4. Literal Side Boob

Welcome back! As always, thanks so much for caring about me enough to tune in and read about the latest happenings. Today is the last day of my life without having gotten chemotherapy. So that feels weird. But it also somehow feels a lot like any other day. My sister being here this week has helped a lot with that. We’ve been staying busy working on the zen garden (I love it so much and she’s put SO much work into it), working on the workout garage space (also love it so much and again, she and my parents have put so much work into it), going for river and city park runs, enjoying funky little coffeeshops, catching up on class and work, going to doctor appointments, sharing fresh peaches from a farmstand, and spending too much time perusing plants at the nursery. Pretty much a perfect sisters’ week (well, minus the wine we would have at one point been sharing, but these days alcohol is certainly not the priority).

Garage and garden coming along so nicely!

So I’m sure some people are wondering what the strange title of this blog entry means- it’s referring to the type of surgery I will likely opt for, which I’ll explain below. I had to steal it after my hilarious friend Ryan sent it to me after he learned of my intended surgical plan. I had my third of five meetings this morning with a breast surgeon, and I think I finally have some clarity about the route I’m going to take. The reason there are so many meetings is because with breast cancer, you essentially have a “deconstruction” surgery and, if you choose, a “reconstruction” surgery (and potentially a few in between for a variety of things). Because I am young and hopefully still have many years ahead, I will choose to have reconstruction done.

So, essentially you meet with a “deconstructing” surgeon, then usually meet with another for a second opinion, and same for the “reconstructing” surgeons (I’ll just type decon and recon from here on out because those words are far too long to continue typing over and over). So far I have met with a decon surgeon down at Anschutz who I really liked, but who will still be on maternity leave when I am likely to need surgery (late winter), so they’ll be referring me to another decon surgeon there to meet soon. I have a meeting with a recon surgeon down at Anschutz in late October, and I have met with both a decon and a recon surgeon here in Fort Collins at the Cancer Center. They essentially work in tandem, each specializing in different parts of the initial surgery, and then the recon surgeon comes back and does the later revision surgery alone. As I mentioned last week, it’s absolutely wild some of the things they can do and parts they can use for reconstruction. I’ve included a few photos here of cartoon depictions of the different areas they can get tissue, muscle, and fat from to relocate to the breast region to aid in volume and also in healing power.

In my case, since I am most likely opting for a double mastectomy for peace of mind that this doesn’t occur down the road in my right breast, and because I don’t plan to have biological children so I am not worried about breastfeeding, I have a few options that fall under the “immediate reconstruction” category:

  • I could have both breasts removed with no autologous tissue put into either side (autologous tissue just means tissue, fat, or muscle from your own body), expanders put in for a few months, and then revision surgery to replace the expanders with implants 3-6 months after the initial surgery.
  • I could have both breasts removed with autologous tissue put into just the left side (cancer side) from my latissimus dorsi muscle (aka the big side/back muscle used for things like tricep dips and pulling- known as the “lats”), and have the right side removed but instead of using the lat on that side, they use something called “ADM”, or acellular dermal matrix, as replacement for the breast tissue that’s been removed. Both sides would have an expander and later be replaced by implants (same time frame as above).
  • I could have both breasts removed with autologus, latissimus dorsi muscle/tissue used on either side, expanders placed, and implants replacing the expanders at the same time frame as above.
  • I could also go the route of using stomach fat or gluteal muscle/fat instead of my lat muscle, but the doctor said I’d have to eat a ton of pizzas before that would be possible and he didn’t recommend that during chemo treatment…plus I’m not really sure how I’d feel about taking muscle and fat off my bum to stuff it into my boobs (sorry for the visual, but hey, it’s weird and cool so I had to mention it).
  • Side note: all of these would include removal of either just my “sentinel” lymph node or removal of multiple lymph nodes at the time of surgery. They do a biopsy of my node during surgery, and if it comes back positive for still having cancer in it, they’ll likely remove more- probably between 5 and 20- this is called an “axillary lymph node dissection”. If it’s negative for residual cancer, they then just remove the main affected lymph node (the sentinel) and do more radiation after the fact to try to reduce to potential for recurrence in any nodes.
Depiction of the use of different areas of muscle and tissue for reconstruction

There are a few advantages to the second option in italics- using my lat muscle/tissue on the left and the ADM on the right- the biggest one being related to radiation. Since I have to receive quite a bit of radiation to my left breast and axillary region for 6-7 weeks following the first surgery, and radiation really messes with skin and underlying tissue (think fibrosis, scarring, tightening, burns, etc.), the skin desperately needs good vasculature for blood flow and oxygen to the tissues to help it remain viable and heal. So, the lat muscle/tissue in that region really aids in healing and viability, and it lessens the chance of major damage to that area. Since my right breast won’t need radiation, it’s not necessary to do the lat muscle thing on that side. The ADM on that side will provide plenty of replacement for the breast tissue, and as long as my body allows it to heal as it should, I won’t need the enhanced support that the left side will need to aid in combating the forces of radiation.

