October 22, 2024 • 32 mins
Shakira Porter, who likes to be referred to as Kira and California HealingStrong Group Leader, faced an unexpected pancreatic cancer diagnosis at the age of 47, despite feeling like she led a seemingly healthy life. She reflects on her childhood in Hawaii, with an abusive alcoholic father, and recreational drugs, she also shares how faith began to play a part in her upbringing.
Navigating the maze of modern healthcare, Kira shares her insights on being proactive. From the discovery of a pancreatic cyst to the recommendation of a distal pancreatectomy, her story is an important reminder of the value of seeking multiple medical opinions.
Kira's involvement with the HealingStrong community highlights the priceless role of support systems in the healing journey. This episode is not just about battling cancer, but about empowering listeners to understand the intricate connections between body, soul and spirit.
Learn how the HealingStrong organization offers a lifeline through free local and online groups, encouraging group participants and educating through a holistic approach to healing. Join us as we look into the immeasurable power of faith, community, and informed decision-making in navigating life's most difficult challenges.
HealingStrong's mission is to educate, equip and empower our group leaders and group participants through their journey with cancer or other chronic illnesses, and know there is HOPE. We bring this hope through educational materials, webinars, guest speakers, conferences, community small group support and more.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Before we get started with this episode with Kira
Porter, I'd like to take amoment and recognize a partner
of Healing Strong.
Oasis of Hope Hospital inTijuana, Mexico, offers
integrative cancer care withover 60 years of experience.
Led by Dr Francisco Contreras,they provide personalized care
and innovative treatments likeimmunotherapy, focusing on
(00:20):
improving quality of life andsupporting patients through
their cancer journey.
To learn more, go tooasisofhopecom.
And now here's Kira.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
It wasn't until I hit 45 and then things kind of
started, you know, falling apart, like I would start getting
strange things happening, and Ithought, well, maybe this is
just perimenopause.
And so I kind of attributedlike all my symptoms to that
perimenopause.
And so I kind of attributedlike all my symptoms to that.
But in hindsight now I realizedthese were all kind of red
(00:49):
flags and things that were kindof like the warning signs about
cancer.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
You're listening to the I Am Healing Strong podcast,
a part of the Healing Strongorganization, the number one
network of holistic cancersupport groups in the world.
The number one network ofholistic cancer support groups
in the world.
Each week we bring you storiesof hope, Real stories that will
encourage you as you navigateyour way on your own journey to
health.
Now here's your host stage fourcancer thriver, Jim Mann,
(01:19):
Talking to Kira Porter.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
That's right.
Good to be here, Jim.
You're there and sunny it'ssunny there now in LA it's sunny
.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yeah, that's right.
Good to be here, Jim.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
You're there and sunny.
It's sunny there now in LA.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
It's sunny.
Yeah, it's about 97 degreesfull sunshine.
It's a beautiful day.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Yeah, of course the humidity is lower there than it
is over here on the East Coast.
Yeah, we're like in the 70shere.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
I don't want to brag too much.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Hopefully we'll get there soon.
Yeah, we just did go through ahurricane.
That wasn't fun, and now Istill got to clean up my yard
here from a week ago.
Yeah, I just want everybody tofeel sorry for me.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Did it work?
We do, yes, okay, good.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Well, let's move on about your story then.
It's only been a little over ayear ago now that you got your
diagnosis right.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yeah Gosh, it was in June of 2023.
I was 47 and I was told I hadstage one pancreatic cancer.
And then I had one of thoselike how, how did this happen?
I mean, I always thought I wasa healthy person, I don't drink,
I don't smoke, I wasn'toverweight, I didn't have high
(02:26):
blood pressure, I didn't haveall the typical signs and the
things that they say, you know,with pancreatic cancer.
So it was quite shocking to betold that the more that I
studied cancer and read aboutcancer and you know I found
Chris W, obviously with ChrisBeat Cancer, and that kind of
opened my eyes and I startedlooking back.
(02:48):
You know hindsight's 20-20.
So I'm looking back on my life,those 47 years going.
How did I get pancreatic cancer?
And you just start seeing it.
I started to really see itthroughout my life.
I'll start at the verybeginning, because I think it's
important, because it'ssomething that I learned in a
book, one of the books I readfrom an oncologist that I've
(03:10):
found really, really fascinating.
I'm from Hawaii originally.
I grew up in a really smalltown called Nanakuli on the
Libra coast of Oahu.
My parents met in high school.
They were very young.
My mom had my brother when shewas 18, and they had me when
they were like 20, I think, or21.
You know they dabbled inrecreational drugs back then in
(03:35):
the 70s.
You know they got married.
They were having a prettytumultuous marriage.
My dad started drinking prettyheavily.
He was a really abusivealcoholic.
He was not like someone whodrank and smiled and loved
everybody and had a good timewhen he drank.
He got pretty angry, prettyviolent.
(03:56):
I mean I remember in mychildhood holes in the walls,
broken furniture, broken doors,rips, them off the hinge he
screamed at the top of his lungs.
He was physically abusivetowards my mom and my brother.
He was not physically abusiveto me, which I found really
strange looking back on things,but they had a really rough
(04:19):
marriage and I have a lot ofmemories of that and I'm sure
there was a lot of and I have alot of memories of that and I'm
sure there was a lot ofsuppressed emotions going
through that as a child when Iwas that age.
I can remember a lot when I wassix and seven.
Something that was interestingduring that time was my
grandmother paid for my brotherand I to go to a small Christian
(04:42):
private school and our familydidn't go to church.
I wasn't learning anythingabout that.
We didn't go to church onSundays, but I went to this
Christian elementary school andthat's when I first learned
about God and I learned aboutJesus and we read the Bible and
we had chapel every Wednesdayand my brother was there from
first grade through fourth gradeand then I started after him
(05:02):
and I went for first and secondgrade and then I started after
him and I went for first andsecond grade and it was really
interesting to go to this lovelylittle Christian school and
learn about Jesus and haveeveryone so nice, but then go
home and live in this reallycrazy dysfunctional environment
with an alcoholic father and mydad also smoked marijuana, so he
(05:24):
was constantly out of it.
My mom smoked marijuana as well, but not as bad as my dad.
So, yeah, during that time itwas really weird.
And there was one memory I havein particular where they forgot
to pack a lunch for us.
So my dad brought lunch in themiddle of the day and he brought
(05:44):
us a Coca-Cola, a bag of Fritosand a pack of Ho-Ho's, those
little cakes, those chocolatecakes and that was what he
brought me for my lunch.
And this was probably in secondgrade, and my teacher felt so
bad for me that she shared herlunch with me that day because
she couldn't believe that that'swhat my dad brought me to eat
for lunch.
(06:05):
So that just kind of goes toshow what kind of food I ate at
home and what we were fed.
So we were very poor.
Sometimes my dad would gofishing you know out in Waianae
and we would eat the fish fordinner.
I remember eating a lot of likebox foods.
We ate a lot of processed foods.
We ate a lot of like box foods.
We ate a lot of processed foods.
We ate a lot of like Kraft Macand cheese and then those like
(06:28):
potato flakes that you just addwater and then instant mashed
potatoes.
So I was raised on that.
