Stage 3 Triple Negative Breast Cancer:
Shelly Macy
"You have Stage 3 triple negative breast cancer" were words that I never dreamed I would hear.
However in December 2009, a nice female doctor delivered those very words to me.
After undergoing a mammogram, ultrasound, MRI, CT Scan, PET Scan and a biopsy, I was told that I had a very aggressive kind of cancer that would need to be treated aggressively.
My name is Shelly Macy, a wife, a mother of three beautiful children and a dance teacher in the Huntington Beach, CA area.
Treatment Begins
I began my chemo on December 27, 2009 and words cannot describe the nausea, body aches and dizziness that I felt on that day and after many of the treatments that followed, it got worse.
I would go in for treatment on a Tuesday and it took roughly four to six days to feel just ok again. I lost all of my hair, had mouth sores and it really took its toll on my self-image.
After eight treatments I was done with chemo and had my double mastectomy operation in May 2010.
My Functional Profiling Analysis
After the operation, I was informed that my breast tissue would need to be sent to Dr. Nagourney at Rational Therapeutics to be tested to see what chemo would work better on my kind of cancer, because it appeared that the previous chemo treatment did not work.
I was scared to death to hear that I was going to go through more chemo and they also wanted to add radiation to my treatment.
After Dr. Nagourney's specialized chemo cocktail was given to me, I found it to be easier on my body and I didn't lose my hair.
After eight more rounds of Dr. Nagourney's chemo and six weeks of radiation, I was able to finally have my reconstruction surgery. I have been cancer free ever since.
I truly believe that Dr. Nagourney found the perfect chemo treatment designed just for my body and saved my life.
That is why I am here today!