Christene King fought breast cancer and won

TODAY Christene King is giving God thanks that after a breast cancer diagnosis in May, she has successfully gone through surgery and is recovering with minimal complications.

When King spoke with All Woman, she said routine mammograms were what she did every year at the Jamaica Cancer Society, but for some reason, she slipped up until a close friend died from the disease and she realised she needed to get her breasts checked.

“So in my bed one night I was feeling up my breast and said to myself, this don’t feel right. I asked my daughter to feel it and tell me if she felt anything and she said “yes mommy”. So I called Yulit Gordon from the Cancer Society and she said to come in the following day and do a mammogram,” she said.

King explained that after the results came back she was sent to do an ultrasound and then an aspiration biopsy and wait for the results. But she said after 10 days passed and she received no calls from her physician she felt she was OK; however, her worst fears were soon realised.

“I felt lifted and said if it was anything serious they would have called. Then I got the call and they said it’s it — cancer. I’m a gym freak so I never imagined myself having breast cancer. When I heard it, the day when my surgeon said it to me, I went straight to the gym and began working out, working out my brain. I said breast cancer — no sah, work out this thing. Then my girlfriend called me and I told her and she said, ‘Cho, just cut it off’ — very nonchalant,” King said.

Moving forward proved to be somewhat easy for King as she quickly made up her mind to get rid of the breast. However, it took some reassurance form Dr Jennifer Mamby Alexander for King to do the procedure locally.

“I thought about going overseas and she said, ‘Christene, you did all your tests here, if you go overseas it will take you to October because you will have to retest as they won’t accept the tests we did’. She explained that when I felt that lump it was two years in the making and by the time I was about to have surgery it had grown a little. So I consented and on August 10 I had my surgery,” she said.

Fortunately for King, because her cancer was detected at stage 1a and various tests done showed that it was loose and hadn’t spread, she was not a candidate for chemotherapy or radiation.

“They do three different tests to find out what kind of cancer it is. If the third one had proved negative I’d have had to do chemotherapy. But from the test came back with oestrogen receptor positive you can always chop that down and control that. I know people who have to have [chemo] before and after the surgery. Thank God I caught it early and it was nowhere else in my body,” King said.

However, as a result of the cancer being oestrogen receptor positive, King has had to remove some of her lymph nodes resulting in her developing lymphedema — swelling that generally occurs in one of your arms or legs, sometimes both, caused by the removal of or damage to your lymph nodes as a part of cancer treatment.

She has also been placed on Arimidex for the next five years to lower the oestrogen levels in her body and given the Zoledronic Acid treatment to protect her bones as the pills can compromise their density.

But the side effects of the Zoledronic Acid took King by surprise.

“I just never realised it would be this bad. The oncologist said I would feel sick but I never imagined this. My face, my bones, my eyes, my teeth — I’m in literal pain. Everywhere is pain. It’s the first I’ve felt so sick since the cancer, to the point I can’t even move. I have to take my time and step, but the doctor said this will all pass,” she said.

Moreover, she said her support group has truly helped her because the mental and psychological aspect of cancer can really affect people negatively.

“You hear about having breast cancer and you hear about chemotherapy. Nobody told me what it was like to lose a breast. For the first few weeks after surgery I just couldn’t look down. You still feel it, you still feel all the veins. Your nipple still itches you and when it’s nipping/healing you feel the pain deep down. I just had to learn to deal with one breast,” she said.

King said it’s not a death sentence, but encouraged women to do their mammograms, have good insurance coverage and obtain a National Health Fund (NHF) card.

“Once you’re diagnosed, take immediate and aggressive action, get all your diagnostics done. It is expensive, it is damn expensive. Thank God I had insurance. But then you think of all of these women who have nowhere to go and can’t afford to pay. Even if you do it at a public hospital there is still a cost. But try and secure an insurance policy. Also, with the NHF card the Arimidex pills which would once cost me $70,000 a month as I need two packs per month now cost me $95. I was just blown away. I’ve been encouraging all my friends and children to do their mammograms. It’s very important. I fell off the bandwagon and didn’t do any for a while, but please, get it done,” King said.