And then I do remember eating alot of like Burger King, kfc,
mcdonald's, like just a lot offast food and processed foods.
Yeah, you should have been fine.
I had a poor diet as a child.
My parents finally got adivorce.
(06:49):
When I was about eight yearsold we went to go live with my
grandmother, and when thathappened we were pulled from the
Christian school and put intopublic school and we lived with
my grandmother.
So we had a good two years ofnormalcy with my grandmother.
But then, you know, tragedystruck again in my life and my
(07:11):
grandmother used to work inWaikiki driving the tour buses.
She would pick up the touristsat the hotels and then drive
them out to the luau's and thendrive back to Waikiki and get
her truck and then drive all theway back, which was about an
hour long from Waikiki, all theway to the Leeward side.
And one evening, when I was 10,she was driving home from work
(07:33):
and she fell asleep at the wheeland she drove like an old,
vintage truck, didn't haveseatbelts in it and her truck
flipped, and so she was killedinstantly in that accident.
And so that was a reallytraumatic thing for my mom and
for my brother and I, since wewere living with her and my
(07:54):
grandfather.
They were divorced as well, andmy grandfather lived, you know,
about 20 minutes away inanother town.
About three months after thathe was out fishing and had a
heart attack and died.
Three months after that he wasout fishing and had a heart
attack and died.
And so my mom lost both of herparents within a three-month
period and had just beendivorced two years prior and she
was working at the departmentstore at the mall and we didn't
(08:16):
have a lot of money and mygrandma was kind of like the
rock.
She kind of helped us.
So when my mom lost her parentsshe started the downward spiral,
got more into drugs.
She started using crystal meth,which is a kind of a huge thing
on that leeward coast of Oahu.
That's a big problem in Hawaiiis crystal meth use.
(08:38):
My brother and I were just kindof fending for ourselves and I
think we were all kind of inthat fight or flight emotionally
after everything we had gonethrough.
And I was eating dinner at7-Eleven.
I was eating Hot Pockets andcandy bars and I would eat a hot
dog or drink in Big Gulps andthe Slurpees and we had a KFC
(09:03):
right up the street from us soI'd eat KFC a lot.
We just didn't have, you know,the normal family unit where
you're sitting down and you'reeating a home cooked meal Like
that was never anything that Iexperienced.
So she started dealing drugs.
Shortly afterwards she starteddealing the crystal meth out of
our house and so that kind ofcreated a more dysfunctional
(09:27):
environment for my brother and Ito be in.
And you know, there werestrangers in the house, a lot
people coming around and, mindyou, I'm probably like 11, 12
years old at this time.
She had been fighting with herboyfriend and I remember he was
grabbing her like he was gettingphysical and I'm much older now
(09:47):
so I wanted to defend my mom.
So I went into the kitchen andgot a knife from the drawer and
I threw it across the room totry to stop him, which you know.
Obviously I shouldn't have donethat, but you know, when you're
11 or 12, I think it was 12.
I thought back on that andthought, you know, when you're
11 or 12, I think it was 12.
I thought back on that andthought, gosh, that was not
smart.
And my mom recognized that andluckily I missed, and so the
(10:09):
next day my dad showed up and sohe took me and I was like
you're out of here, like shedidn't want me there anymore,
and I think that was like a hugelike emotional punch in the gut
for me because I was trying tohelp my mom and instead of
getting rid of the abusiveboyfriend, she got rid of her
(10:30):
daughter, and I think that wassomething that I didn't deal
with for years and years andyears.
And so I went to live with mydad who, unfortunately, you know
, still drinking, still, youknow, smoking marijuana.
He's remarried now.
He's got a new kid there, youknow, smoking marijuana.
He's remarried.
Now he's got a new kid there.
My brother was, you know, atoddler at the time and it was
(10:55):
not as bad there because mystepmom, she kind of stood her
ground a little better than mymom did.
But you know, it was still apretty dysfunctional environment
.
I didn't have a room, I slepton the floor.
They didn't have a lot of moneyeither.
So I kind of went from like onedysfunctional situation to
another dysfunctional situationand I stayed there for a few
years and then eventuallyconvinced my dad to let me go
move in with some relatives.
(11:17):
I had an aunt and uncle thatdidn't live too far away.
It was close to my high school,so I was able to stay in school
and I got, you know, two, threeyears of kind of a normal
family unit there, you know,before I graduated from high
school.
I graduated from high school,started living with some
roommates and I started workingat my dental office for my
(11:38):
dentist, because I had gotten toknow her really well, because I
had had a lot of cavities.
When I went to live with my dad, I had a toothache and so they
took me to the dentist and I hadhad a lot of cavities.
When I went to live with my dad, I had a toothache and so they
took me to the dentist and I hadabout 12 cavities.
Wow yeah, at 12 years old I hadcavities in practically every
molar and premolar.
I almost needed two root canals.
(11:59):
I mean just goes to show howpoor my diet was and that we
didn't have anybody making surewe were brushing our teeth or
making sure we were brushing ourteeth or making sure we were
bathing, you know.
And I had head lice for yearsand years through my elementary
years because we just weren'treally cared for.
And you know, when I got older Ikind of just thought like, oh
(12:21):
yeah, my mom, you know, she's adrug dealer and my dad's an
alcoholic, and everyone's like,well, you've turned out so great
and I kind of wore that as abadge, like, yeah, I'm tough, I
got through that.
I'm not on drugs, I didn'tbecome an alcoholic, you know.
Like I'm good, like I gotthrough it.
You know I beat the odds, kindof thing.
And I felt like that for areally long time Like it didn't
affect me, you know, but it did,and it was in ways that I
(12:45):
didn't realize until I got older.
So I met my husband, we gotmarried, we moved to LA for more
opportunities.
I still kind of carried on myhabits, my eating habits,
because I didn't really know anybetter.
So we ate a lot of fast foodand I actually ate a lot of
processed food, like I lovedjust buying like the lasagna
(13:07):
that's already made and you justput it in the oven and heat it
up, and so that's kind of what Ifed my husband and myself.
I didn't really cook anythingfrom scratch, I didn't eat
vegetables.
But you know, at the same timeI thought I'm healthy because I
didn't have all these badaddictions, and I didn't.
I wasn't overweight and Ididn't have bad blood work or
anything.
(13:27):
So I just went about living mylife, thinking I was fine.
I was a dental assistant which Ithink was another building
block to cancer.
I took x-rays on people for 15years.
I did that and it was back whenwe were still doing amalgam
fillings on people.
So that was my job is I wouldmix the amalgam together.
(13:48):
I handled all that you know.
Now, knowing what I know aboutamalgam fillings and the mercury
exposure, I realized like wow,I was really exposed to a lot of
toxins during that time that Iworked in dentistry.
We also would sterilize theinstruments with a chemi-cleave
and I remember the bottles had ahuge warning on the bottom that
(14:08):
would say may cause cancer,contains formaldehyde, et cetera
, et cetera.
And at the time I was like I'mnot going to get cancer, I'm
healthy, like I'm fine, thisisn't going to affect me.
But for 15 years I worked inthat environment with a lot of
toxic chemicals and materialsand I was careless A lot of
times I wouldn't put my gloveson if I was cleaning things up
(14:29):
and handling the cleaningsupplies and stuff.
