Sara Harshberger
In her own words:
In June 2014, I was 35 years old and 8 months pregnant with our 3rd child. Our other kids were 7 and almost 3. I had found a lump in my right breast that my doctor and I assumed was a milk duct. But she saved my life that day and had me get an ultrasound of the lump to be safe. The ultrasound led to a mammogram and then a breast biopsy. The biopsy was positive for cancer. The whirlwind began. For the next week, a group of doctors were debating what would be the best course of treatment, because of my fast growing tumor and my pregnancy. 12 days after my diagnosis, I got my first round of chemo. Pregnancy and all. This shrunk and controlled the tumor so we could get the baby to term. Grant was delivered in August happy, healthy and with more hair than I had. I cried the entire day. We were able to have a “normal” 6 weeks together as a family of 5 then the real battle began. I resumed chemo with an added drug that I couldn’t have while pregnant. Treatment, frequent scans and appointments consumed my life.
In January 2015 I had a double mastectomy with reconstruction. I couldn’t lift my arms or my baby for 6 weeks. I continued to have constant appointments, more scans and added in daily radiation. I was considered in remission in May. I opted for a total hysterectomy due to the nature of the cancer and also had my temporary implants removed and permanent ones placed. By the end of 2015, I was finally “done” with it all. I was in remission for just over 4 years. I got a beautiful tattoo over the scars on my breast. I was beginning to feel somewhat normal again.
In June 2019 I was running alongside Grant while he was learning to ride his bike. I limped home. I continued to have noticeable hip pain for the next few months. It hurt to swim on a vacation and dance at a wedding. In August I got an Xray at an orthopedic office I had worked at for the last 11 years. One of my colleagues had to break it to me that I had metastatic cancer to my bone. It was in my left hip socket. Whirlwind #2 began. I had several more tests and scans to assure it had not spread anywhere else. I began radiation to the hip, got a port placed and began chemo again in October. Bald for a second time. At one point I had a bout of severe hip pain and spasms which made it very hard to walk. Another Xray revealed a fracture in that hip socket. I began using crutches and went to OHSU to consult with an orthopedic oncologist and surgeon. I was eventually going to need a hip replacement. I continued to use crutches off and on (mostly on) over the next 2 ½ years trying to heal the fracture and delay a replacement.
I completed the chemo in January 2020 but would continue on “maintenance” infusions every 3 weeks indefinitely. In February, my tattoo began to have problems.The skin was suddenly peeling and I got an open sore. My immune system was in the toilet and I woke up one morning with an infection around the implant. I went to the ER and was nearly septic. I had emergency surgery to remove the implant. After 2 weeks, the surgery incision split open and revealed I had not been healing at all, likely due to the previous radiation to that breast. Within a week, I was seeing a wound care specialist, I had packing in my chest and then a wound vac for 2 months. I did hyperbaric oxygen treatment to help the healing. I spent 2 hours, every weekday, for 3 months in a pressurized oxygen chamber. This totalled 60 treatments and 120 hours of my life. In July I was finally healed. I have permanent vision changes in my right eye due so many sessions of this pressure. I would also not be able to get another implant. I was left with 1 breast.
In June 2020 I was considered in remission, but that only lasted 6 months. I went to the ED in December for severe back pain. I had a fracture to my spine from a new cancerous lesion. Scans showed I had new cancer spots also in my collar bone, shoulder blade and hip socket. The maintenance treatment wasn’t working. I had radiation for a third time, to the spine. We changed the drugs I was getting and I continued going every 3 weeks.
This was working and the cancers were going away. And so far have stayed away. At the end of 2021 I was using crutches all of the time. So I returned to OHSU and we decided it was time. I had a total hip replacement in April 2022. I was doing well with physical therapy but during one of my exercises, my hip slipped out of socket. I returned to OHSU and my new hip was failing. I had another total hip replacement in June.
Mixed in among all of this, I had my gallbladder removed, treatment for a blood clot and surgery for a broken foot. But I also started counseling, acupuncture, and went on some vacations, yes on crutches. Today I am walking without any assistance and still getting my infusions every 3 weeks. This drug has been working for 2 years now. My life as I knew it nearly 9 years ago is gone. But okay. In the words of one of my many doctors, “Even if it isn’t okay, it's going to be okay”. I live life one day at a time and roll with the punches. Cancer will be in my life for the rest of it. Don’t underestimate it and don’t take life without it for granted.