Oct 17, 2006 5:12 pm US/Eastern
Laurie Stein: 'Being Cured' And Breast Cancer
(CBS4)
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Laurie Stein's treatments left her so weak, she couldn't take care of her own family.
CBS
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and what better way to accomplish that than with the stories of breast cancer survivors. Our own Laurie Stein is back to explain the details of what it means to live as a breast cancer survivor.
In just four days, the annual Susan G. Komen Walk will take place at Bayfront Park in Downtown Miami. Thousands of people will attend, including many survivors. Whenever I tell people I had breast cancer they ask, 'Are you cured?' It's been three years since I was diagnosed, and the problem with cancer is, I will never be able to answer that question.
When I was diagnosed with breast cancer at 34-years-old, I vowed to fight it aggressively. My husband Michael and I had an 8 month old daughter and I wanted to do everything I could to stay alive.
I had a double mastectomy and reconstruction, four months of the strongest chemotherapy available, and radiation.
Michael and I videotaped everything, starting with my diagnosis.
The good news today is that doctors have not found any evidence of spread. I feel strong most days, and I often speak to women about early detection and knowing your family history. But what many people don't realize is that when you have been a cancer patient, many ways you are always a patient, because cancer is sort of like a brushfire. Even if that fire is extinguished at the early stages, doctors don't know if a few cells escaped, undetected, and those embers will one day ignite somewhere else in the body.
Cancer can be treated at its early stages, but if those cells escape into the brain, the bones or the lungs it can not be cured, and doctors merely try to contain the flames for as long as possible. This can happen even years after treatment so early detection is important, but even breast cancer detected early can kill.
So every six months my skin is examined and my blood is drawn. There are so-called tumor markers in the blood. If the numbers go up, that could mean the cancer's spread.
Difficulty breathing could mean cancer's in the lungs an ache that won't go away could mean it's in the bones. And because of terrible back pain I've had doctors have sent me for detailed scans three times.
The good news is that doctors have not found any evidence of cancer, but my back has been ravaged by osteoporosis thanks to all my treatments.
So called "chemo-brain"--short-term memory loss from chemo treatments--can last a lifetime. Then there is the simple fear of wondering, even though I look healthy, how long will it last?
So when people ask am I cured? That's why I can never answer that question.
And that's why on Saturday morning so many people will be racing for the cure. It begins with a survivor ceremony at 7:30am and the run and walk start at 8:30am.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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