Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: From Riverside Health System. This is the Healthy youy Podcast where we talk about a range of health related topics focused on improving your physical and mental health. We chat with our providers, team members, patients and caregivers to learn more about how to maintain a healthy lifestyle and improve overall physical and mental health. So let's dive in to learn more about becoming a healthier you.
I am really excited to have with me in the Healthy youy Studio.
Melissa Backus.
Got that right. You did.
[00:00:34] Speaker B: Hi.
[00:00:34] Speaker A: Hi. Melissa is a breast cancer survivor and a patient testimonial. Thank you so much for being with us today.
[00:00:42] Speaker B: Thank you for having me.
[00:00:44] Speaker A: Yes. I love your dress.
[00:00:45] Speaker B: Well, thank you.
[00:00:46] Speaker A: We're going to be talking about your journey in one woman's fight against breast cancer.
This topic is such an important topic. So. So today we are going to dive a little bit deeper into the survivors experience.
And also just to gain some inspiration and hope, Melissa is here to share a powerful journey from patient to nurse and how her experience with breast cancer transformed her both personally and professionally.
Melissa, we are honored to have you.
So before we get into breast cancer and your journey, tell us a little bit about yourself, your family, your career at Riverside.
[00:01:37] Speaker B: I am a mom of two girls. I also have a husband that I have been married to for almost 19 years and my girls are 16 and 14 and so we stay pretty busy.
I've been a nurse with Riverside since January of 06.
I did mother baby women and infant care for the first 15 years of my career.
[00:02:06] Speaker A: Loved it.
[00:02:08] Speaker B: But then I had a little bit of a change of heart after my diagnosis and stuff.
And then I did a little career move.
[00:02:17] Speaker A: Okay, Melissa, like so many women, you were balancing work, motherhood, and your health.
And then something changed.
Let's go back to the beginning.
When did you first feel that something was not right?
[00:02:37] Speaker B: Well, I was actually being treated in 2018, 2019 by my OBGYN for pelvic pain.
And during a routine exam, he actually the clinical breast exam, he found the lump in my left breast, which sent me for further testing.
[00:03:00] Speaker A: Is it something that you didn't feel yourself?
[00:03:02] Speaker B: I didn't feel it until he brought it up to me. And it was really hard then to kind of even sometimes find it.
[00:03:09] Speaker A: Right. Was it tender at that time? No.
Wow. Okay.
[00:03:13] Speaker B: Not at all.
[00:03:15] Speaker A: So you trusted your instincts.
Right.
And so what happened next?
[00:03:23] Speaker B: Well, he sent me for a mammogram and the mammogram actually did not even pick up the one that he was feeling.
So because of dense breast tissue.
So they did an Ultrasound. And the ultrasound showed, but since I'd never had any, you know, issues before, everything was very small. Then they were like, well, we reckon the recommendation was for a six month follow up ultrasound.
[00:03:51] Speaker A: Okay, okay.
All right. Talk about the initial imaging and all of that. How did, how did you know that go? You know, just give our viewers a little insight about that whole process.
[00:04:06] Speaker B: About, like the mammogram. Okay. So I went in for the mammogram and I mean, I actually, I was great fortunate. I had a coworker that had gone through breast cancer and she went with me for my initial mammogram and sat with me so I wouldn't have to sit in the waiting room by myself. And then they brought me in for the ultrasound and they ultrasounded both breasts. So I was lucky to have her, you know. Yes. So she was a great help.
And then the follow up imaging was just ultrasounds after that, and they were measuring any change. And they actually, the mammogram picked up another spot that they were looking at in my right breast as well. So there were two areas. Small, small at the time. Like, I can't even remember, but they were super small.
[00:05:01] Speaker A: And you were getting your mammograms.
[00:05:02] Speaker B: And I was not. I was not because I was 35. So I wasn't even, you know, in the age group.
[00:05:10] Speaker A: No family history.
