Printed: August 29, 2024
Written by: Saul Wisnia
Andrea Baxter remembers speaking with girlfriends previous to her first mammogram in February 2023, simply 4 months after her fortieth birthday.
“We joked about how these routine scans had been an indication of getting older,” she recollects. “No one thought something unhealthy would come from them.”
From working within the insurance coverage area, Baxter knew that mammograms — the best take a look at for detecting early breast most cancers — had been coated by most insurance coverage corporations beginning at age 40 for folks of common threat. On the time, nevertheless, Baxter says she was not nervous in regards to the consequence of her first scan.
“I used to be wholesome, felt nice, and had no historical past of breast most cancers in my household,” Baxter explains. “Everyone else’s mammogram went high quality, so why shouldn’t mine too?”
In Could 2023, irregular findings from Baxter’s first ever mammogram revealed a prognosis of HER-2 optimistic breast most cancers, a very aggressive type of the illness. After a 12 months of remedy at Dana-Farber Brigham Most cancers Heart at Milford Regional Medical Heart close to her house in Upton, Massachusetts, Baxter has a message to share: don’t postpone that first mammogram.
“Breast most cancers may be traumatic, however folks are likely to have a greater prognosis when it’s caught earlier,” says Baxter. “It doesn’t matter how good you’re feeling, or whether or not you’ve got another warning indicators. Get one as quickly as you may.”
Sturdy and current
Earlier than her prognosis, Baxter had expertise with most cancers when her father, Jim Brookes, a retired fireplace captain, was identified with esophageal most cancers in late 2019 and cared for at Dana-Farber Brigham by Thomas Abrams, MD. As soon as Baxter acquired married and discovered she was pregnant, she and her husband, Jeff, moved from Dunstable to Upton in 2021 to be nearer to her mother and father as her father continued his restoration.
Whereas driving close to her new house someday, Baxter recollects noticing one thing that stunned her.
“It was the [Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center at Milford Regional Medical Center] campus, simply eight minutes from our home,” says Baxter. “I bear in mind pondering to myself, ‘That’s good to know.’”
Whereas shocked by her prognosis, which got here shortly earlier than her and Jeff’s son JJ turned 2, Baxter says she was comforted that she might obtain a lot of her care near house. She credit her surgeon Faina Nakhlis, MD, oncologist Natalie Sinclair, MD, radiation oncologist Monica Krishnan, MD, and the remainder of her medical crew for making her remedy routine — which consisted of 12 rounds of chemotherapy, 19 radiation remedies, and a 12 months of immunotherapy — as unobtrusive and accommodating as doable to her younger household.
“Dr. Sinclair was nice about ensuring I didn’t unfold myself too skinny, and that I could possibly be as sturdy and current for JJ as my remedy allowed,” explains Baxter. “The extent of funding that she and the crew have of their sufferers is unimaginable.”
Sinclair was equally impressed by Baxter’s perspective in the direction of her prognosis and remedy.
“From the second I met Andrea she was very centered and assured in her objectives for her care,” says Sinclair. “I used to be impressed by the extent of analysis and thought she put into her choices. She requested plenty of onerous and insightful questions. As terrifying because it was to consider not being round for her husband and younger baby, she was in a position to stay poised and clear and undaunted. She selected a tougher remedy general in each sense of the phrase than different sufferers and moved boldly ahead and conquered her most cancers.”
When confronted with the prospect of dropping her hair on account of chemotherapy, Baxter was particularly involved in regards to the influence it might have on her younger son. With steerage from her care crew, Baxter determined to strive scalp cooling. This remedy narrows the blood vessels beneath the pores and skin of the scalp — which reduces the quantity of chemotherapy medication that reaches the hair follicles and causes hair loss — utilizing a liquid coolant delivered by a machine whereas the affected person wears a tight-fitting silicone cap and an outer cowl on their head earlier than, throughout, and after every infusion.
Jeff was available to assist with Andrea’s cap fittings and her Milford crew, together with nurse Christie Carr, BSN, RN, doctor assistant Emily Joyal, PA-C, and medical assistant Violla Duverseau, oversaw the scalp-cooling course of. Baxter says she misplaced simply 5% of her hair.
Brilliant star
As soon as her chemotherapy and radiation remedies had been accomplished, Baxter nonetheless needed to full upkeep remedy with herceptin each three weeks. Sinclair cites this for instance of the advantages of mixing HER2 remedy and customary remedy to extend progression-free survival sufferers with HER2-positive breast most cancers.
Baxter was in a position to full her 12 months of lively remedy at the same time as she skilled fatigue and had a response to a chemotherapy drug known as Taxol that required her to endure three of her chemotherapy infusions within the desensitization unit at Dana-Farber Brigham’s Boston campus. This solely strengthened her emotions that even when an individual feels nicely, conducts breast self-exams commonly, and reveals no different warning indicators, mammograms stay one of the best ways to catch breast most cancers early at any age.
“Andrea is a vivid star whose optimistic perspective was seen week after week, even when unintended effects arose,” recollects Carr. “I’m in awe of her dedication to assist educate others on the significance of mammogram screening. She turned her prognosis into a possibility to assist others – how inspiring and wonderful!”