Angela Salinas Cancer Journey

My name is John Joslyn. Angela Salinas is my neighbor. We reside in Caledonia Michigan. After battling cancer for the last four years, Angela passed away on Sunday September 22nd. All funds donated will go to Mo and the girls for support in this difficult time.

Her story follows. We appreciate your support! 

The following text is from Angela's introduction four years ago.

The day after my 39th birthday, I began to feel something wasn't right. My right side hurt and I was slightly short of breath, both unusual symptoms for me. As days passed and the symptoms persisted, I grew concerned and given our current public health crisis, I went to be tested for Covid-19 in late June. That test came back negative. My shortness of breath was intensifying and I needed to figure out where it was coming from. I made a doctor appointment on Monday, June 29 and since my primary doc was on vacation, I saw a physician’s assistant . She turned out to be a wonderful care provider for me and I’m glad we were connected. She had me do an xray and from that she thought I had pneumonia, but given I didn’t recently have a cold or illness she also decided to do a CT scan.

On Wednesday, July 1, I had a CT scan and shortly after heard from the P.A. that my right lung was nearly filled with fluid and she recommended I go to Metro Health ER where a pulmonology team would perform a procedure to remove this fluid. Later that same afternoon a kind pulmonologist assessed and drained my right lung. They removed a considerable amount of fluid and while I felt “better” we weren’t yet sure what caused this anomaly. Given the holiday weekend, I waited patiently for my test results…

On Tuesday, July 7, I received a phone call from the P.A. The test results showed that the fluid was abnormal and identified as metastatic adenocarcinoma. This meant that there is cancer somewhere in my body and it moved into the lining of my right lung and caused the fluid to build up. As you can imagine, this news was devastating, terrifying, and shattering. My anxiety was already high and given this diagnosis, it sent it through the roof. Later that same day, my husband and I met with the P.A. to discuss next steps. She ran some bloodwork and ordered me to have a full (chest, abdomen, pelvis) CT scan that same evening. After the CT scan, she shared that nothing was found. Then she and my primary doctor determined that I should also have a pelvic ultrasound (also showed nothing abnormal), a mammogram (nothing abnormal there either), as well as a colonoscopy (completely normal there). At this point, we couldn’t find the cancer anywhere, but we knew it was there - it showed up in the lung fluid as well as the bloodwork. The lung fluid would continue to build up until the cancer is removed and/or treated, so in the meantime the pulmonologist recommended that I have a pleural catheter (lung drain) installed so the fluid could be drained on a daily basis for my comfort. I’ve had the drain for nearly a week now (as of writing this passage, it was placed on Tuesday, July 14) and it’s been going well. My husband (God bless him!) has learned from respiratory therapists and home health care nurses exactly how to remove the dressing, drain my lung, and dress it back up again. He does such a great job caring for me in so many ways!

On Wednesday, July 15, we met with two different oncologists. A gynecological oncologist said that he suspected my primary cancer was indeed of a gynecological nature (labs & bloodwork also indicated that) and although it wasn’t evident on CT scan or ultrasound, he thought he might find it in the cells of my uterine lining, so he did a biopsy. The second oncologist we met with shared that he had reviewed my chart, results, and lab and even though (at that point) the primary site wasn’t yet found - he determined that it would be best to get me started on chemotherapy treatment. He also shared the unsettling news that this type of cancer is often seen to recur. He is confident the cancer will respond well to chemo, however the possibility exists that the cancer will return after remission, how long after remission is unknown. Just yesterday, a doctor followed up with the results of the biopsy. The cancer cells are indeed present in the uterine lining as he suspected they would be. They hid from all the previous tests that were done. Given this new finding/confirmation he will soon discuss surgery (a full hysterectomy) with the other oncologist. Timing and details TBD. At the time of writing this passage, I will have my chemotherapy “orientation” at the Metro Health cancer center on Tuesday afternoon, a port will be placed on Wednesday morning, and most likely I will begin chemo treatment on Tuesday, July 28.

Currently the plan is for me to receive treatment every three weeks for six sessions. A doctor also recommended that I undergo genetic & molecular testing to understand more about me, my DNA and the cancer (how it’s made up, etc) so they can better treat it and, God willing, eradicate it. The past month, past few weeks specifically, have been incredibly scary, emotional, terrifying, overwhelming, heartbreaking, and crushing. My anxiety is constant. But those who know me also know that I am feisty, I am strong, I am resilient, and I will reach deep down to my soul to find the strength, the courage & bravery to fight hard, to fight intensely, and to fight with everything I’ve got. You also may know of my deep faith. It has always been a source of sacred strength and peace in my life and now more than ever our trust in God and His healing grace, mercy, and power is a true guiding light and rock on this arduous journey. We believe in the importance and power of prayer. Prayer has been comforting, grounding, and hopeful. So if you do pray, pray hard, pray often and know this - it’s time for a miracle! Soon I will be fortunate to experience the Catholic sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. You, my family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues have a special role in my journey. With your prayers, ongoing support, and outpouring of love I can blaze ahead with strength gleaned from each and every one of you. Having you all in my corner creates a strength, love, and support that can accomplish anything. Lastly, please understand and respect that given this challenging time, while we feel incredibly blessed and honored and grateful for the tremendous show of love & support through emails, phone calls, and text messages...it’s also very overwhelming to manage all of the communication and updates. For that reason we’ve decided to establish this webpage and designate a core care support team. The core care support team will act as our “PR agents” to help field questions, offers to help, well wishes, etc. This way me and my family can focus on my health, treatment, and well being as well as quality time together and not be consumed with tasks. We appreciate and are grateful for all of you and the love and support you have shown and will continue to express as we journey through this together. Thank you for your patience as we work to get things in place so our team can work with us to do their job and support our needs in the coming weeks and months. I am truly grateful for the support of my supervisor and director and I will soon be taking an intermittent FMLA leave. This gives me the opportunity to take time when I need to focus on my health and treatment and rest as well as work from home when I feel up to it. I graciously welcome any communication, please understand that it may take me a while (if at all) to respond to your email, phone call or text (text is preferred). Thank you for keeping me and my healing in your thoughts. Thank you for fighting this at my side. Thank you for your friendship, support, and love.