With no family history of the disease, Megan Knox was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 29.
Now 34, she is a chiropractor with a practice on the Missouri/Arkansas state line.
She was diagnosed after doing a self-exam and finding something suspicious.
"I could feel a knot that was the size of maybe a nickel, so I called my doctor and I was seen just a couple of days later," she said.
She was referred to have a mammogram the very next day. Then the next day she was sent for a needle biopsy, she said. The day after that she received a call telling her she had stage two invasive ductal carcinoma.
She went to Highlands Oncology in Rogers, Ark., and started the process of treatment.
"When they tested me, they found out I was estrogen receptor-positive, that estrogen was making my tumor grow," she said. She received an Oncotype test to show whether she would respond better to hormone therapy or chemotherapy, and it showed hormone therapy. She received hormone therapy to shut off all the estrogen in her body, she said.
"I got hormone injections for about seven months. I gained a lot of weight and it put me through menopause and I had hot flashes, but it was still probably better than chemotherapy," she said.
She ended up having a double mastectomy and also having her ovaries removed so that she did not have to have the hormone injections anymore. She also had her lymph nodes removed on her right side when they did the mastectomy.
She said the adrenal glands make a secondary source of estrogen, and so to keep them from doing that, she is on a chemo-type derivative pill. It is a low-dose chemo to keep her body from producing estrogen.
"Sometimes it's hard," she said. "I deal with it every day, but it's better than the alternative. Different things have happened since having the surgery that have caused problems in other areas of my body. But I haven't had a lot of downtime. I've been pretty fortunate."
The year she had her mastectomy, 2015, she had five surgeries. She also had reconstructive surgery.
Knox has to have a checkup with her oncologist every six months. Everything has been fine every time. She is not sure when or if she will be able to stop taking the medicine.
"I feel good, and I've been able to maintain working. Everything's pretty good.
As for her family, she said, "I think everyone was really scared in the beginning, but I have a really tight-knit, close family, and everyone was really supportive through it all."
Her sister, Tiffany, and some friends she grew up with in McDonald County did a benefit for her, and more than 300 people attended, she said.
"We are very appreciative of everyone's support," she said.
There is also an organization in Wheaton, Mo., called The Power of Pink that has an annual walk, and the funds raised go to a couple of women battling breast cancer. Knox was a recipient one year. Now she and her husband, Zach, fundraise for that and participate in the walk.
"After having this, it really makes you appreciate people who are very supportive in more than just financial ways. I had a lot of people looking out for me and making sure our whole family was taken care of," she said.
"I feel really lucky that I was able to catch it when I did," she said. "It's something you never expect to happen."
"It wasn't fun," she concluded, "but it could have been a lot worse and I was really fortunate to have the outcome that I did."
General News on 10/24/2019