Steph’s BC Fight

3/10/23 update from Stephanie

Please share to reach as many people as possible. Thank you! Terri

Well. This is a bummer of an update. I was declined for social security disability and will have to file an appeal which can take months.

Meanwhile, I’m waiting for my cardiology appt on 3/22 and wearing an EKG patch for two weeks. Oh and they found adrenal gland growths on my ovaries during pathology which shouldn’t be there since your adrenals I guess are above your kidneys so ran some blood tests for that and a possible CT in my future to look for adrenal tumors.

Then today, our sewer backed up into our house thankfully Phil saw it and our utility sink in basement was filled up and basement didn’t flood with sewer water cuz let me tell ya our basement is a mess of stuff and that would’ve been a literal disaster. I’m just thankful he was home and it wasn’t any worse just mad we had to pay another contractor for something .

I don’t know what we’re going to do as far as appeal or how we’ll get through the next few months, we’ll figure something out but just feels like it’s always something being thrown at us, but I just keep on trying to smile through it cuz I can’t fall apart now it’s only gonna raise my stupid heart rate lol!

I start the 4 med, Verzenio, again this week since I’d had a break before surgery due to low blood counts and they wanted me to recover. That drug literally makes me sleep like 12-20 hours a day no joke and the headaches are out of this world but I need to be able to tolerate it because it’s like a magical drug for my type of cancer and takes my 52% reoccurrence rate in the first 5 years down to I think 20-30% which is a heck of a lot better than 52%.

Just say some prayers for us please and thank you for clarity in what we should do moving forward.

Hi, I am Terri Krause, a breast cancer survivor. When Stephanie Thompson was diagnosed earlier this year with aggressively growing breast cancer, My heart kept telling me to help her with expenses after experiencing it myself. It adds up quickly especially if you don’t have paid leave at work. I’ve teamed up with Angie Daughtery who is much closer to her and knows her better than me. It took a while to convince Stephanie to let us do it but things are getting very real now.

She has had to travel to Mayo Clinic after not getting the help she needs locally. She has been traveling for all of her testing and chemo but unfortunately the latest scans show that the chemotherapy she is currently on is not shrinking the mass - it has grown and there are other spots of concern. Her care team expedited her surgery and she is having a mastectomy and possibly a partial hysterectomy on July 28th. She has tried all she can to avoid major surgery which means an extended length of time off work. This will be the first of at least 3 surgeries. She will also have to go to Mayo weekly for the first month after this surgery. Depending on what pathology looks like when it comes back post surgery, they may try another type of chemo and she will have 33 radiation treatments.

Any amount you can help donate can make a difference in her life. If we all work together we can ease the financial worries so she can concentrate on her health. Anyone is one life changing event away from financial insecurity. Let’s come together to help remove the stress for Stephanie.