Aid Kassandra in Her Fight Against Cancer

Hi, my name is Kassandra Huskey and I really don’t want to have to ask for help, but I was recently diagnosed with thyroid cancer and hyperactive parathyroid, which may sound horrible, but let me tell you my story.

I found a large lump under my breast 3 years ago this December. So it was the call doctors, drive to Vegas for imaging and biopsies, and horrible experiences. To have the most, I am still in shock, experience of them all. I am laying on a table at Steinberger Imaging when I go into panic mode. Here I am about to get biopsies on 7 lumps they found in my breast. And I go in thinking I am getting a mild sedative and they were going to do this while I was asleep. They, mind you, sent the information a couple of days prior. You know, the what to expect at your visit stuff. The first place I visited to have imaging done was beautiful; the women were amazing, kind, supportive, wanting to make this awful experience the best they could. I mean amazing. 10, I give them a 10, no question. But this second hospital is off in the dirty, dark, scary part of town. You know the ones I mean. So I go in, tell them what I am there for, they sit clear across this dirty office, and the people were awful from the start. They set me like I got the plague or something, alone, in my own section of the office. So, straight panic mode. Anyways, long story short, it’s nothing like the pictures or the prep stuff showed. So I am sitting here, and here come the awful ultrasound nurse and Dr. Death, as I called him. They want to stab me in my breast seven times on top of, you know, mild pain numb stuff. I have never been sick, so doctor offices I was not used to. They tell me to undress from the top up and they uncover the pain of the needle. Nope, thank you, I was out. They were awful, told me I need to stop acting like a child or let them go to lunch. So I got up and left. This was my first mistake.

So now I am scared of everything, have had this awful experience, and am done. Told myself I would let nature take its course and deal with it when I had to. Mistake #2.

So now it’s December 2023 and I have had pneumonia six times, been in and out of the hospitals, trying to explain to people my pain, and still scared to proceed any further than imaging or getting cured for whatever put me back in the ER.

Anyways, here we are December 2023 and I end up in the hospital for a minute, 4 or 5 day stays. We are now doing all kinds of imaging and blood work and whatever to make this easy for breast surgery. So I am okay, got everything, I go to Colorado to be close to family during this period, have family in the hospital and good doctors that have treated my family. And here is mistake number 3. I love my family, I do, but when it comes to me being sick, they were the maybe a phone call, call if it gets worse family. So I move, hope, yes, family, friends, good doctors, we can do this, nope. Another door slammed closed. And I am back to Nevada, to Vegas. Well, that was February and I have been to doctors, imaging, blood tests, breast, blah blah. Go to the first cancer place in Reno and they told me I am full of it, they see nothing, everyone else has lied, there is nothing, go home.

Now I am like what the hell, I am still sick, still hurt, can’t drive, can’t work because I am in pain, tired, miserable all the time. So I call, tell them everything is fine, I am fine, blah blah. Well, bam, I am back at the hospital for a bit, feeling chest pains, can’t breathe, you know. Or if you’re lucky, you don’t know. But I drive the 183 miles to my hospital, chest pain, heart’s great, lungs great. Okay, so I have got it in my head it’s in my head. But it gets worse, so tired, lose my job, I am angry, mad, in pain, and so lost by this point. I am actually ready to take my life because I am tired of trying to explain what’s wrong and people looking at the same thing. But I have symptoms all over the place from losing teeth to bloody noses to numb pain in my arm, chest, kidney, everywhere. I find the right stuff at the right time that says hey, you have been here, we know it’s not your heart when you say chest pain. We start autoimmune testing that brings us to nuclear science testing and sure as the air we breathe, it’s my thyroid.

So now after 3 years, lots of harsh words, and doctors from here to Colorado and back, we figured it out. But with the diagnosis, we get surgery, meetings with doctors for this and doctors for that, neurologists and endocrinologists and OB/GYNs, and if you can think of it, I have a doctor’s appointment with them. So this is where I come to family, friends, and strangers and ask for help. I need help traveling back and forth to Vegas. And there will be hotel stays and I don’t know what else to expect, but I know my best friend has done everything she can to help, like $10,000 plus in the last 2 years helping me figure this out. So this is where I bring my story to people and ask for help to finally fix what’s wrong and pray that it’s not worse than I think.

I am not a put my life out there for people, but here I am. My goal behind all of this is to find a place in Vegas to stay closer to hospitals and let travel time and the gas money and you know, odds and ends you need when you’re traveling back and forth to Vegas weekly, sometimes twice a week for blood work and whatever. I honestly don’t know because I don’t speak doctor at all and sometimes they don’t speak human very well either.

Like I said, I am not a need help kind of person, but not working, not being able to stay awake or have energy to drive myself back and forth, and whatever else this throws at me, I am sharing my story. Thank you.