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In connection with Erica Rimlinger
Six months after my first pregnancy, I noticed a dough in my mother and stated him in medical advice with my doctor. “This is normal,” said my obstetric gynecologist. “That happens when you are pregnant.”
Three years later, in 2022, I was sitting with a hospital robe and watching a TEP of my body. Each light stop in a black background showed the places where cancer is available. The tomography was as illuminated as the Las Vegas Strip at night.
This dough was not “normal”. It was breast cancer with a her2 gene mutation and when it was demonstrated, it had already spread everywhere three years later.
This picture shocked me a lot, but I knew that something was wrong in my body after the birth of my daughter and in the next three years. My hair darker, fell and broke lightly. He slept for 12 hours at night and nap for two hours to finish the day. I had consultations with specialists who diagnosed me with hypothyroidism. In the summer of 2022 I discovered a column in my mother as if an implant had broken, but I had no implants. Again a dermatologist told me that it was “normal”.
In autumn 2022 I felt pain in the muscles of my chest and felt a dough when I showered. This time my doctor told me that I should submit to a mammogram and an ultrasound, and then a biopsy that emits the diagnosis. He was a little more than 30 years old, she was the mother of a little girl, she had always trained and had no family history of cancer. How could you have breast cancer? My profile has not dealt with the typical criteria.
But the TEP, which shone a lot, showed breast cancer that had spread to my lymph nodes, the thyroid gland, the kidneys, the liver, the stomach, the skeleton and much more.
I immediately started chemotherapy and hormonal suppressors. My insurance did not cover a brain -although I was directed to the brain everywhere with a piece of neck and breast cancer with her2 gene mutation. My doctor tried to make the brain RM, and in February 2023 I received negative results.
Then I received further good news: In April 2023 I ended chemotherapy and my tumors had shrunk considerably. My liver enzymes were normal. I continued with hormonal therapy and my hair grew again. I regularly presented myself to Tomographs to ensure that my development is concerned with my goal of complete remission. My doctor transferred me to a second brain in August.
I was sitting on the couch with my daughter and was ready to bring her to school when I received a call with the results of my brain RM.
It was the worst scenario: cancer in the liquid of my spinal cord. If cancer is metaststatized in this place, this is referred to as the Leptomeníngea carcinomatosis and is incurable. When I visited my doctor and three other doctors as soon as possible this morning, they told me that I had two weeks of life without treatment and four months with treatment.
I have underwent 10 round radiation for my entire brain and my whole spine. I learned that there was a medical team in Baltimore that started proton therapy. My insurance company contested this treatment, but I made the effort and I was successful.
2025
In Baltimore I was in a residence for young adults with cancer. I missed my daughter and my husband, who stayed in Tampa, but it was nice to have a transport service in the hospital and in the society of a survivor of the survivors my age.
However, the treatment itself was not pleasant. I handed over all night to the entire trip and all night, even if they provided me with antiemetics. The second round caused her to have seizures and nausea due to the smell of burned meat. They told me that some people could smell this during treatment. After the first four days of treatment, he vomited every two hours.
After 10 laps, 30 pounds had decreased and felt a terrible burning sensation in the esophagus. But I survived. I could now return home and be operated on for the first time in my life: I had inserted a catheter to my brain that could provide a new vaccine that was directed to the liquid of my spinal cord. The vaccine was so new that I was the second patient who received him.
In the next 16 I went to my appointment, which lasted six to eight hours. Although the administration of the vaccine took only 10 minutes, it could only be a mixture after entering the hospital, so that most of the time passed. I could hear how the vaccine went through the catheter in my brain towards my spinal cord. Then came the pain to which I gave an assessment of 10 out of 10. It was so serious that I couldn’t move for an hour after his administration. When my mother took me home and went through a speed reducer, I vomited all night because of the pain.
In January 2024 I reached my full remission destination from the neck to my feet, but tomographies showed that I had developed brain tumors. I changed the treatment for one that crossed the bloodbred barrier. I could take this medication through a pill at home, but this made 80% of my right eye. I started to maintain injections in the eyeball to prevent this situation from spreading to the other eye but does not work.
2025 (photo/Danielle Nicole)
I had to change my third line therapy in just two years. I now receive this chemotherapy every three weeks. The three to five days are difficult, but I feel good with this medicine for two weeks.
My medical providers predicted that I had four months of life, but I have lived with leptomaninomatosis for almost two years. This is something unprecedented. So far I am the only person who was able to completely administer the vaccine.
I found the Leptomingal Cancer Foundation, which establishes connections and supports people with this disease. I know incredible people who use this network and always try to share my experiences with the vaccine with people with questions. Reason to approve people, but I apply the truth by telling them that it will not be easy.
The people I knew with this resource helped me to live with my illness. I take part in my needs. I try every attempt and new treatment, even if I’m afraid. I concentrate on the future. My family planned a trip to Jackson Hole in March. My daughter Palmer has never seen the snow before. For the first time I want to be with her and many other things with her. He lacks a lot to experiment.
I am a logical person and accept reality. They do not overwhelm my emotions when he spoke about Palmer. It is the reason why I fight. It is my light and my joy and I know that my family is doing well for her. She will help us to deal with it.
After my diagnosis, I wrote 21 cards for Palmer’s birthdays. I wanted her to read her on her birthdays when I was no longer to make sure I know that I would always love mums during her development. Now I have lived enough to reject the first five cards because I can tell them that I love them personally. I am determined to rule out the sixth letter.
This educational resource was created with the support of Merck and Daiichi.
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