As for the negatives, it obviously affects my lat muscle on the left side, and it’s a bigger surgery to recovery from, but he did say that many active, strong people who have this done go on to have minimal trouble with the affected side as long as they continue PT, working out, massage, acupuncture, etc. They do remove 1/2 to 2/3 of the muscle to move it around front, which again, is totally wacky, but he said people do really well. And it sounds like I’d have a really cool 23-cm scar just behind my current Western Hemlock tattoo along my left side, so he said I’d just have to get a second tree tattooed back there (which of course I will happily do, and my sister will get another matching tattoo, and we will finally convince Micah to get his matching sibs tree). So, I may never be great at tricep dips on the left side, and my upward dog may always be a bit crooked, but if it means better healing potential and reduced effects from radiation, I am down.

Extremely nerdy photo of Alyssa and I showing off our matching western hemlock tattoos…although you can’t really see mine with this swimsuit on, the 23-cm scar would be just behind this and slightly diagonal.

So, I’m probably going with the second option above. And in that case, I would have a literal side boob (for those of you who don’t get it, just know that my boob won’t actually be on my side).

One last thing to touch on is the different options for nipples- so many options for nipples! I couldn’t believe it. There’s nipple sparing, nipple-taking-away, nipple tattoos…so cool. A lot depends on whether the tumors are close enough to the nipple to determine whether it is “oncologically safe” to keep them and have them put on during reconstruction, or if there is a chance that there are cancer cells too close to the nipple that it’s safer to remove them completely and replace with nipple tattoos or not at all. I am still undecided on this part of it- I’ll likely just go with whatever the pathology report says when surgery time is closest. If it’s safe, maybe I’ll keep the pink ladies; if not, let’s toss them and I’ll get some sort of really cool half-sleeve-extending-across-the-chest tattoo (or maybe some amazing nipple tattoos).

Whew- so much info again. I hope this made some sort of sense. I think the biggest thing that’s been hard to stomach when meeting with these surgeons is that my reconstructive surgery (probably will take 3-4 different surgeries by the time it’s all said and done) will definitely extend into a year and a half or even longer from today. I likely will have to get the first big surgery in late winter- March or April 2022, then heal, then radiation for 2 months, then start my clinical year up again in the fall, get a few months of rotations and externships in, and then somehow figure out how to take time off to have reconstructive surgery done in the middle of 4th year (the “new” 4th year). So that’s going to be pretty rough, and I’ll still be on some level of chemo at that time (that’s a topic for another blog entry), and I’ll also be deciding whether or not to have a hysterectomy (uterus removed) during that timeframe as well. So, it’s a lot. But it’s also great to have options, and it’s wonderful to have so many people around me who know what I’ll be going through and who have been and I’m sure will continue to be understanding and patient as I navigate these decisions and what they mean for my future.

Ok, that’s all for now! Chemo starts tomorrow- my infusion appointment is bright and early and we will be there most of the day, so I’m sure I’ll have many more updates to come soon! Sending love and doggie kisses to all of you.

3. Portia, Portia, Portia(and other news)

Hey again everyone! Thanks for coming back to get the latest scoop. And thanks to all of you who have reached out telling me you’ve enjoyed the blog so far- I’m so glad that this is proving to be a good outlet for me as well as a source of information and answers to all of you who have decided to come along on this ride.

As is the case over the past few weeks, so many things have happened in such a short amount of time since I last wrote. In no specific order, I’ll try to touch on the bigger events and what they mean for decisions moving forward.

I completed four scans last week, including a nuclear bone scan, a CT, and two MRIs. I also welcomed Portia the Port into my life and sternum last Thursday, and she currently resembles a blobfish as she heals. I was advised by my oncologist to get the third COVID booster prior to starting chemo, so I did this on the evening of the day my port was placed. Let’s just say that was probably not the wisest idea. Friday was a rough one. But I made it through! And my antibodies are strong (well, for now).