I wouldn't put you know gloveson, which is stupid now, and
even times maybe I should havehad like my mask on or my
goggles on, like when I'mhandling cleaning things.
And I really didn't because Ijust thought like I'm not going
to get cancer, like it's notgoing to, I'm fine.
So, you know, fast forward tolike years later and it wasn't
(14:54):
until I hit 45 and then thingskind of started, you know,
falling apart, like I wouldstart getting strange things
happening, and I thought, well,maybe this is just perimenopause
.
And so I kind of attributedlike all my symptoms to that.
But in hindsight now I realizethese were all kind of red flags
and things that were kind oflike the warning signs about
(15:17):
cancer.
So in it was in like Decemberof 2022.
Well, actually let me go backIn 2022,.
My husband got COVID and he wasextremely sick and he ended up
in the hospital on oxygen.
He got blood clots.
He was in pretty bad shape.
(15:38):
I thought he was going to die.
I was terrified and we have ason he's 10 now so going through
that was like super stressfulperiod of at least four months,
you know, four to five months ofworrying about him.
He came home with the oxygentank and everything and you know
it took him a few months torecover.
(15:58):
So you know I dealt with thatand then we had dealt with my
son who had had some healthissues.
So that was kind of a stressfulperiod as well.
And then I think 2020 wasstressful on everybody with
COVID.
Yeah, and so that was hard forme and I think I hadn't realized
(16:19):
throughout my life.
I don't deal well with thestress of things like that.
I would automatically go intofight or flight and I always had
the attitude like when thingswere going good, I would
automatically go into fight orflight and I always had the
attitude like when things weregoing good, I would always be
like, okay, something bad'sgoing to happen, something bad's
coming, like that was just howI lived and I think it was
because I was always on guardand I think that was just
(16:40):
leftover from my childhood andthe way that I had grown up.
So I always was on defense.
You know, just in life andafter 2020, and with COVID and
then my husband getting sick in2022.
At the end of 2022, I startedgetting heart palpitations.
I would get it would get stucklike the supraventricular
(17:05):
tachycardia, stuck like thesuper ventricular tachycardia,
so that would happen and it'sfunny now when I think about it.
But like we'd go to Chick-fil-Aand we get, you know, a fried
chicken sandwich and fries andI'd get one of those delicious
lemon smoothies that they have,and after I ate about you know,
five, 10, 10 minutes after I ate, my heart would start to race
and and it would just beat sofast that I'd have to sit down
(17:28):
and like take deep breaths andjust calm it down.
And I was like this is reallyweird, why is this happening?
And like November, december, itstarted happening more
frequently and I told my husband.
I said I think I shouldprobably go to the doctor
because this doesn't seem right,like I'm not sure what's
triggering, but it seems tohappen If I have a lot of
(17:50):
caffeine or sugar or if I'meating a big meal, then I would
get it after that and I didn'tgo to the doctor.
And then on New Year's Eve wewent to Disneyland and it
happened at Disneyland after weate dinner and I couldn't get it
to stop.
It got stuck in the cycle ofthe beating, like it was like
(18:13):
200 beats, I think, per minute.
And I said to my husband it'snot stopping, Like even though
we stopped and I sat and I triedto rest and I was like am I
having a heart attack?
What's going on?
And so we went to the littlenurse first aid station there
and they called an ambulance andthey had paramedics come and he
had me like do these differentmaneuvers?
(18:35):
I think it's called, like theVesal Vagal Maneuvers, to like,
get my heart to like, get out ofthat like rapid heartbeat, and
we were able to do it and itstopped and it started beating
normal and started going back tolike a normal rate and they
took me to the hospital anywayand they ran a bunch of tests
and I stayed overnight.
On New Year's Eve my husband andmy son went back to the hotel
(18:56):
at Disneyland and I stayed thenight in the ER and so that was
horrible.
That's how I rang in 2023.
And I should have known thatwas like a sign of worse things
to come.
It was pretty bad.
So the next morning I met withall the doctors and they gave me
(19:18):
a stress test.
They did chest x-ray,everything and they're like
you're fine, we think you'rejust really stressed out, like
they couldn't find any reasonthat was causing it and they
thought it was just beingtriggered by stress and I was
like, okay, I guess that's that.
So you know, went about my lifeand we went on vacation to visit
my Nana who lived in Florida,and we went to Orlando and
(19:41):
Disney World and this was inApril and I was in excruciating
abdominal pain the whole timeand I was taking Tylenols like
crazy and if I took the Tylenolmy pain would go away.
So I kept thinking, okay, thiscan't be anything serious,
because when I take Tylenol itstops and I feel fine.
(20:03):
So I was living on Tylenolthroughout this vacation and
when we got back to LA I wassleeping and I woke up in the
middle of the night, which wascommon, because the abdominal
pain it was pain in my leftabdomen.
It would happen where, as soonas the Tylenol ran out in the
middle of the night, which wasat like 2 am, I would wake up in
(20:24):
excruciating pain.
And so we got back to LA, Iwoke up in pain again and I woke
up my husband and I said I'mjust going to go drive to the ER
and go see what this is.
And I'm like so just stay here,my son's asleep.
I was like, okay, I'm going togo run down to the ER by myself.
(20:45):
And he's like are you sure?
And I'm like, yeah, it's fine,like I'll go take care of this.
And I get to the ER and I'mtelling them like I'm doubled
over in pain because I didn'twant to take any medicine,
because I wanted them to likesee what I was feeling.
I want to be able to describewhat I was feeling to the ER
doctors.
So I didn't take anything, so Iwas just like dying in pain in
(21:12):
the ER.
And so they get me back youknow,
they do blood work and they takeme back and they do a CT scan
and I never had one before in mylife and I wait, you know, two
hours or so for the doctor tocome in with the results.
And he's like okay.
He's like so you have ableeding ovarian cyst and that's
what's causing your pain.
And he's like it usually goesaway.
It's just women of your agegroup with perimenopause this is
(21:36):
a typical thing where you canget ovarian cysts and it should
go away within a few days andyou'll feel better.
And I was like okay, really,but it's been like a month that
I've been in pain and I finallycame after a month.
And he's like yeah, theyusually they're nothing to worry
about.
You know, go follow up withyour OBGYN.
And I'm like okay, fine.
And then he's like but there'sone other thing.
(21:58):
He's like there there is alittle cyst on the tail of your
pancreas.
And he's like those are usuallynothing to worry about either.
People get cysts all the time.
So he didn't really have asense of urgency about it.
So then I didn't, whichprobably was a bad thing for him
to do, cause then I was like,oh, all right, it's nothing to
(22:19):
worry about.
But he had said you know,tomorrow follow up with your,
your regular doctor, and wewould recommend that you get an
MRI to get this checked, just tomake sure it's nothing to worry
about.
And he's like I'm sure you'refine, but just get it checked.
And so I was like all right,okay.
So you know, I went home, my sonwent back to school, things got
going, I got carried away withlike daily life again and then
(22:42):
about a week later I'm like youknow I should probably call my
doctor about the MRI and letthem know what happened.