[00:05:12] Speaker B: I did have. My grandmother had breast cancer. She was postmenopausal older, and she just had to have a lumpectomy, radiation. And then she took hormone blocking pills.
[00:05:27] Speaker A: And I know now that's something that they really dive into in your family history. And so screening can happen earlier, which is a great thing. Yes, yes, yes. I can only imagine how that moment felt and how your world changed so quickly at just 35 with two kids.
What was going on through your mind?
[00:05:51] Speaker B: When I first got diagnosed, I kind of was numb. Like, you know, you just go through the steps. Like, they told me I needed to go for this follow up and that follow up. My first thought is just take care of the kids. You know, just go on, do. Do the things, you know, just do what they tell you to do. And I really didn't have a whole lot of emotion about everything at first. You know, I was just going through the process. Oh, yeah. And then just doing everything that they needed to do. Yeah. And it was a whirlwind of testing and things that needed to get done.
[00:06:22] Speaker A: Yes.
I definitely think that's something a lot of our listeners need to hear. Sometimes cancer still shows up even without strong genetic Risk or family history.
After your diagnosis, how did you and your husband start to process it all?
[00:06:40] Speaker B: Well, he had just started a new job, so we just kind of were trying to figure out what we were going to do for treatments and how, because he didn't really have time to take off. But family really stepped up and, you know, everybody was super helpful. Like, just. It was just amazing, the support we had.
So we were just kind of just putting one foot in front of the next and just going on doing what.
[00:07:05] Speaker A: You needed to do.
You were walking through your diagnosis during such a unique time, right at the start of the COVID 19 pandemic, when everything was changing so quickly. Right. Hospitals had new safety precautions, visitors were limited, and routines were turned upside down.
And for you, that meant going through surgery, chemo, radiation, in a very different kind of hospital environment without the usual support right there beside you.
But even in that, there were some beautiful moments of strength and support.
I'd love for you to share with our viewers what that looked like and how Riverside team support supported you during this time.
[00:07:54] Speaker B: Well, I was. I did manage to squeak in, and my husband was allowed to come pre op and post op with me. Now, if had I stayed overnight, I would have.
He wouldn't have been allowed up there. But between me and the surgeon, we made the constant.
We made a decision that if I was doing well, I'd go home. And then if I felt well enough. So we did that.
[00:08:24] Speaker A: Right.
[00:08:25] Speaker B: But the moment that it hit me was when I was rolling back to the or, and that was the first time, I think an emotion had come over me and I had, like, a tear coming down. My. I was trying to keep it together. The nurse got, I guess, noticed, and she.
When I wheeled back, she got. Said, hold on, hold on. Because everybody was trying to, like, get me to. To transfer over. They were doing their OR stuff.
Yeah.
[00:08:52] Speaker A: Prepared.
[00:08:52] Speaker B: Yeah. And she said, stop. She. She got in my face and she said, you're beautiful and you'll be beautiful after this.
[00:08:59] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:08:59] Speaker B: You know, so that just meant so.
[00:09:02] Speaker A: Much, you know, in that moment that.
[00:09:04] Speaker B: She was looking, you know, and noticed that, know.
[00:09:08] Speaker A: Yes. And she was right. You look beautiful.
[00:09:10] Speaker B: Well, thank you.
[00:09:11] Speaker A: Yes.
I want to pause for a moment and shine a light on something that really special that happened for you. Right. Because it speaks to. It speak volumes to your situation and not just about cancer, but about the community.
Right.
[00:09:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:31] Speaker A: Yeah. Anything else you want to add?
[00:09:32] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. My.
So I had come home and nobody really wanted to come visit, you know, because they. They were warning people don't go visit it. You know, like, everybody was trying to, like, isolate.
[00:09:43] Speaker A: Right, right.
[00:09:44] Speaker B: So my co workers on Mother Baby, they came out, like it was a day or so after I'd had my surgery to my house with signs, and they rang the doorbell, and then they were all. They had all made these, like, encouraging signs, and they were holding them up and shout out to Mother Baby, yes, they were wonderful.