As for the scans, most things came back clear (yay!), although I do have a large mass on my liver that we further investigated with an abdominal MRI (hence the two MRI’s; one was chest only and the second was abdominal). It turns out that I most likely have a benign tumor caused by Focal Nodular Hyperplasia (FNH), which is the second most common benign liver tumor and generally found in women of reproductive age. So, although the mass is decent-sized and not ideal, it’s basically what we call an “incidental finding”, which means, “when you go looking, you will find things.” …and we did (I have my wonderful friend Erin to credit for that statement…she warned me that they probably would, and that these things would most likely turn out to be benign). So, none of us were terribly worried and my oncologist suggested that we wait until after chemo to do a follow-up MRI to assess any changes. There have been no reports in the scientific literature of FNH masses becoming malignant, so this is mighty reassuring. Just one of those things that I’d probably never have known was there were it not for a full-body CT and MRI. Crazy.

The weirdest part of last week was definitely the port placement. I didn’t do any research going into it because I didn’t want to freak myself out, so I was under the impression it was just a casual incision and they’d stick something on me and tape me up and send me on my way. Welp, I was wrong. They got me set with an IV, rolled me from the prep room into surgery, and put me on oxygen and some benzos to take the edge off. They injected my chest with lidocaine and then talked me through their procedure as I was awake laying on the table. They made a small incision into the base of my neck and internal jugular vein, slid a catheter into said vein, fed it down into my vena cava (the large vein that carries blood from other parts of the body into the heart), made a larger incision right over my collar bone, shoved the port under my skin, attached the catheter to it, and then sutured and glued me up. We chatted the whole time and I barely felt a thing. What a trip. The first few days were really painful; I suspect it’s because they said my skin was really taut where they were trying to push the port in, but the pain may also have been enhanced due to the booster shot. Portia has been healing well since then and I’ve been able to get a few decent workouts in, including a run, which has been great. It basically just feels like I have a giant button hiding out under my skin and a weird tube inside my neck and chest. Which, I guess I do.

So, moving onto this week…my parents were here which was AWESOME. They’re such saints. They are so active and busy all the time at home, you’d think they’d want to come visit relax, but nope (anyone who knows me well knows that this is nearly impossible for my family). The very first thing they decided to do was to clear out my storage garage in order to create space for an area where I can have a stationary bike stand and use my road bike for workouts during chemo. This was an idea suggested to me by a friend who went through all of this over the past few years and loved having the ability to use her bike and the Peloton app to do rides with friends on her infusion days. So, I’m hoping to do something similar and use this space as a little workout getaway, if even for a recovery ride or something relatively low-key on the days where my energy is really low. Photos of this space to come! It’s amazing what they’ve done in just a few short days. They also helped improve my little zen garden out back which is one of my favorite parts of this whole property. I am so lucky to have them!

My mom came with me last night to a meeting with my oncologist to review the scans and confirm steps moving forward. I’m so glad they got to meet, as my oncologist is quickly becoming one of my favorite people. She’s super kind, yet straightforward, patient yet concise, and so incredibly knowledgeable about this whole process. She showed us the MRI of the tumors and my lymph nodes, which was pretty cool to see, and she advised that I do get a brain scan this coming week since breast cancer does sometimes metastasize to the brain and I’ve been having some minor headaches recently. We assume it’s just due to stress and lack of sleep overall, but she wanted to cover all our bases. She also brought up a slightly strange finding on my CT that showed mild atherosclerosis of one of the coronary arteries in my heart. Since this is not super common in my age group, and generally not found as commonly in people with a lower BMI, we talked about family history of heart disease (my grandmother had a valve replaced and my grandfather had a heart attack later in life) and she wants me to get a lipid test done just to be sure this isn’t something we need to be overly concerned about. So, I’ll have that done on my first day of chemo prior to getting any of the drugs. At the same time I’ll also get tested for a clotting disorder called Factor V Leiden, which is in my maternal family. So we will see what all of these results show and go from there.