So I sent them a little messageon the little MyChart thing and
I got a phone call likeimmediately from the doctor's
office and they were like youneed to go get the MRI, we've
got it scheduled for you, you'regoing next week, like it was
already done.
(23:03):
They had done everything.
And they were like you need togo do this.
And I was like okay, and shesounded really serious on the
phone about it and that's when Istarted to go okay, wait, you
know, I thought that my ovariancyst thing was what was.
You know all this pain andeverything.
But you know they seem a littleworried about the cysts of my
(23:23):
pancreas.
So I start looking online and Istart looking online and I
start Googling pancreatic cystsand there's actually a cyst that
perimenopausal women candevelop that's a benign cyst on
your pancreas and I'm like, oh,it's probably that that's got to
be what.
It is no big deal.
And then I read about you know,there's like four different
(23:46):
cysts and the other one was likean IPMN cyst and it said most
commonly found in men in the 70sand 80s, and it can be cancer.
So it turns into cancer.
And I thought, okay, well, it'snot that, because I'm not a
70-year-old man, you know likethere's no way that it's the
(24:07):
IPMN cyst, right.
So I'm kind of convincing myselflike it'll be fine.
It'll be fine, it's nothing toworry about.
So I go in and I get the mridone and probably 30 minutes
after the mri my doctor calledme and I just knew I was like
this is bad if they're on methis fast like something's wrong
(24:27):
and she's like we need you togo get a biopsy.
So we've set up a biopsyappointment for you.
You're going to go to HolyCross Hospital and get this done
.
And I think it was like a weekand a half later that they had
been able to get me in for thebiopsy.
And then that's when I realizedlike okay, this isn't looking
(24:49):
good.
And I started reading the MRIreport and it said like
thickening walls, high riskfeatures.
The cyst is communicating withthe main duct.
And I started Googling all ofthat and trying to figure out
like what does that mean?
What does this mean?
And then the more I read, themore I realized like, okay, this
(25:09):
could be pancreatic cancer.
So this is the fear.
So I start praying.
You know, my husband, luckily,was a Christian when I met him
and so you know I went back tochurch and started.
You know his family waswonderful.
His parents were so married,they were normal couple.
You know his mom made dinnersfor us and so I was really
(25:34):
welcomed into this beautiful,wonderful family, my husband's
family.
So they really took me in.
So you know, I, my faith, grewover the years that I was with
him and you know mymother-in-law came down when my
husband had COVID and we prayeda lot and I just felt like God
got us through a lot of thosetrials.
(25:55):
So when this happened, I startedto pray a lot more and, you
know, really looking into myBible for some guidance and try
not to panic and worry and justkind of thinking in my head like
, okay, this can't be cancer,like there's no way that it's
(26:17):
cancer, right?
So I go and I get the biopsydone and it comes back benign
and we're all like, thank you,jesus, yay, and I'm so happy and
everyone's happy.
And the doctors were stillsaying, though, that you know
you need to get it removedbecause it could be precancerous
.
So thank God that you came inand we found it so early, thanks
to having that ovarian cystpain which turned out to be an
(26:39):
endometriosis diagnosis.
After the fact, when I followedup with the OBGYN, they said I
had endometriosis which I hadnot known about.
So, yeah, I had the biopsy andit was benign and we thought,
okay, that's great.
And they said I would need adistal pancreatectomy, which is
the surgery to get it removed.
They said it looked prettyfused to my spleen, so I
(27:02):
probably would lose my spleenand I said, okay, that's okay.
So I start researching thatsurgery and I'm looking into
everything and I'm nervous aboutthat.
So we're going to my doctor'sappointment.
My primary care doctor wasfantastic and he told me to get
two opinions.
(27:23):
Go see two surgeons regardingmy surgery.
Two surgeons regarding mysurgery.
He said don't just go to theone that the hospital is
referring you to, he's like goto some other ones.
And so he gave me some names ofsome others.
And the other doctor was like apancreatic cancer specialist
and so I made an appointmentwith him as well.
But the first doctor that I wentto, that morning, my husband
(27:47):
and I were driving down the fivefreeway to head to the hospital
where he was, and I had beenhaving a rough week.
You know, I was really worriedabout everything and even though
everything came back benign, Iwas still really scared of the
surgery.
I was still really scared ofthe surgery.
(28:08):
And we're driving there and Ilook to my right and this huge
semi starts barreling down thefreeway and on the side of it is
a big Jesus fish and Bibleverses just all over the side,
just all over it.
There's Bible verses everywhereand I'm like whoa, this is
crazy.
And the one that I made eyecontact with was Isaiah 41.10.
(28:33):
That says I have it on mylittle plaque.
Someone put it on a littleplaque for me after my surgery
and it's so.
Do not fear, for I am with you.
Do not be dismayed, for I amyour God.
I'm going to get emotional.
I will strengthen you and helpyou.
I will uphold you with myrighteous right hand.
(28:54):
And so I saw that on the way tothe doctor's office and I was
like, thank you, jesus.
You know he heard my prayers,he's with me, he's literally
with us on the way to thedoctor's office and my husband
and I get there and we speakwith the surgeon and he seems
great.
And he tells me that you know,oh, you don't have anything to
(29:14):
worry about.
You know, you're so, so luckythat we caught it you know this
early and it didn't develop anycancer.
And and you know, we'll do thesurgery in about two months.
Because he was booked out thatlong and because it wasn't an
emergency for them, they weregoing to do it in two months.
So he said go enjoy your summervacation with your family and
(29:34):
when you come back we'll do thesurgery.
And I said okay.
And then I let his receptionistknow like I have another
consultation with anothersurgeon, but I'll let you guys
know because they wanted to getme scheduled already for surgery
.
So I'm meeting with thepancreatic surgeon and he's
basically telling me that Iguess my cyst has like three out
(29:56):
of four features for it beingcancer.
So he says I don't think youshould wait two months to get
this out.
He's like I think you should dothis as soon as possible.
And he's like I can get you innext week for the distal
pancreatectomy.
And he's like if you want to dothat, I really think you should
just get it out as soon aspossible.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
We're going to end part one right there, and I love
Kira's story, not that she hadto go through all that as a
child, but how she recognizedthat all that trauma contributed
to her illness as an adult andhow she overcame all that to
live a God-centered life.
Can't wait for the rest of thestory in part two, even though
I've already heard it, but rightnow I'd like to take a moment
to recognize another partner ofHealing Strong Barlow Herbal.
(30:40):
Led by owner and masterherbalist, jane Barlow
Christensen, offers potentherbal products.
Jane is known for her expertisein herbal remedies and natural
healing, with a focus oneducating individuals about the
health benefits of medicinalherbs for daily wellness, and
she's such a nice person.
To learn more, go toBarlowHerbalcom and use
(31:01):
HEALSTRONG10.
That's HEALSTRONG10 to save.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
You've been listening to the I Am Healing Strong
podcast.
A part of the Healing Strongorganization.
We hope you found encouragementin this episode, as well as the
confidence to take control ofyour healing journey, knowing
that God will guide you on thispath.
Healing Strong is a nonprofitorganization whose mission is to
(31:25):
connect, support and educateindividuals facing cancer and
other diseases throughstrategies that help to rebuild
the body, renew the soul andrefresh the spirit.
