‘All I wanted to do was just get it out of my body’ Cancer survivor looks forward to celebrating three-year anniversary

This December will mark Wanda Icenogle’s three-year anniversary as a breast cancer survivor.

On Dec. 10, 2009, Icenogle learned she had invasive ductal carcinoma, a type of breast cancer.

She received the news a week after her annual women’s checkup.

“After (my) regular exam on Dec. 3, 2009, my life changed,” she said.

Icenogle received a call the day after her annual mammogram to schedule an appointment for additional screening.

Her husband, Robert, went to the appointment, too.

After several different views, an ultrasound, a biopsy of her left breast and an aspiration of her right breast, Icenogle was told to see a surgeon.

“As part of protocol, they schedule appointments for patients to see surgeons to go over the testing results,” she said. “They did not tell me that day that I had breast cancer.”

Icenogle said she was home alone when she received the call from her nurse practitioner.

She said she can still remember writing down “invasive ductal carcinoma” on an envelope.

When she looked at it again later, she thought the words didn’t make sense.

It was because she wrote them wrong.

Icenogle was in shock.

While trying to remain calm she called Robert, who was playing golf, and asked him when he would be home.

Robert could tell something was wrong.

He asked her to tell him on the phone, and told her he’d be there in a few minutes.

In the meantime, Icenogle called her son, Steve and her daughter, Theresa.

Steve arrived to the house first, then Robert and then Theresa.

Her husband immediately called the surgeon at home and asked for an appointment the next day.

Icenogle and her family went to see Dr. Sam Sawyer for her surgery.

He explained he would do a lumpectomy and remove the area surrounding the 2.3 cm cancer, as well as any lymph nodes involved.

Icenogle said her family decided then she would have the surgery the following Monday.

“I wanted it out,” she said. “I didn’t want to have to dwell on it.”

The day of her surgery, her family, friends and even her pastor showed up at the hospital.

Icenogle’s pastor said a prayer and then her anesthesiologist came by to say one as well.

“There wasn’t a dry eye in the room when she finished her prayer,” Icenogle said.

It would be hours before Icenogle woke up from her surgery.

When she did however, her husband was waiting for her with a pink bouquet of roses.

Her friends and family were also there.

The doctor came by and told her family he had removed a large area around the cancer and one lymph node.

During her follow-up visit, the doctor told her everything was clear.

“I felt exhilarated, an answer to my prayer,” she said.

Sawyer told her she would need radiation and possibly chemotherapy.

A month later, she and Robert went to see radiation oncologist Dr. Steven Stokes. Icenogle said for the first time, she became really upset that day.

As she stood at the reception window waiting to check in, several patients and caregivers were talking about cancer patients who had died.

Icenogle began to cry.

“It struck me,” she said. “I had cancer, and I didn’t want to hear anything about dying.”

Her radiation therapy lasted for five days a week for about six to seven weeks, a total of 34 treatments.

She also had take an Oncotype DX test to determine if she would need chemotherapy.

The test is used to,”help doctors figure out a woman’s risk of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) coming back and/or the risk of a new invasive cancer developing in the same breast, as well as how likely she is to benefit from radiation therapy after DCIS surgery,” according to the breastcancer.org website.

Her result on the Oncotype DX test was 17 percent and the risk for recurrence of cancer was 11 percent, a good score.

Icenogle did not need chemotherapy.

In June of 2010, Icenogle went for her six-month mammogram and had several tests done.

The results were inconclusive; meaning she would have to have a breast MRI.

As she lay there in the MRI machine again, she began to pray.

She prayed for her son who was flying to Kansas. She prayed for her ex-son-in-law, who was awaiting test results himself, and she prayed for her family and friends who were having a difficult time.

“It helped me to not concentrate on what was going on with me and made it easier to breathe,” she said.

The results from the MRI were excellent.

Her radiation treatments were over.

Icenogle had finally overcome breast cancer.

An end of radiation party was thrown in her honor.

Her family and friends were there, and the party included pink ribbon cake, food, pink boas, pink decorations, a crown and lots of pink things.

“It was quite the celebration,” she said.

Today, Icenogle sees her surgeon and radiation oncologist for regular checkups and mammograms.

She also takes a daily cancer medication, which the doctors say she may have to take for the rest of her life.

Icenogle said the thought of cancer coming back is always in the back of her mind, but if given the chance again she would not do a thing differently.

“I really didn’t have anything else in my mind that I wanted to do,” she said. “I wanted it gone. I didn’t want to go another day with it in my body because the chances of it spreading would be great.”

She said she wants to encourage all women to have their annual exams done. There are free services available for women who do not have insurance and cannot afford to have a mammogram done.

The local health department also does free screenings for women who do not have insurance.

“You owe it to yourself and your family to have these tests done annually,” she said.