The morning began as early as 6:15 am. We met with Carolyn and Jacob as they arrived at Beaumont Hospital in Troy. After several chemotherapy treatments, Carolyn was now preparing to go through a bilateral mastectomy following with immediate reconstruction surgery using tissue expanders.
As storytellers, we often find ourselves in situations that are hard to imagine, and this is a case with filming a 23-year-old, dynamic young lady who has been battling breast cancer and is now facing a surgery that most people could not imagine themselves enduring, especially for most men.
As we met with Carolyn yesterday, she was upbeat and clearly ready to go in and fight this disease with her team of doctors. There is no question that attitude plays a significant role when someone is facing any degree of cancer. In our previous filming with Carolyn at her home in Ferndale, we gained an insight into her attitude and the person she is. When asked, “Do you ever ask why you?” the one-time competitive gymnast simply answered, “Why not me?”. We had a chance to sit with Carolyn’s mom, Michelle, who did the best she could to fight back tears as her daughter was being rolled into the OR. “When we went, about the same time we both had appointments that they found something and we both kind of had to do follow up appointments around the same time and we were both like “oh it’s just cysts,” mine was a cyst and hers wasn’t and my first thought was “no that’s supposed to be me, that’s my daughter,” Carolyn’s mom managed to tell us. Michelle noted how blessed they feel that Carolyn has had such a wonderful support network, including the encouraging and positive bedside manner of all of the nurses. “They have been so supportive and hopeful, I can tell how at ease it makes Carolyn feel, myself and my family, too.”
While Carolyn was being prepared for surgery, we were able to sit and talk with Dr. Eric Brown, the surgeon who would be performing the bilateral mastectomy before the immediate reconstruction surgery using tissue expanders. He explained what he would be doing, which we will show through a form of animation in the finished film. Dr. Brown has been an oncology surgeon for 20 years; he is empathetic with anyone who is diagnosed with any form of cancer. He offered some very insightful thoughts on why people are fearful of cancer with the uncertainty with life floating in the unknown, how a patient will react to chemotherapy, how effective a surgery will be, and various other mysteries. When asked how and why could Carolyn be facing cancer at her age with no genetic traces in her family, Dr. Brown replied, “We just don’t know and this scares all of us the most when we encounter this in a patient.”
As a doctor who is clearly on the front lines of cancer every day, he did offer a great deal of hope. Dr. Brown reassured us, “We have come a long way in diagnosing breast cancer and this translates to saving patients’ lives.” We also had a chance to speak with Dr. Michael Meininger. Dr. Meininger is a board certified in breast plastic surgery. “I love my job. I get to be the one to help women through a very complicated journey by offering a sense of hope for the future with the intention of helping preserve their breasts and self-esteem. We have come so far in what we can do now.”
We were then able to witness both of these doctors meet with Carolyn’s family one on one – letting them know how the surgeries went. It was impressive to be able to see how compassionate and empathetic both of them were in answering detailed questions about Carolyn’s upcoming treatments and home care.
It was also wonderful to hear from both of them that they felt very good about the weeks of chemotherapy Carolyn went through along with today’s surgical removal of the lymph nodes, saying that so far, the pathology reports showed they had gotten all the cancer.
While Carolyn is not part of our family, there is no question we felt very much a part of her journey today and we are honored and touched that she allowed us to be with her in what I am sure will be one of the most complicated times of her life. We know her story and the weeks ahead following her as she continues this journey will help so many women and men understand a journey of breast cancer.