It costs nothing to be a part ofa local or online group.
You can do that by going to ourwebsite at healingstrongorg and
(31:47):
finding a group near you or anonline group, or start your own,
your choice.
While you're there, take a lookaround at all the free
resources.
Though the resources and groupsare free, we encourage you to
join our membership program at$25 or $75 a month.
This helps us to be able toreach more people with hope and
(32:11):
encouragement, and that alsocomes with some extra perks as
well.
So check it out.
If you enjoyed this podcast,please give us a five-star
rating, leave an encouragingcomment and help us spread the
word.
We'll see you next week withanother story on the I Am
Healing Strong podcast.
Before we get started with this episode with Kira
Porter, I'd like to take amoment and recognize a partner
of Healing Strong.
Oasis of Hope Hospital inTijuana, Mexico, offers
integrative cancer care withover 60 years of experience.
Led by Dr Francisco Contreras,they provide personalized care
and innovative treatments likeimmunotherapy, focusing on
(00:20):
improving quality of life andsupporting patients through
their cancer journey.
To learn more, go tooasisofhopecom.
And now here's Kira.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
It wasn't until I hit 45 and then things kind of
started, you know, falling apart, like I would start getting
strange things happening, and Ithought, well, maybe this is
just perimenopause.
And so I kind of attributedlike all my symptoms to that
perimenopause.
And so I kind of attributedlike all my symptoms to that.
But in hindsight now I realizedthese were all kind of red
(00:49):
flags and things that were kindof like the warning signs about
cancer.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
You're listening to the I Am Healing Strong podcast,
a part of the Healing Strongorganization, the number one
network of holistic cancersupport groups in the world.
The number one network ofholistic cancer support groups
in the world.
Each week we bring you storiesof hope, Real stories that will
encourage you as you navigateyour way on your own journey to
health.
Now here's your host stage fourcancer thriver, Jim Mann,
(01:19):
Talking to Kira Porter.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
That's right.
Good to be here, Jim.
You're there and sunny it'ssunny there now in LA it's sunny
.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yeah, that's right.
Good to be here, Jim.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
You're there and sunny.
It's sunny there now in LA.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
It's sunny.
Yeah, it's about 97 degreesfull sunshine.
It's a beautiful day.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Yeah, of course the humidity is lower there than it
is over here on the East Coast.
Yeah, we're like in the 70shere.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
I don't want to brag too much.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Hopefully we'll get there soon.
Yeah, we just did go through ahurricane.
That wasn't fun, and now Istill got to clean up my yard
here from a week ago.
Yeah, I just want everybody tofeel sorry for me.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Did it work?
We do, yes, okay, good.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Well, let's move on about your story then.
It's only been a little over ayear ago now that you got your
diagnosis right.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yeah Gosh, it was in June of 2023.
I was 47 and I was told I hadstage one pancreatic cancer.
And then I had one of thoselike how, how did this happen?
I mean, I always thought I wasa healthy person, I don't drink,
I don't smoke, I wasn'toverweight, I didn't have high
(02:26):
blood pressure, I didn't haveall the typical signs and the
things that they say, you know,with pancreatic cancer.
So it was quite shocking to betold that the more that I
studied cancer and read aboutcancer and you know I found
Chris W, obviously with ChrisBeat Cancer, and that kind of
opened my eyes and I startedlooking back.
(02:48):
You know hindsight's 20-20.
So I'm looking back on my life,those 47 years going.
How did I get pancreatic cancer?
And you just start seeing it.
I started to really see itthroughout my life.
I'll start at the verybeginning, because I think it's
important, because it'ssomething that I learned in a
book, one of the books I readfrom an oncologist that I've
(03:10):
found really, really fascinating.
I'm from Hawaii originally.
I grew up in a really smalltown called Nanakuli on the
Libra coast of Oahu.
My parents met in high school.
They were very young.
My mom had my brother when shewas 18, and they had me when
they were like 20, I think, or21.
You know they dabbled inrecreational drugs back then in
(03:35):
the 70s.
You know they got married.
They were having a prettytumultuous marriage.
My dad started drinking prettyheavily.
He was a really abusivealcoholic.
He was not like someone whodrank and smiled and loved
everybody and had a good timewhen he drank.
He got pretty angry, prettyviolent.
(03:56):
I mean I remember in mychildhood holes in the walls,
broken furniture, broken doors,rips, them off the hinge he
screamed at the top of his lungs.
He was physically abusivetowards my mom and my brother.
He was not physically abusiveto me, which I found really
strange looking back on things,but they had a really rough
(04:19):
marriage and I have a lot ofmemories of that and I'm sure
there was a lot of and I have alot of memories of that and I'm
sure there was a lot ofsuppressed emotions going
through that as a child when Iwas that age.
I can remember a lot when I wassix and seven.
Something that was interestingduring that time was my
grandmother paid for my brotherand I to go to a small Christian
(04:42):
private school and our familydidn't go to church.
I wasn't learning anythingabout that.
We didn't go to church onSundays, but I went to this
Christian elementary school andthat's when I first learned
about God and I learned aboutJesus and we read the Bible and
we had chapel every Wednesdayand my brother was there from
first grade through fourth gradeand then I started after him
(05:02):
and I went for first and secondgrade and then I started after
him and I went for first andsecond grade and it was really
interesting to go to this lovelylittle Christian school and
learn about Jesus and haveeveryone so nice, but then go
home and live in this reallycrazy dysfunctional environment
with an alcoholic father and mydad also smoked marijuana, so he
(05:24):
was constantly out of it.
My mom smoked marijuana as well, but not as bad as my dad.
So, yeah, during that time itwas really weird.
And there was one memory I havein particular where they forgot
to pack a lunch for us.
So my dad brought lunch in themiddle of the day and he brought
(05:44):
us a Coca-Cola, a bag of Fritosand a pack of Ho-Ho's, those
little cakes, those chocolatecakes and that was what he
brought me for my lunch.
And this was probably in secondgrade, and my teacher felt so
bad for me that she shared herlunch with me that day because
she couldn't believe that that'swhat my dad brought me to eat
for lunch.
(06:05):
So that just kind of goes toshow what kind of food I ate at
home and what we were fed.
So we were very poor.
Sometimes my dad would gofishing you know out in Waianae
and we would eat the fish fordinner.
I remember eating a lot of likebox foods.
We ate a lot of processed foods.
We ate a lot of like box foods.
We ate a lot of processed foods.
We ate a lot of like Kraft Macand cheese and then those like
(06:28):
potato flakes that you just addwater and then instant mashed
potatoes.
So I was raised on that.
And then I do remember eating alot of like Burger King, kfc,
mcdonald's, like just a lot offast food and processed foods.
Yeah, you should have been fine.
I had a poor diet as a child.
My parents finally got adivorce.
(06:49):
When I was about eight yearsold we went to go live with my
grandmother, and when thathappened we were pulled from the
Christian school and put intopublic school and we lived with
my grandmother.
So we had a good two years ofnormalcy with my grandmother.
But then, you know, tragedystruck again in my life and my
(07:11):
grandmother used to work inWaikiki driving the tour buses.
