, you get presented with this idea, a way to take back control of one small thing, and you get so excited, and then you get a bill, $3,000 to $4,000 it is not cheap at all, and then insurance doesn't cover it, so it's kind of a punch to the gut.
Marcus Thorpe 09:41
Yeah. So a year and a half or so since your diagnosis and all the treatment that you went through, what has that year and a half been like for you? Because you're discovering this new normal for yourself and for your family, and building your body back up and trying to feel healthy and those kind of things. What is that part of your journey been like since all the treatments that you went through and the birth of your son.
Katie Foster 10:08
I will say so I Cade, I had him April 4, 2023, so he's one and a half. Now. I finished my chemo a couple months after So last summer, I had to do additional infusions every three weeks of a medication called Herceptin. And I do that for a year. So, I just finished those in April. So, my other son just turned three. We had a Spider Man birthday party over the weekend.
Marcus Thorpe 10:32
Happy Birthday buddy. I know he listens, so I want to make sure.
Katie Foster 10:35
Yes, he'll absolutely be listening! That is the first weekend that I've really felt like myself. You know, postpartum, you do not look like yourself. You don't feel like yourself. Your hormones are wild. Your body is not your normal body. Throw in a bilateral mastectomy, your body's not your body. Throw in some chemo, and you can't fix your hair. You're on a bunch of steroids. Your face is kind of round. You just don't feel like yourself at all. I played college soccer at Capitol, so I've always been kind of a workout kind of girl. I couldn't work out because during the chemo. First of all, I didn't feel great. Second of all, I was trying to save my hair, so it was your one outlet. I didn't want to sweat because it was really hot out. I didn't want to do a ponytail because I was afraid I would be pulling on the hair too much. So I couldn't work out and do anything during the chemo. So, it was just really, really hard. But luckily, I had an amazing support system, so we got through the hard times, and then once we started, you know, getting through the the acute stuff like the chemo, we were able to start getting back to normal, and I could start working out again and get settled in my new job. And, you know, just figure out what our new normal is, and start going from there.
Marcus Thorpe 11:46
And ho hum, you ran a marathon. No big deal. I mean, I got to get myself back in shape. How about we do a little half marathon? Tell us about that for you.
Katie Foster 11:55
Well, so I only ran the quarter, but six and a half still
Marcus Thorpe 11:59
Slacker. Come on.
12:00
So when I heard that the proceeds from the Cap City half marathon went to the OhioHealth Foundation, I knew that I needed to get involved. The OhioHealth Foundation helps fund cold capping they actually paid for two thirds of my cold capping therapy. So when I realized that the proceeds went to that, I needed to do something. But I only found out about it about six weeks before the race. No, there was no way I was able going to be able to train for a full half, so I went for the quarter, which is again six and a half. And my goal was to try to run it without stopping. A bunch of my girlfriends who played soccer with me ran it. Dr. Cripe actually ran it with me, one of my old co workers and my husband, we all ran together, and all of my new co-workers had signs and stuff. It was, it was wonderful. So I just wanted to kind of like you were talking about, get back to my normal, prove to myself that, yeah, it's over these last three years, I've had two babies, I've had four surgeries, I've done three months of chemo, I've done another year of other infusions. I've gone through all this stuff, but I can still do other hard things, and I can choose to put myself through some misery. So I did it, and I finished it, and I was really proud of myself on top of that, so my goal with doing that was I wanted to give back the amount of money that was given to me. So I started a fundraiser, and my goal was to raise about $2,000 and this is going to get me choked up. I tripled that. I raised about $7,000 which in turn, helps, hopefully about three women pay for their gold capping therapy and moving forward, I really hope to try to do that every year, just because everybody should have the opportunity to do that, and I was so so lucky and grateful, and I was so blessed through my whole treatment. You know, not everybody finishes their treatment or their diagnosis, not everybody even gets to finish treatment, let alone come out of treatment with two healthy babies and a head full of hair a job where you get to give back to the community that you that gave you your life, literally, or even run a race. So I'm very blessed, and I will spend the rest of my life trying to make up for that.
Lindsey Gordon 14:07
Oh my gosh, I'm just letting it sink in, right? Because you had so much you could have, you know, totally taken the other road, right? Of like, you know, how am I going to do this? I'm never gonna this. My life's never going to be the same. But here you are. You fought through it. You You know your life is so much better for it. Now you have this different outlook, this new perspective. You talked about that moment where you had to shift your perspective and shift your thinking and power through what did you rely on in that moment to pivot and to shift and to refocus? Recenter?
