Months after having twins, Kira was shocked to learn she had stage 2 triple positive breast cancer. Kira and her husband, already parents to a son, welcomed the twins in July 2019. “In October, I discovered a lump, but initially I thought it was a blockage in the breast,” Kira said. She started looking for ideas to help her produce milk and clear the blockage, but nothing was successful and she ended up moving away from breastfeeding.
Changes in Breast Appearance
“Shortly after that, I noticed the appearance of my breast starting to change. It was dry and cracking,” Kira said. It was alarming enough that she reached out to her primary care doctor to figure out what was going on.
The primary care doctor immediately referred Kira to a breast specialist, where Kira had a mammogram. “My husband went with me to the mammogram. Our initial thinking was ‘let’s not be alarmed, let’s stay calm. I was not thinking breast cancer at all.”
All that changed quickly after Kira’s mammogram. “They said they saw something alarming and wanted to do a biopsy,” she said. The biopsy results showed two tumors, one large enough that it just tipped the scale into stage 2.
Triple Positive Breast Cancer
With her diagnosis of triple positive (estrogen receptor-positive, progesterone receptor-positive and HER2-positive) breast cancer, Kira’s treatment started with chemotherapy to shrink the tumors. After chemotherapy, she opted for a double mastectomy, for which she had two surgeries.
Breast Surgeries & Reconstruction
The first surgery was to remove residual cancer from her right breast and remove it, then a second breast surgery to remove her left breast. “I opted for the double mastectomy because I wanted to minimize the risk of anything coming back,” she explained. “I wanted to reduce my risk of recurrence, and also for aesthetic reasons, I wanted to look good afterward, to be symmetrical.”
For breast reconstruction, Kira opted to do a DIEP flap. “All of my surgeries went well, recovery was fairly quick,” she said. “I didn’t have any major obstacles, but I did hate having to deal with the mastectomy drains. It was miserable.”
Going into Early Menopause
Kira’s continuing therapy included Lupron injections (a type of ovarian suppression), which kicked her into menopause. “I went from having twins to menopause, and it was definitely an experience,” she said. “I wish I’d been more forewarned about what it meant to go into menopause, but everything was happening so fast. It was like being in medical school and not really understanding what all we were talking about.” She is now on anastrozole, an aromatase inhibitor (hormone therapy).
Taking a Step Back
Kira has always been a high achiever, a perfectionist who strives to be exceptional in everything she does. Breast cancer threw her expectations for a curve. She went from giving birth to twins to maternity leave to a breast cancer diagnosis, and realized something had to give.
“I realized I needed to take medical leave and take a step back. I needed to focus on my treatment,” she said. “That was so hard because I felt like I was knocked off my career track. I was a go-getter and wanted to get up on the horse and achieve something in my career, but I couldn’t. My career couldn’t be number one. Number one was getting healthy and number two was taking care of my three children.”
“The experience has not been easy. I leaned heavily on my husband. He’s always been a huge partner to me with taking care of the kids, handling everything and keeping me positive, making sure I was taking things day by day,” Kira said. “I needed to say ‘this is good enough’ when it came to the house and kids and recognize I tried, I did this today and that’s enough. I had to learn to be okay with good enough.”
Moving Forward
“I never thought in a million years this would happen to me,” Kira said. “This totally caught me by surprise. I know there’s so much information out there about breast cancer, but I never engaged with it before.”
Kira had genetic testing, which showed she carries a TP53 inherited gene mutation, which is linked to a higher risk of breast cancer. Before the genetic testing, she had no idea she was at higher risk. “I want to help women not be as surprised as I was and to learn about risk earlier,” she said. “Then, if they’re diagnosed with breast cancer, they can be a little more prepared.”
Statements and opinions expressed are that of the individual and do not express the views or opinions of Susan G. Komen. This information is being provided for educational purposes only and is not to be construed as medical advice. Persons with breast cancer should consult their health care provider with specific questions or concerns about their treatment.
