Keni Jo

< Back to Portfolio

My name is Keni Jo. I am 44 years old, married, mother of twin boys (age 8) and step-children Ally (21) and Jake (19). I work full time and am very active. I play volleyball, I enjoy running, gardening and spending my time with family and friends.

​

 Diagnosis

As I was sitting in bed on the evening of Sunday, November 20, 2016, I felt an itch or a "tickle" on my chest. I reached my hand inside my tank top and to my surprise, I felt a lump right where the tickle was. Quite a large lump, in fact. I immediately showed it to my husband and the next morning I called my doctor's office as soon as they opened. They were able to get me in right away and the physician's assistant confirmed the lump and I got scheduled for a 3-D mammogram and an ultrasound at Lemmen-Holten on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

A couple of days before that appointment I felt what seemed like other lumps. During the mammogram, I pointed out the other areas to the nurse and the ultrasound technician. After the two procedures were done, I was called in to the nurse's office and was informed that they would like me to return for a breast biopsy. We scheduled this appointment for December 6th. When I got home from this appointment, my cell phone rang and it was the nurse calling. She wanted me to be aware that the breast biopsy might be on 2 or 3 sites. Since I had felt more than one lump, this made sense to me, but I swear the next 10 days were the longest days of my life!

I chose not to tell many people about the lumps I found. Of course, my husband knew and my co-workers (mainly because of the impromptu doctor appointment). I felt that there was no need to tell a bunch of people because when everything turned out to be 'just fine' then that would be less people I would have to tell that I was alright. December 6th arrived and I went in for the biopsy. My husband came along with me for this appointment. This procedure was a biopsy by ultrasound. I went to work as normal on the next day and tried not to think about getting a phone call. It was hard though. I typically take a late lunch and this day was no exception. It was after 3pm when my cell phone rang ~ this was the call I had been waiting for, but I wasn't really expecting to hear a nurse tell me that I had invasive mammary carcinoma. I wasn't really sure what that meant at first. This phone call led to many others and many different appointments were scheduled. 

The next evening (after the diagnosis), I had to go downtown to Spectrum for a MRI. On Monday, the 12th, I met with the Multi-Specialty Team along with my husband and a friend, who is a breast cancer survivor. This was a lengthy appointment as I met with three different doctors and had three breast exams and heard a lot of verbage that didn't make sense to me. End result - the biopsy samples were so full of cancer that they couldn't get the estrogen & progesterone receptor results. The MRI results showed a couple more shadows in the breast area and a shadow by my sentinel lymph node. I was then scheduled for a lymph node biopsy (by ultrasound) on December 15th. Unfortunately, when they went to do this procedure they found that there was a major blood vessel in the way and they couldn't do it. I was then scheduled for a surgical biopsy of the lymph node on Tuesday, December 20th. During this procedure Dr. Paulson decided to take a third sample of the breast hoping to get better results. I didn't get the call from my doctor until Friday, December 23rd. The call came at 8am and what she told me hit me pretty hard. She said they found a 4mm dot of cancer on the lymph node and the results of the breast tissue sample proved that the cancer I have is indeed "triple negative". The doctor said that she wanted to schedule me to get the chemo port placed on December 30th. Ok, here we go - now we have a plan! 

My philosophy is, I really can't do a darn thing about it, so I might as well accept it, fight it and continue living.

Treatments

On December 30th, not only did I have my chemo port surgery; I also received my first treatment. What a long day. I was there from 8:30 am until 5pm. My husband was there by my side and my two sisters came along as well. This treatment was the first of four bi-weekly treatments. My second treatment was on Friday, January 13th. I was told that my hair would probably start to fall out by the second treatment. They were absolutely right! I noticed it coming out 2 days before. I had a lot of hair too! Very thick and long. I had been growing it for about two years for my boys who love long hair. On that Friday, I recall my sisters constantly de-shedding me during my treatment. I could just pull on the ends of my hair and it would come out. What a crazy experience! Later that day, I decided that I had to shave it down. So, I let my family and a couple close friends know and they all came together in support at my house the next day. Little did I know at the time that my younger brother, brother in law, two nephews and my father were all going to shave their heads too! My older brother skyped in from California and later that afternoon, he went out and shaved his head as well. What an amazing day it was - NOT ONE TEAR WAS SHED! We all smiled and laughed and had a great time. 

Once I finished my bi-weekly treatments, I started weekly treatments through May 12, 2017. This may sound strange, but I enjoyed my chemo days. I would start the day by going to work and leave when it was time for my treatment. My two sisters and sister in law joined me almost every Friday! We were the loudest bunch there and we ALWAYS had Qdoba for lunch! Recently, all three of my sisters have mentioned that they miss those visits - just the visits though and not the reason we were all together (of course). It was actually a wonderful bonding time and I will treasure their love & support forever. 

Just six weeks after my last chemo treatment I went in to surgery for lymph node removal and a double-mastectomy with the start of reconstruction. This was the part that I was really dreading. I cried just a little when my pastor and a couple other members of church showed up just before my surgery to pray for me. I truly believe that all the prayers have helped me to be as strong as I am. Throughout this I have found out that there are people I don't even know praying for me, including little children in their Sunday school class. The toughest part about the surgery was sleeping. I was so uncomfortable! I slept in a recliner for 14 nights because I couldn't lay on either side. Even now, sleeping isn't very comfortable, but I hope that gets better in time.

I thought that by removing my breasts I would be cleared and wouldn't need any more treatment. Shame on me for thinking that! Radiation was recommended and after much thought, debate and conversations with doctors, I decided to go through with it. Those treatments began on August 23rd. The treatment is daily for 25 treatments with September 27th being my last one. 

​

My experience

Even before I was given the official words "you have cancer", I decided that it wasn't going to bring me down. I enjoy running and do a handful of 5k races each year. One race I have done for many years is the GRPS Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. Well, 2016 was no different. Even though I had just found a lump in my breast and had an appointment that next day, I still ran Turkey Trot and went about my Thanksgiving day as normal. In fact, in late December I vowed that I would run a 5k each month for the 2017 calendar year. I have kept my word, except for July since I was recovering from surgery, but I ran two 5k's in June to make up for it. I have the rest of year's races planned out and on Thanksgiving day I will, once again, run the Turkey Trot.

I have been very blessed throughout this experience and have been living life normally. There were very few times when I was down from the effects of chemo. I honestly don't have time to be sick. I have two little boys that are on the go all the time (just like me) and I need to be able to keep up with them. My diagnosis hasn't effected them at all, they too have been doing their normal things. 

I changed like the flip of a switch with my diagnosis. I would always worry about how I looked and if my hair was perfect, etc. etc. I would worry about things that I had absolutely no control over and let it consume me. NOT ANYMORE! I WILL NOT LET cancer consume me and I will remain positive and cancer WILL NOT get me down! 

Thank you to Dave, Amanda, Steve, Jessica and Tara for making all of the Crowns of Courage women feel beautiful and whole! I will treasure this experience forever.