Brandon and I also had a meeting with a surgeon this week which went really well, but definitely opened up more questions in terms of the type of surgery I’ll pursue. A lot of it will depend on my genetics test results, which I’m hoping come back this week. If they are positive, they’ll 100% recommend a double mastectomy. If they are negative (i.e. if I don’t carry any known gene mutations for the genes that predispose to breast cancer), then most surgeons/oncologists lean toward doing a single mastectomy since there is no scientific evidence showing that removing the healthy breast decreases chance of cancer occurring in that area. Additionally, since my white blood cell count will be super low at the time of surgery due to 6 months of chemo (aka I’ll have no immune system), some surgeons and oncologists feel that it is not worth the infection risk to do the double mastectomy when the chemo-wrecked body will already be fighting so hard to heal from the removal of just one. They can then come back after radiation is complete and do reconstructive surgery using an expander, an implant, or your own tissue (your own muscle from your back- your lat! Or your stomach! It’s crazy!), and then make it all symmetrical and cosmetically matching the other side (minus the scars and such). Again, many of these decisions will depend on how my genetics come back, and don’t have to be made for another few months, but I thought it was all really interesting so I wanted to share. I won’t even get into the mess of the lymph node surgery portion of all of this and how they decide how many of those come out…those fine details can be left for another time (aka, it’s complicated).

The last and final thing I’ll tell you about from this week is the ChemoTeach. This was essentially a meeting with the nurse practitioner who switches off with my oncologist from week to week when I go in for my transfusions. She reviewed the first half of my chemo protocol, the drugs A & C, which stand for Adriamycin (some might know this drug as Doxorubicin) and Cyclophosphamide. We talked about how the drugs work (both inhibit DNA replication of cells), how they’re given to me, and what the side effects will most likely entail. Let me tell you- this is going to be FUN! Bone pain, constipation, nausea, nail changes, hair loss (womp womp), bladder irritation, acid reflux, mouth sores, fatigue, dry mouth, reproductive and hormonal changes, possibility of heart irregularities and shortness of breath. I’ve never been one to get weird about side effects because I know they always list them ALL and generally most people don’t experience the majority of them, but unfortunately in this case it sounds like these first two months of the AC protocol I’m almost guaranteed to experience most (except, hopefully, the heart and lung stuff). BUT I am hoping to stay as active and busy as I can, take things to alleviate side effects (who woulda thunk that Claritin can help with bone pain because of the reduction in histamine release?!…wild), and try to stay on top of things through integrative therapies and nutrition. Luckily I’ll have bi-weekly check-ins with the nutritionist and my oncologist between infusions to see how things are going and see what type of adjustments we need to make. I’ll also have bloodwork done every single infusion day to check my white blood cell count and other parameters to ensure that I can receive the chemo drugs on that day. These first 8 weeks I have AC infusions every 2 weeks, and apparently energy levels dip really low days 3-7 or 8 (as well as white blood cell count) and nausea tends to be the worst from days 4-7 or 8. Those, as well as bone pain, are the main things I am definitely not looking forward to. After the completion of the AC rounds, I will have a two-week chemo break before beginning the next three months of chemo, which will be other drugs (T, H, and P) I’ll go over with my oncologist when that gets closer. So for now, I guess we will just take it week by week and see what happens. Thank goodness for the cutest handmade pill box of all time from my friend Kristy!

  • The fun begins!

One last item, because I have to end on a good note! Yesterday, I was extremely honored and happy to have been offered the opportunity to co-author a scientific manuscript focused on a case study from one of my recent externships. I am super excited about this because it’s one of my favorite species, a case I felt very invested in, and the people I’ll be authoring with are wonderful veterinarians and colleagues. This was definitely a huge highlight of the week and I hope to be able to help write the manuscript over the coming months during treatment.

So, to recap: chemo starts this coming Wednesday, 9/15 (and my sister is here this week, yay!), I have one scan left (for now), which is a brain scan, this Friday, and a few different blood tests for lipids and clotting disorders.

Whew! That was a lot. I can’t believe how many things are happening every day. The hours just fly by, but I am trying to remember that now more than ever each day is a true gift. Please keep that in mind as you go about your week, and know just how appreciative I am of each and every one of you being here, being interested, and being a part of my life. Signing off for now and sending love and doggie kisses to all of you.

2. Surprise! It’s Me, the Big C

Thank you for following along on this wild and crazy (and totally unexpected) journey. I never, ever imagined I’d be diagnosed with breast cancer, let alone at 35 (and especially not during my clinical year of vet school). But life is weird, and here we are. I appreciate each and every one of you for wanting to stay in the loop and support me along the way.

So I guess I’ll just start it off like we do in vet school with a little bit of history…

On Wednesday, August 18th, I received my biopsy results. Based on the mammograms and ultrasound I had undergone the day prior (as well as the doctor’s face when he came into the room telling me that we needed to do a biopsy ASAP), I was expecting not so great news. Even though they warned me after seeing the results of the ultrasound, I think I still hoped there was a chance it was all just a big mistake. It couldn’t be malignant; there was no way this would happen right now, during my last year of vet school, at my age, and in my good health. But my sliver of hope was dashed when I saw the pathology report on my phone: ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), and invasive and infiltrative ductal carcinoma. Basically what this means is “cancer, in it’s original place”. And “cancer, now invading tissues surrounding that place”.