And then they also arranged for two weeks worth of, like, meals to be delivered so we didn't have to cook.
It was just. I'd have a delivery every evening for dinner. I mean, they were. Just went above and beyond.
[00:10:17] Speaker A: That just really speaks to our mission to care for others as we would care for those we love. And so our team members are our family. Right. And the ones we care for as well, not only our patients and communities.
[00:10:30] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:10:30] Speaker A: And I'm so glad they showed up for you in that way. That moment captures something deeper than medicine. Right. It's about compassion, presence, and how even the smallest acts of kindness can carry us through.
And I know that's what it was for you.
[00:10:46] Speaker B: Well, yes. Most definitely, yes.
[00:10:48] Speaker A: I love that the kind of. That kind of compassion carried you through. I can tell through those very helpful time what came next.
[00:10:57] Speaker B: Oh, boy. So, yeah, so I'd had my mastectomy, my double mastectomy, April 1, and between April 1 and the time I started chemo, I had had to have more scans, mri.
I had my port placed. I had chemo education, and then I started chemo May 7. So just a month later.
[00:11:20] Speaker A: Okay, okay. Okay. That must have taken a lot of strength. Oh, and courage.
[00:11:25] Speaker B: It did. I mean, they pretty much lay out radiation, right? Yeah, chemo, then radiation, 16 rounds of chemo and 33 radiation treatments.
[00:11:37] Speaker A: And all of that in the middle of a pandemic?
[00:11:39] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:11:41] Speaker A: With a family, a career.
That speaks volumes. That's incredible.
So, Melissa, so many people finish cancer treatment and look for ways to move forward, but few come full circle the way you have.
What began as a personal health crisis turned into a professional calling.
And inspired by the very nurses who cared for you, you made the extraordinary decision to return to nursing school and step into the world of oncology care yourself.
Tell us about that transformation. What led you back to the infusion center at this time, not as a patient, but as a care provider or healer.
[00:12:27] Speaker B: Right. I actually didn't go back to nursing school, but it was like being in school.
When I first started my cancer treatments, they all figured out I was a nurse. They were like, do you have any Interest in oncology. I was like, you know, right. Right there at the end, they were like, would you ever come work here? I was like, you know, kind of. But they were. They took such good care of me, like. Cause family wasn't allowed up, you know, they were my support.
And they got to know you so well. Like, the personal experience, just from when you walk in the door and them calling you by name when you come up to check in. I mean, they have tons of patients, but even the check in remembered your name, you know, like, and it was just the personalization of that care just really made me feel seen and cared for. Like, not just by a clinic or whatever, but by family.
[00:13:26] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:13:26] Speaker B: And my nurse would know, like, just by. I'd come in trying to be strong and whatever. She's like, is everything okay?
She's like, no, it's not. You know, so then it dug a little deeper and.
[00:13:40] Speaker A: Okay, so what happened next?
[00:13:46] Speaker B: I applied for. I was in one of my support groups for breast cancer, and I was like, you know, I want to kind of. I don't think I can do this job, you know, that I have anymore. You know, I do a lot of breastfeeding with, you know, women that are, you know, I just couldn't be that person anymore. And I was like, you know, I. I really found myself, like, wondering what was happening to all the other patients that were in the room when I was getting my treatment. Not just, you know, so I was like, well, maybe I should try to apply there. They had an opening. I applied. I was like, I don't know if I can learn something new. You know, like, might not be a good time to learn something new with all this change, because I was still going through reconstruction surgeries, and I had had some complications with that, but I was like, you know, don't know if you want to try. You know, I am not a person for change. But I was like, I got to step out of my, you know, comfort zone and my fear of change and try to try this. And those girls in the support group were like, you can't stay where you're at just because your co workers were so nice to you. You know, if you're not happy.