She would pick up the touristsat the hotels and then drive
them out to the luau's and thendrive back to Waikiki and get
her truck and then drive all theway back, which was about an
hour long from Waikiki, all theway to the Leeward side.
And one evening, when I was 10,she was driving home from work
(07:33):
and she fell asleep at the wheeland she drove like an old,
vintage truck, didn't haveseatbelts in it and her truck
flipped, and so she was killedinstantly in that accident.
And so that was a reallytraumatic thing for my mom and
for my brother and I, since wewere living with her and my
(07:54):
grandfather.
They were divorced as well, andmy grandfather lived, you know,
about 20 minutes away inanother town.
About three months after thathe was out fishing and had a
heart attack and died.
Three months after that he wasout fishing and had a heart
attack and died.
And so my mom lost both of herparents within a three-month
period and had just beendivorced two years prior and she
was working at the departmentstore at the mall and we didn't
(08:16):
have a lot of money and mygrandma was kind of like the
rock.
She kind of helped us.
So when my mom lost her parentsshe started the downward spiral,
got more into drugs.
She started using crystal meth,which is a kind of a huge thing
on that leeward coast of Oahu.
That's a big problem in Hawaiiis crystal meth use.
(08:38):
My brother and I were just kindof fending for ourselves and I
think we were all kind of inthat fight or flight emotionally
after everything we had gonethrough.
And I was eating dinner at7-Eleven.
I was eating Hot Pockets andcandy bars and I would eat a hot
dog or drink in Big Gulps andthe Slurpees and we had a KFC
(09:03):
right up the street from us soI'd eat KFC a lot.
We just didn't have, you know,the normal family unit where
you're sitting down and you'reeating a home cooked meal Like
that was never anything that Iexperienced.
So she started dealing drugs.
Shortly afterwards she starteddealing the crystal meth out of
our house and so that kind ofcreated a more dysfunctional
(09:27):
environment for my brother and Ito be in.
And you know, there werestrangers in the house, a lot
people coming around and, mindyou, I'm probably like 11, 12
years old at this time.
She had been fighting with herboyfriend and I remember he was
grabbing her like he was gettingphysical and I'm much older now
(09:47):
so I wanted to defend my mom.
So I went into the kitchen andgot a knife from the drawer and
I threw it across the room totry to stop him, which you know.
Obviously I shouldn't have donethat, but you know, when you're
11 or 12, I think it was 12.
I thought back on that andthought, you know, when you're
11 or 12, I think it was 12.
I thought back on that andthought, gosh, that was not
smart.
And my mom recognized that andluckily I missed, and so the
(10:09):
next day my dad showed up and sohe took me and I was like
you're out of here, like shedidn't want me there anymore,
and I think that was like a hugelike emotional punch in the gut
for me because I was trying tohelp my mom and instead of
getting rid of the abusiveboyfriend, she got rid of her
(10:30):
daughter, and I think that wassomething that I didn't deal
with for years and years andyears.
And so I went to live with mydad who, unfortunately, you know
, still drinking, still, youknow, smoking marijuana.
He's remarried now.
He's got a new kid there, youknow, smoking marijuana.
He's remarried.
Now he's got a new kid there.
My brother was, you know, atoddler at the time and it was
(10:55):
not as bad there because mystepmom, she kind of stood her
ground a little better than mymom did.
But you know, it was still apretty dysfunctional environment
.
I didn't have a room, I slepton the floor.
They didn't have a lot of moneyeither.
So I kind of went from like onedysfunctional situation to
another dysfunctional situationand I stayed there for a few
years and then eventuallyconvinced my dad to let me go
move in with some relatives.
(11:17):
I had an aunt and uncle thatdidn't live too far away.
It was close to my high school,so I was able to stay in school
and I got, you know, two, threeyears of kind of a normal
family unit there, you know,before I graduated from high
school.
I graduated from high school,started living with some
roommates and I started workingat my dental office for my
(11:38):
dentist, because I had gotten toknow her really well, because I
had had a lot of cavities.
When I went to live with my dad, I had a toothache and so they
took me to the dentist and I hadhad a lot of cavities.
When I went to live with my dad, I had a toothache and so they
took me to the dentist and I hadabout 12 cavities.
Wow yeah, at 12 years old I hadcavities in practically every
molar and premolar.
I almost needed two root canals.
(11:59):
I mean just goes to show howpoor my diet was and that we
didn't have anybody making surewe were brushing our teeth or
making sure we were brushing ourteeth or making sure we were
bathing, you know.
And I had head lice for yearsand years through my elementary
years because we just weren'treally cared for.
And you know, when I got older Ikind of just thought like, oh
(12:21):
yeah, my mom, you know, she's adrug dealer and my dad's an
alcoholic, and everyone's like,well, you've turned out so great
and I kind of wore that as abadge, like, yeah, I'm tough, I
got through that.
I'm not on drugs, I didn'tbecome an alcoholic, you know.
Like I'm good, like I gotthrough it.
You know I beat the odds, kindof thing.
And I felt like that for areally long time Like it didn't
affect me, you know, but it did,and it was in ways that I
(12:45):
didn't realize until I got older.
So I met my husband, we gotmarried, we moved to LA for more
opportunities.
I still kind of carried on myhabits, my eating habits,
because I didn't really know anybetter.
So we ate a lot of fast foodand I actually ate a lot of
processed food, like I lovedjust buying like the lasagna
(13:07):
that's already made and you justput it in the oven and heat it
up, and so that's kind of what Ifed my husband and myself.
I didn't really cook anythingfrom scratch, I didn't eat
vegetables.
But you know, at the same timeI thought I'm healthy because I
didn't have all these badaddictions, and I didn't.
I wasn't overweight and Ididn't have bad blood work or
anything.
(13:27):
So I just went about living mylife, thinking I was fine.
I was a dental assistant which Ithink was another building
block to cancer.
I took x-rays on people for 15years.
I did that and it was back whenwe were still doing amalgam
fillings on people.
So that was my job is I wouldmix the amalgam together.
(13:48):
I handled all that you know.
Now, knowing what I know aboutamalgam fillings and the mercury
exposure, I realized like wow,I was really exposed to a lot of
toxins during that time that Iworked in dentistry.
We also would sterilize theinstruments with a chemi-cleave
and I remember the bottles had ahuge warning on the bottom that
(14:08):
would say may cause cancer,contains formaldehyde, et cetera
, et cetera.
And at the time I was like I'mnot going to get cancer, I'm
healthy, like I'm fine, thisisn't going to affect me.
But for 15 years I worked inthat environment with a lot of
toxic chemicals and materialsand I was careless A lot of
times I wouldn't put my gloveson if I was cleaning things up
(14:29):
and handling the cleaningsupplies and stuff.
I wouldn't put you know gloveson, which is stupid now, and
even times maybe I should havehad like my mask on or my
goggles on, like when I'mhandling cleaning things.
And I really didn't because Ijust thought like I'm not going
to get cancer, like it's notgoing to, I'm fine.
So, you know, fast forward tolike years later and it wasn't
(14:54):
until I hit 45 and then thingskind of started, you know,
falling apart, like I wouldstart getting strange things
happening, and I thought, well,maybe this is just perimenopause
.
And so I kind of attributedlike all my symptoms to that.