I have two primary tumors (both in my left breast), one that measures somewhere between 5-6 cm depending on which oncologist is doing the exam (it’s big), the other 1.7 cm, and a few in between that seem to connect the two larger ones. It was confirmed by biopsy the following week that the cancer is also in my left axillary (armpit) lymph nodes. I’m on about week 3 of knowing this information and I’m pretty sure my brain is still working on processing and accepting that it is real.

When I first read the biopsy results, my heart was racing and my brain was going at warp speed…so naturally I stood at my counter and stirred boiling water and rice for the next hour while I stared into the circling pattern of steam and confusion. How the hell did this happen? Of course this can’t actually be real; I have too much to do, I have externships booked, I have rotations to complete, I’m busy becoming a vet and living life and going to shows and hiking and trying new beers and laughing with my boyfriend and getting made fun of by my brother and planning trips with my sister. There’s no way it can be cancer. I’m way too busy living life.

But life is weird, and here we are. It’s cancer, and cancer doesn’t care what’s going on in your life. Cancer doesn’t give a flying F how busy you are, or whether you’re a good-hearted person, or how hard you try to stay healthy and fit. At least in my case it doesn’t.

As far as I know, we don’t have a family history of breast cancer aside from two of my great aunts having it very late in life. I had a genetics counseling session about a week ago to talk to an expert about the genes that predispose women to breast cancer, BRCA1 and BRCA2 (many people know these genes as the “Angelina Jolie” genes), and sent in a saliva test kit to see if I have these genes or one of seven others that have been linked to a higher risk of developing breast cancer. I’m curious to receive the results in a few weeks, because if it is hereditary and I do have a mutation in one of these genes, this will explain why I have developed breast cancer at such a young age. If it’s not hereditary, that means that this is most likely a spontaneously formed cancer (rather than inherited) and that somehow during my lifetime, certain cells began to change because of some unknown inciting cause and then they began to replicate, replicate, replicate. And wham bam…cancer.

According to the oncologists, in my particular case, the Big C may have grown due to me being on birth control for many years. It is still unknown whether birth control can be the actual inciting cause for the formation of breast cancer, but in cases where the tumors are receptive to progesterone and estrogen (hormones both naturally occurring and used in birth control), it is widely believed by researchers and oncologists that these hormones can speed up the process of cancer growth.

In terms of what I’ve got going on, it’s actually pretty interesting (to science nerds like me who knew nothing about human breast cancer prior to 3 weeks ago). The exact type of cancer in regards to specific hormonal markers within each tumor was finally determined just last week after three different teams of pathologists analyzed the biopsies.

One of my tumors is classified as “triple positive”, and one is classified as “HER2 negative”. Apparently this is rare and occurs in about 3% of cases (go figure). “Triple positive” means that the cancer cells within this tumor have receptors for PR (progesterone), ER (estrogen), and overexpress a protein called HER2. “HER2 negative” means that the second tumor is still receptive to estrogen and progesterone, but is not over expressing the HER2 protein.

The whole HER2 thing is a bit confusing; it stands for “Human Epidermal Growth Factor 2” and it is a growth-promoting protein on the outside of all breast cells. Cells that express higher than average amounts of this protein are called HER2+ (HER2 positive) and cells that do not express higher than average amounts of this protein are labeled HER2- (HER2 negative).

So, as hormones like estrogen and progesterone travel though my bloodstream and come in contact with the receptors on the cancer cells, they bind and allow the cancer cells to grow. This is certainly not the case for everyone on birth control for most of their lives; it just happens to certain people, and sometimes the reason for the inciting cause is unknown. In my case, it may be that this cancer is totally spontaneous and the birth control I’ve been on for years and years just happened to aid in the growth once it started. Or, I inherited the mutation in one of the genes linked to breast cancer and the hormones have helped it to grow. We asked how the tumors could be doing different things, and my oncologist said. “Because…cancer.” …aka- cancer is crazy and it does what it wants.