Katie Foster 14:48
I was very lucky. I have, I keep saying this one's going to make me cry like they're not all making me cry. I have the best family and friends, and you know, my faith, God, I. I wouldn't have made it through without any of those things. So for the cold caps, it has to be switched every 45 minutes, like I was saying, and the nurses aren't allowed to do that, so you have to have a support person. My husband went with me every chemo. He changed my cap every 45 minutes. And it's not saying I wasn't going through a lot, but it was a lot for him to do too. So he did all of that for me. He went to every single appointment with me. My friends brought over meals for us every week. They helped take care of my babies. They sent me text messages to keep me laughing. They sent me funny cards. My parents live out of town. They came into town every Friday to watch the baby because he was only two weeks he couldn't go to daycare, so they came to watch him during appointments and during the chemo, and I just without all of those people's help, I would not have been able to make it through. And they let me feel sad when I was sad, you know, the when I was having bad days, they kind of picked me back up. They said, I'm not I'm not going to tell you it's going to be okay, because I can't imagine what you're going through. But they were just there for me.
Lindsey Gordon 16:01
I think that's good advice for someone who is a support person, for someone, you know, sometimes there's nothing that you can say that's going to make it better, but just being there to listen and seeing where you can jump in and help and, you know, dropping off food or being there to support kids, I think that's some great advice for anyone listening who is a support person. And you don't have to be that direct person. You don't have to be like the spouse or the parent or the sibling. You could be that that college teammate or that neighbor or, you know, work friend. I think that's great advice, because sometimes we feel helpless in those situations.
Marcus Thorpe 16:36
Obviously, listening to your story, it's easy to get proud of you and what you're doing for us. I mean, just listening, it's pretty impressive. One of the main reasons that we're also super proud is that you're part of the OhioHealth family, just like we are. And it makes us proud when we see people that are doing such great work in their work lives, their home life and their community life. Talk about how being part of this family fueled you and how your career journey has helped maybe make you a better associate for OhioHealth and for the patients that you all see every single day too.
Katie Foster 17:11
Yeah, when I finished PA school in 2016 I started working with the vascular surgery team at grant. So my whole journey starts there, because through that job. First of all, I learned so much. It was it was great. I loved all my co workers. I loved the work that I did, but I was able to get close with a lot of the residents. So that was how I met the resident who got me in touch with Dr. Halaharvi, which there's so many people who have helped save my life and my baby's life, and she was one of them, of course, it was Dr. Halaharvi. So once I finished my chemo, I was off on maternity leave. I kind of took an extended maternity leave to finish the chemo, and literally, the day before I was supposed to go back to work, something or, God, is really what it was told me to I just felt the need to look on, indeed, one day and just see what was going on out there, not because I really wasn't happy, but just to see what was going on. And I did. And it was the day that a job with the breast surgery team got posted. Wow, yeah, still gives me chills thinking about it, so I I'm reading through this job description, and I said, I think that's Dr. Halaharvi's office. There is no way, because I had been I had spent the last three months telling my husband I wanted to do something, whether it was volunteering or working with support groups. I wanted to do something with the breast cancer world to help give back. And this job got posted. I called Dr.Halaharvi, and I said, There's no way this is your office, right? And she you'd be perfect. So I interviewed, and I started in October, and I've been working there for about a year now. I get to work with breast cancer patients every day. I get to give back to the community that literally gave me up my life. And it's just it's so meaningful.
Marcus Thorpe 18:43
Of course, October too. I mean, yes, are you kidding me?
Katie Foster 18:46
Yeah, right. And then it's October, it's Breast Cancer Awareness Month. So it was, it was meant to be. So it just gives a lot of purpose to the journey I went through. Because now I feel like I have this background from my other job where I was able to learn a lot, and now I get to use my personal journey to help these patients go through what they're about to go through.
Lindsey Gordon 19:06
And congrats with your one year work-aversary.
Katie Foster 19:08
Yeah, it's hard to believe.
Lindsey Gordon 19:10
I mean, how funny to think that the person who you know was you know you interviewed with, right, also was the person who you know did that surgery as well. I mean, it's just so crazy. It's so crazy. What a story. The reason we are talking about this right is to help others and support others going through this journey. What message do you have to other people who know this journey all too well, or who are maybe just beginning or in the middle, who and maybe you're a support person, or you're going through it yourself. What message do you have to support them?
