‘I wouldn’t have made it without my faith’

April started a journey for Enterprise Health and Rehab Speech Language Pathologist Casey Lait that she thought she’d never have.

It all started on April 9, 2018 when Lait went in for her yearly mammogram. Two days later, she was called and told that a magnified mammogram was needed because calcifications were seen in the original.

She scheduled the follow-up for the next day, April 12.

“I remember when I was walking across to go into for that second mammogram, I said, ‘God, if it’s cancer like I suspect that it is, you’ve got it and I’m going to be good with it,’” Lait said.

After her second mammogram, Lait was told that she needed an ultrasound on her right breast.

She described hearing the results as, “classic blah blah blah cancer.”

“I didn’t hear what he (Radiologist James Bolton) said in the middle just because, you know, you’re stunned,” Lait said.

He said it appeared that Lait had ductile cancer and that he wanted to do an ultrasound-guided biopsy immediately.

Lait was able to call her husband, Michael, between the ultrasound and biopsy, and he came to support her throughout the biopsy.

“The radiologists stuck a big ol’ needle in there and, of course, I had my head turned,” Lait said. “I wasn’t watching that part and Mike was holding my hand, helping me get through the whole thing.”

A day later on April 13, the biopsy results confirmed that it was breast cancer.

“I knew that with my faith, I would have this,” Lait said.

She says that in her own way of coping, she named the tumor Myrtle.

Lait had her first consultation on April 17 and on April 23 met with oncologist Dr. Mary Misischia to set up a cancer treatment plan. It was here she learned her cancer type: HER2-positive, ER-negative and PR-negative.

“In between all that time, you’re just like freaking out, wondering and learning how to spell doctor Misischia’s name,” Lait said. “I decided not to Google anything because I thought it’d just give me anxiety.”

Her chemotherapy treatment consisted of Taxotere and Carboplatin. Along with those chemotherapy drugs, Lait would receive Herceptin and Perjeta, which are HER2-positive specific drugs.

“The Herceptin and Perjeta are called antibody drugs that would shrink the tumor to nothing, they said, so I could have a lumpectomy instead of a mastectomy,” Lait said.

She started her first chemotherapy treatment on May 3 and received a new treatment every 21 days.

On May 4, Lait cut her long red hair into a short style. After getting the hair cut, Lait returned to work for a half-day.

She worked every day for the next two weeks and took off the third Thursday for treatment then worked a half day on Friday. She kept this schedule through the entirety of her treatments.

On May 21, Lait got her husband to shave her head.

She credits her supplements for helping her through chemotherapy without many of the side effects that people normally report suffering.

Aug. 15 marked the end of chemotherapy treatments for Lait but she will still receive the Herceptin every 21 days until April 2019. Along with that, she has to undergo a baseline echo cardiogram every three months due to the Herceptin.

Sept. 16 Lait had her lumpectomy as well as five sentinel lymph nodes removed. Later that week, she received a report saying there were no live cancer cells in the tumor or the lymph nodes.

Lait said her biggest piece of advice for anyone going through this is to be happy with your team.

“I was really happy with my team,” Lait said. “I met someone recently, since I was diagnosed, who wasn’t happy with her team and she felt like she wasn’t getting answers and so on and so forth. I felt like I’ve had answers from the get-go. I felt comfortable with my team the whole time.”

She also said to let people help throughout the process.

“People want to help you,” Lait said.

She thanked the staff at Enterprise Health and Rehab for their continued support throughout the process including on Fridays where the staff would wear Team Casey shirts.

She also thanked her husband and family for their continued support.

Lait said her faith has really helped her throughout her journey as well.

“I wouldn’t have made it without my faith, that’s just all there is to it,” Lait said.