[00:14:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:55] Speaker B: You know, you became what you valued.
[00:14:57] Speaker A: Became different. Yes, it was different.
So that's great. Typically, you see people go into certain specialty areas because they have a personal connection.
[00:15:05] Speaker B: Right.
[00:15:05] Speaker A: Or even go into healthcare because of a personal connection.
[00:15:10] Speaker B: And that's what I wanted, you know, like, I'm like, if I could make somebody feel the way that whole team made me feel during that.
That time, then that would be the most rewarding, you know.
[00:15:23] Speaker A: Yes.
One of the most powerful parts of your story, Melissa, is what came after the last round of your treatment. Survivorship brings on challenges, of course, but also new clarity. And so that position, transition, I think, really speaks to that.
All right.
Okay.
And now three years out from treatment.
[00:15:48] Speaker B: Almost five. Almost five. Okay. Almost five. Almost five.
[00:15:53] Speaker A: Almost five years out from.
[00:15:55] Speaker B: From the initial.
[00:15:56] Speaker A: Yeah, from the initial. Okay, you're cancer free.
That's right. So we can celebrate that.
[00:16:02] Speaker B: That's great.
[00:16:03] Speaker A: Which is such a blessing. But I know from talking with so many survivors that the journey doesn't just stop there. What does ongoing care look like for you?
[00:16:13] Speaker B: I know it's really hard because when they, you know, you're going through treatment, everything's lined up for you, and then you're done. And they like, they kind of are like, okay, you're done. And then you're like, everybody's like, yeah, yeah, yes. And then it's not.
[00:16:27] Speaker A: Then you're not done.
[00:16:28] Speaker B: You're not done. So I feel like support kind of goes. Dies down a little bit because they don't think you, you know, you survived, you know, like you're doing. But I still have to go in once a month for ovarian suppression shots to shut down my ovaries. I take a hormone blocking pill every evening. I go in every three to four months for blood work, and my oncologist sees me. So, I mean, it's. It doesn't stop.
[00:16:58] Speaker A: Okay.
All righty.
That's such important information.
And a reminder. Just because active treatment end doesn't mean follow up care ends. Right.
And you're balancing that with caring for others still.
So the connection with others can be so powerful, especially when you can be the voice of hope for them. What helps you stay grounded as a survivor?
[00:17:25] Speaker B: Well, you kind of have to not look so far in the future. I mean, you can plan for the future, but best laid plans sometimes don't pan out. So just put.
Think about your next step and enjoy the moment you're in. And try not to have too much anxiety about the what ifs and all of that. And I know in my personal instance, I know that whatever happens, my team is gonna have my back.
[00:17:54] Speaker A: Absolutely.
So as we close this episode, what words of encouragement would you provide to our listeners?
[00:18:01] Speaker B: I would say just take one step at a time again. Don't try to plan too far ahead. Reach out, use your support systems. Find new ones, like, step out of your village. Of support, talk to people that you know have gone through what you've gone through and step out of your comfort zone. Zone. I mean, yes. So that's kind of what what I. And you're stronger than you know because I wouldn't have thought I could have done all I've done in the past five years.
[00:18:32] Speaker A: Your story and your sharing is going to help so many.
[00:18:35] Speaker B: Well, thank you.
[00:18:36] Speaker A: Thank you. That's such a powerful message and you've lived it. You've, you've worked, you've parented and you've healed. And while fighting cancer, your story is a gift to all of us. So thank you so much for joining us today and sharing your personal story and journey.
[00:18:55] Speaker B: Thank you for having me.
[00:18:57] Speaker A: Absolutely. To our listeners, if this episode moved you or resonated with you or inspired you, please share it with someone.
And also check the episode description for resources on breast cancer awareness, screening and support.
Until next time, stay healthy.
Thank you for listening to this episode of Healthy you. We're so glad you were able to join us today and learn more about this topic. If you would like to explore more, go to riversideonline.com.