Katie Foster 19:44
My message to somebody getting ready to go through their journey or in the middle of their journey, is to take it one step at a time, one day at a time, sometimes even one hour at a time. There will be times where you feel really sad, but. And I mean, I'm sitting here giving all this positive stuff. There were days where I was I was a mess, you know, I was sad. Why is this happening to me? I don't understand. This isn't fair. So my advice is to lean into those feelings. Feel them. When you feel them, write them down in a journal, you know, get it out. Lean into your support people. And the next day feel better the next day, feel different, do something that gives you joy. So for me, that was spending time with my kids so I would feel sad. I would spend some time with my kids, try and cheer myself up the next day. Know that okay, I can I can feel different another day, but I'm going to feel sad right now. And for those support people, just being there is the most you can do. You know, for me, I didn't need someone to watch my kids. I wanted someone to bring me food and make us meals and do our laundry, because that's the stuff I don't want to do. Spending time with my babies is what I want. So do those things that nobody wants to do, take care of their yard, make them meals, clean their house, and then just be there for them and let them know. You know, we're here for you. Whatever you need. I'm here for you. You're beautiful. Tell them every day how beautiful they are, and that'll make a big difference.
Lindsey Gordon 21:08
Did you find others in this journey who also were pregnant or had just given birth when they started their journeys? Is that something that's common is that we've had another guest on this podcast, Pauline Russ, who talked about her journey and her experience. But did you find others who knew exactly what this was like?
Katie Foster 21:27
Unfortunately, I did. It happens way too frequently, but I was lucky enough to be introduced to somebody who had gone through something very similar, and she was a godsend to me. I would ask her questions. I would text her days I was feeling frustrated and sad, and all of my family and friends who were there for me, you know, she was just really important, because she actually understood it from the inside out. So it was, she was a huge, huge support person for me, because she knew exactly what I was going through. And then on the opposite side, I could look at her baby. She has a beautiful little boy too, and I could see, okay, you know, her baby's healthy. My baby's going to be healthy. We can do this.
Marcus Thorpe 22:09
I think it's important for us to talk about mammograms as we kind of close our time with you, because it is really important to make sure that folks, families, women, are staying on top of screenings. OhioHealth recommends women follow the current National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines, including screening mammograms starting at the age of 40 for all women of average risk and annual clinical breast exam by a doctor and women at high risk for breast cancer, maybe mammograms more frequently or earlier. Can you talk about just that overarching message for families and women to really be thinking about.
Katie Foster 22:41
Yeah, I think the underlying message is that we always think that's not going to happen to me, but cancer does not discriminate. Cancer didn't care that I was 31 and that I was pregnant and that I had a one and a half year old at home. I work in medicine. I was a collegiate athlete. I never smoked a day in my life. I was healthy. I have no family history of cancer. I had no reason to get cancer, but I did. So it's so important we have mammograms, which are a great screening tool. It is just so important to get your mammograms every year. And if you're not of the age where you get mammograms, make sure you're doing breast exams. If you ever feel anything abnormal, even if you know you can't even describe it, if you feel weird about something, reach out to a provider immediately, because cancer doesn't care. It doesn't care how old you are.
Lindsey Gordon 23:26
What a message.
Marcus Thorpe 23:27
Yeah, I love your message. I love your outlook. I love your vulnerability that you've shared on this podcast. I think your message will resonate with people and those who are fighting give them the hope that I think they so desperately look for, and you're a perfect person to deliver that. And we're so lucky that you spent some time with us on this podcast. Thank you so much.
Katie Foster 23:52
Yeah, thank you. I really appreciate it, and that's my goal. You know, if I can help one person who would have blown something off, everything is worth it.
Lindsey Gordon 23:59
You're amazing. You are amazing. A lot of life left. Katie, thank you so much.
Katie Foster 24:04
Thank you!
Marcus Thorpe 24:04
And we want to thank you for joining us for this episode of the Wellness Conversation an OhioHealth podcast. Before we wrap up, we do invite you to follow us on all major social channels so you can stay up to date on any new episodes as well as health and wellness topics through OhioHealth. If you're looking for more information on any OhioHealth services and locations, be sure to visit ohiohealth.com
Lindsey Gordon 24:24
The information in this episode will also be available in written form on the podcast page. Thank you for joining us and be sure to subscribe as we continue our exploration of important health and wellness topics with OhioHealth experts.