But in hindsight now I realizethese were all kind of red flags
and things that were kind oflike the warning signs about
(15:17):
cancer.
So in it was in like Decemberof 2022.
Well, actually let me go backIn 2022,.
My husband got COVID and he wasextremely sick and he ended up
in the hospital on oxygen.
He got blood clots.
He was in pretty bad shape.
(15:38):
I thought he was going to die.
I was terrified and we have ason he's 10 now so going through
that was like super stressfulperiod of at least four months,
you know, four to five months ofworrying about him.
He came home with the oxygentank and everything and you know
it took him a few months torecover.
(15:58):
So you know I dealt with thatand then we had dealt with my
son who had had some healthissues.
So that was kind of a stressfulperiod as well.
And then I think 2020 wasstressful on everybody with
COVID.
Yeah, and so that was hard forme and I think I hadn't realized
(16:19):
throughout my life.
I don't deal well with thestress of things like that.
I would automatically go intofight or flight and I always had
the attitude like when thingswere going good, I would
automatically go into fight orflight and I always had the
attitude like when things weregoing good, I would always be
like, okay, something bad'sgoing to happen, something bad's
coming, like that was just howI lived and I think it was
because I was always on guardand I think that was just
(16:40):
leftover from my childhood andthe way that I had grown up.
So I always was on defense.
You know, just in life andafter 2020, and with COVID and
then my husband getting sick in2022.
At the end of 2022, I startedgetting heart palpitations.
I would get it would get stucklike the supraventricular
(17:05):
tachycardia, stuck like thesuper ventricular tachycardia,
so that would happen and it'sfunny now when I think about it.
But like we'd go to Chick-fil-Aand we get, you know, a fried
chicken sandwich and fries andI'd get one of those delicious
lemon smoothies that they have,and after I ate about you know,
five, 10, 10 minutes after I ate, my heart would start to race
and and it would just beat sofast that I'd have to sit down
(17:28):
and like take deep breaths andjust calm it down.
And I was like this is reallyweird, why is this happening?
And like November, december, itstarted happening more
frequently and I told my husband.
I said I think I shouldprobably go to the doctor
because this doesn't seem right,like I'm not sure what's
triggering, but it seems tohappen If I have a lot of
(17:50):
caffeine or sugar or if I'meating a big meal, then I would
get it after that and I didn'tgo to the doctor.
And then on New Year's Eve wewent to Disneyland and it
happened at Disneyland after weate dinner and I couldn't get it
to stop.
It got stuck in the cycle ofthe beating, like it was like
(18:13):
200 beats, I think, per minute.
And I said to my husband it'snot stopping, Like even though
we stopped and I sat and I triedto rest and I was like am I
having a heart attack?
What's going on?
And so we went to the littlenurse first aid station there
and they called an ambulance andthey had paramedics come and he
had me like do these differentmaneuvers?
(18:35):
I think it's called, like theVesal Vagal Maneuvers, to like,
get my heart to like, get out ofthat like rapid heartbeat, and
we were able to do it and itstopped and it started beating
normal and started going back tolike a normal rate and they
took me to the hospital anywayand they ran a bunch of tests
and I stayed overnight.
On New Year's Eve my husband andmy son went back to the hotel
(18:56):
at Disneyland and I stayed thenight in the ER and so that was
horrible.
That's how I rang in 2023.
And I should have known thatwas like a sign of worse things
to come.
It was pretty bad.
So the next morning I met withall the doctors and they gave me
(19:18):
a stress test.
They did chest x-ray,everything and they're like
you're fine, we think you'rejust really stressed out, like
they couldn't find any reasonthat was causing it and they
thought it was just beingtriggered by stress and I was
like, okay, I guess that's that.
So you know, went about my lifeand we went on vacation to visit
my Nana who lived in Florida,and we went to Orlando and
(19:41):
Disney World and this was inApril and I was in excruciating
abdominal pain the whole timeand I was taking Tylenols like
crazy and if I took the Tylenolmy pain would go away.
So I kept thinking, okay, thiscan't be anything serious,
because when I take Tylenol itstops and I feel fine.
(20:03):
So I was living on Tylenolthroughout this vacation and
when we got back to LA I wassleeping and I woke up in the
middle of the night, which wascommon, because the abdominal
pain it was pain in my leftabdomen.
It would happen where, as soonas the Tylenol ran out in the
middle of the night, which wasat like 2 am, I would wake up in
(20:24):
excruciating pain.
And so we got back to LA, Iwoke up in pain again and I woke
up my husband and I said I'mjust going to go drive to the ER
and go see what this is.
And I'm like so just stay here,my son's asleep.
I was like, okay, I'm going togo run down to the ER by myself.
(20:45):
And he's like are you sure?
And I'm like, yeah, it's fine,like I'll go take care of this.
And I get to the ER and I'mtelling them like I'm doubled
over in pain because I didn'twant to take any medicine,
because I wanted them to likesee what I was feeling.
I want to be able to describewhat I was feeling to the ER
doctors.
So I didn't take anything, so Iwas just like dying in pain in
(21:12):
the ER.
And so they get me back youknow,
they do blood work and they takeme back and they do a CT scan
and I never had one before in mylife and I wait, you know, two
hours or so for the doctor tocome in with the results.
And he's like okay.
He's like so you have ableeding ovarian cyst and that's
what's causing your pain.
And he's like it usually goesaway.
It's just women of your agegroup with perimenopause this is
(21:36):
a typical thing where you canget ovarian cysts and it should
go away within a few days andyou'll feel better.
And I was like okay, really,but it's been like a month that
I've been in pain and I finallycame after a month.
And he's like yeah, theyusually they're nothing to worry
about.
You know, go follow up withyour OBGYN.
And I'm like okay, fine.
And then he's like but there'sone other thing.
(21:58):
He's like there there is alittle cyst on the tail of your
pancreas.
And he's like those are usuallynothing to worry about either.
People get cysts all the time.
So he didn't really have asense of urgency about it.
So then I didn't, whichprobably was a bad thing for him
to do, cause then I was like,oh, all right, it's nothing to
(22:19):
worry about.
But he had said you know,tomorrow follow up with your,
your regular doctor, and wewould recommend that you get an
MRI to get this checked, just tomake sure it's nothing to worry
about.
And he's like I'm sure you'refine, but just get it checked.
And so I was like all right,okay.
So you know, I went home, my sonwent back to school, things got
going, I got carried away withlike daily life again and then
(22:42):
about a week later I'm like youknow I should probably call my
doctor about the MRI and letthem know what happened.
So I sent them a little messageon the little MyChart thing and
I got a phone call likeimmediately from the doctor's
office and they were like youneed to go get the MRI, we've
got it scheduled for you, you'regoing next week, like it was
already done.
(23:03):
They had done everything.
And they were like you need togo do this.
And I was like okay, and shesounded really serious on the
phone about it and that's when Istarted to go okay, wait, you
know, I thought that my ovariancyst thing was what was.
You know all this pain andeverything.
But you know they seem a littleworried about the cysts of my
(23:23):
pancreas.
So I start looking online and Istart looking online and I
start Googling pancreatic cystsand there's actually a cyst that
perimenopausal women candevelop that's a benign cyst on
your pancreas and I'm like, oh,it's probably that that's got to
be what.