The reason the type of tumor is important is because the hormonal markers determine my chemotherapy protocol. Because I have one tumor that is HER2-, my chemo regimen is more frequent than if both were triple positive. I will go in for my chemo IV infusions once every other week for 2 months (8 treatments), then once a week for the next 3-4 months (12 more treatments). Each infusion is about 4-5 hours depending on the selected drugs for that week. Overall, the total timeline for chemo will be about 5-6 months, depending on my body’s response. Unfortunately this protocol means that I won’t have much time in between treatments for my body to heal/recover, so I’m planning to use integrative therapies such as acupuncture, physical therapy, nutritionist help, etc. to mitigate some of the dreaded side effects (and yes, I will lose my hair).

Hopefully that made at least a little bit of sense. I’ve had so many things running through my head at warp speed every day and night since the diagnosis, so when I sit down to write, many of my thoughts just disappear into the abyss. They warned chemo brain is a real thing; maybe my mind is just preparing me for the next 6 months of having to sift through the fog in my head.

What follows chemo is surgery, likely to take place sometime in late winter. Surgery will include a double mastectomy and possibly removal of my uterus and ovaries. Many decisions to make on that front, but not until we get through a few months of chemo and see how the cancer responds do I have to make the final say on surgery. After surgery will be 6 weeks of radiation, then reconstructive surgery, and then 5-10 years of endocrine therapy with some more chemo in pill form thrown in there. Yikes.

For now, the latest happenings around here are tons of diagnostics (last week was a nuclear bone scan, full-body CT, chest MRI, and port placement), waiting to get the results of those diagnostics, and then scheduling more if need be. I also have something this coming week called a “ChemoTeach” where they go over each drug used, show us the infusion room, talk about side effects, etc. as well as a meeting with an oncology surgeon here in Fort Collins. It is amazing the amount of phone calls, meetings, and appointments I’ve had over the past 3 weeks. We are hoping that I can begin chemo on September 15th; for now this is my start date as long as we don’t have to delay for further testing. I am hoping by the end of this coming week I will have a final “stage” on my cancer. Where it is, where it isn’t…all the things that will either help put my mind at ease or prepare me to pivot and adapt to a new mindset.

The hardest part in all of this so far has been having to put vet school on hold. The amount of time and energy I have spent dedicating everything to the DVM program over the past few years, as well as applying to and preparing for externships that I’ve now had to cancel has definitely been deflating. I’ve dropped all 4th-year rotations under the advisement of my oncologists, and will have to delay graduation by a year as well as my boards. I will be maintaining my student health insurance by taking a Spanish for Veterinarians class and will be able to continue working part-time as a data specialist for an amazing company that I have been with for years. I’ll also be super busy with chemo, integrative therapies, my dogs, exercising when I can, visits from family and close friends, and whatever time I can spend with Brandon on the days I am feeling up to it. So, I am extremely fortunate to have these things to keep me busy on the days I can hack it. Hopefully they will also help in keeping my brain sharp so that I can return to the DVM program a year from now and finish my clinical year (with a sweet buzz cut).

I’m super lucky to have all of you- my family, friends, classmates, and people far and wide rooting for me in this. I am beyond grateful and know just how fortunate I am. I try to wake up every morning still thankful for everything and everyone that I have in this life. Of course there are dark moments every day, and I know there will be many more ahead, but for now I am trying to stay very busy and as positive as I can while I accept this as my new reality. I will write more soon once we have some more diagnostic results, info from the ChemoTeach, and a definite “full steam ahead” plan. Sending love and doggie kisses to all of you.

1. Hi, I’m Amanda. I’m 35, I’m a veterinary student, I’m obsessed with animals, and I have breast cancer.

Hello! Thanks for being here. I wanted to start sharing in this space so that people who are interested in following along on this journey have a place to tune in whenever they want to, and so I have an outlet of sorts to help my own brain stay on top of things. I also hope that sharing my story can help to bring awareness around breast cancer in young women and provide support to anyone else who may be experiencing the same or a similar diagnosis.

A few quick things about me for those who don’t know me well: I am a lover of all things dogs, the ocean, EDM, hiking, and travel. I have spent the last decade pursuing my goal of becoming an aquatics and wildlife vet, and I have the best family and friends a girl could ask for. My boyfriend and I spend our free time hiking with our 3 dogs, dancing the night away at Red Rocks, or enjoying travel, good food, and friends. My perfect day is spent on the trails or underwater with sharks.

I can’t promise that this will be all that interesting or entertaining- honestly, it might even be depressing or boring at times- but I’ll do my best to be myself, put out there what I can, and hope that it helps others (and myself) understand this process a little bit better.

Thanks for being here and for all your love and support. It takes a village, and I truly couldn’t get through this without all of you rooting for me.