It is no big deal.
And then I read about you know,there's like four different
(23:46):
cysts and the other one was likean IPMN cyst and it said most
commonly found in men in the 70sand 80s, and it can be cancer.
So it turns into cancer.
And I thought, okay, well, it'snot that, because I'm not a
70-year-old man, you know likethere's no way that it's the
(24:07):
IPMN cyst, right.
So I'm kind of convincing myselflike it'll be fine.
It'll be fine, it's nothing toworry about.
So I go in and I get the mridone and probably 30 minutes
after the mri my doctor calledme and I just knew I was like
this is bad if they're on methis fast like something's wrong
(24:27):
and she's like we need you togo get a biopsy.
So we've set up a biopsyappointment for you.
You're going to go to HolyCross Hospital and get this done
.
And I think it was like a weekand a half later that they had
been able to get me in for thebiopsy.
And then that's when I realizedlike okay, this isn't looking
(24:49):
good.
And I started reading the MRIreport and it said like
thickening walls, high riskfeatures.
The cyst is communicating withthe main duct.
And I started Googling all ofthat and trying to figure out
like what does that mean?
What does this mean?
And then the more I read, themore I realized like, okay, this
(25:09):
could be pancreatic cancer.
So this is the fear.
So I start praying.
You know, my husband, luckily,was a Christian when I met him
and so you know I went back tochurch and started.
You know his family waswonderful.
His parents were so married,they were normal couple.
You know his mom made dinnersfor us and so I was really
(25:34):
welcomed into this beautiful,wonderful family, my husband's
family.
So they really took me in.
So you know, I, my faith, grewover the years that I was with
him and you know mymother-in-law came down when my
husband had COVID and we prayeda lot and I just felt like God
got us through a lot of thosetrials.
(25:55):
So when this happened, I startedto pray a lot more and, you
know, really looking into myBible for some guidance and try
not to panic and worry and justkind of thinking in my head like
, okay, this can't be cancer,like there's no way that it's
(26:17):
cancer, right?
So I go and I get the biopsydone and it comes back benign
and we're all like, thank you,jesus, yay, and I'm so happy and
everyone's happy.
And the doctors were stillsaying, though, that you know
you need to get it removedbecause it could be precancerous
.
So thank God that you came inand we found it so early, thanks
to having that ovarian cystpain which turned out to be an
(26:39):
endometriosis diagnosis.
After the fact, when I followedup with the OBGYN, they said I
had endometriosis which I hadnot known about.
So, yeah, I had the biopsy andit was benign and we thought,
okay, that's great.
And they said I would need adistal pancreatectomy, which is
the surgery to get it removed.
They said it looked prettyfused to my spleen, so I
(27:02):
probably would lose my spleenand I said, okay, that's okay.
So I start researching thatsurgery and I'm looking into
everything and I'm nervous aboutthat.
So we're going to my doctor'sappointment.
My primary care doctor wasfantastic and he told me to get
two opinions.
(27:23):
Go see two surgeons regardingmy surgery.
Two surgeons regarding mysurgery.
He said don't just go to theone that the hospital is
referring you to, he's like goto some other ones.
And so he gave me some names ofsome others.
And the other doctor was like apancreatic cancer specialist
and so I made an appointmentwith him as well.
But the first doctor that I wentto, that morning, my husband
(27:47):
and I were driving down the fivefreeway to head to the hospital
where he was, and I had beenhaving a rough week.
You know, I was really worriedabout everything and even though
everything came back benign, Iwas still really scared of the
surgery.
I was still really scared ofthe surgery.
(28:08):
And we're driving there and Ilook to my right and this huge
semi starts barreling down thefreeway and on the side of it is
a big Jesus fish and Bibleverses just all over the side,
just all over it.
There's Bible verses everywhereand I'm like whoa, this is
crazy.
And the one that I made eyecontact with was Isaiah 41.10.
(28:33):
That says I have it on mylittle plaque.
Someone put it on a littleplaque for me after my surgery
and it's so.
Do not fear, for I am with you.
Do not be dismayed, for I amyour God.
I'm going to get emotional.
I will strengthen you and helpyou.
I will uphold you with myrighteous right hand.
(28:54):
And so I saw that on the way tothe doctor's office and I was
like, thank you, jesus.
You know he heard my prayers,he's with me, he's literally
with us on the way to thedoctor's office and my husband
and I get there and we speakwith the surgeon and he seems
great.
And he tells me that you know,oh, you don't have anything to
(29:14):
worry about.
You know, you're so, so luckythat we caught it you know this
early and it didn't develop anycancer.
And and you know, we'll do thesurgery in about two months.
Because he was booked out thatlong and because it wasn't an
emergency for them, they weregoing to do it in two months.
So he said go enjoy your summervacation with your family and
(29:34):
when you come back we'll do thesurgery.
And I said okay.
And then I let his receptionistknow like I have another
consultation with anothersurgeon, but I'll let you guys
know because they wanted to getme scheduled already for surgery
.
So I'm meeting with thepancreatic surgeon and he's
basically telling me that Iguess my cyst has like three out
(29:56):
of four features for it beingcancer.
So he says I don't think youshould wait two months to get
this out.
He's like I think you should dothis as soon as possible.
And he's like I can get you innext week for the distal
pancreatectomy.
And he's like if you want to dothat, I really think you should
just get it out as soon aspossible.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
We're going to end part one right there, and I love
Kira's story, not that she hadto go through all that as a
child, but how she recognizedthat all that trauma contributed
to her illness as an adult andhow she overcame all that to
live a God-centered life.
Can't wait for the rest of thestory in part two, even though
I've already heard it, but rightnow I'd like to take a moment
to recognize another partner ofHealing Strong Barlow Herbal.
(30:40):
Led by owner and masterherbalist, jane Barlow
Christensen, offers potentherbal products.
Jane is known for her expertisein herbal remedies and natural
healing, with a focus oneducating individuals about the
health benefits of medicinalherbs for daily wellness, and
she's such a nice person.
To learn more, go toBarlowHerbalcom and use
(31:01):
HEALSTRONG10.
That's HEALSTRONG10 to save.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
You've been listening to the I Am Healing Strong
podcast.
A part of the Healing Strongorganization.
We hope you found encouragementin this episode, as well as the
confidence to take control ofyour healing journey, knowing
that God will guide you on thispath.
Healing Strong is a nonprofitorganization whose mission is to
(31:25):
connect, support and educateindividuals facing cancer and
other diseases throughstrategies that help to rebuild
the body, renew the soul andrefresh the spirit.
It costs nothing to be a part ofa local or online group.
You can do that by going to ourwebsite at healingstrongorg and
(31:47):
finding a group near you or anonline group, or start your own,
your choice.
While you're there, take a lookaround at all the free
resources.
Though the resources and groupsare free, we encourage you to
join our membership program at$25 or $75 a month.
This helps us to be able toreach more people with hope and
(32:11):
encouragement, and that alsocomes with some extra perks as
well.
So check it out.
If you enjoyed this podcast,please give us a five-star
rating, leave an encouragingcomment and help us spread the
word.
We'll see you next week withanother story on the I Am
Healing Strong podcast.
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