[00:00:00] Adam Walker: From Susan G. Komen, this is Real Pink, a podcast
[00:00:06] exploring real stories, struggles, and triumphs related to breast cancer. We’re taking the conversation from the doctor’s office to your living room
[00:00:17] Today, we’re sharing a story that reminds us that breast cancer doesn’t always fit the picture we expect. At just 32 years old, Keisha Kinison was working in women’s health when she suddenly found herself as the patient. In this episode, we’ll talk about what it was like to discover her diagnosis before a physician had the chance to call, why she made the difficult decision to change doctors during treatment, how her experience transformed her, and the incredible support that helped carry her through.
[00:00:45] Woven throughout every chapter of her story is one powerful message: trust yourself, advocate for yourself, and never be afraid to seek the care you deserve. Keisha, welcome to the show.
[00:00:57] Keisha Kinison: Thank you for having me.
[00:01:00] Adam Walker: I recognize that breast cancer was likely the last thing on your mind at age 32. So let- let’s start there.
[00:01:07] How did you find your lump?
[00:01:09] Keisha Kinison: It was a Friday night, and like any other Friday night, my husband wants some romance. And so he went to go touch my breast, and I said, “No they hurt.” And as I touched, I felt my lump at, like, the 1:00, 12:00 to 1:00 position of my right breast. And I asked him the same thing. I was like, “Do you…”
[00:01:28] I asked him to feel there. I was like, “Do you feel that? Is there a lump there?” And he said, “Yeah, there’s a lump.” So I kind of just put it out of my mind for the weekend and didn’t think about it until Monday rolled around.
[00:01:45] Adam Walker: Gotcha. So, so just kind of moved on with your night and worried about it on Monday, and then what happened next on Monday?
[00:01:52] Keisha Kinison: So I work in women’s health, so I made an appointment to see an, my, one of my nurse practitioners where I work, and she scheduled me… Or, well, I went to go see triage- because I had to go through them to get the appointment.
[00:02:10] Adam Walker: Okay.
[00:02:11] Keisha Kinison: Right. So they created me a chart and got me scheduled to see the nurse practitioner a few days later, and she confirmed that I had a lump.
[00:02:20] Adam Walker: And then what, and what happened after that?
[00:02:23] Keisha Kinison: After that, we scheduled me to have diagnostic breast imaging done because I wasn’t at the age to have screening mammograms, so at that age they recommend that you have a diagnostic mammogram done. So we, they faxed the order over for me to schedule a diagnostic mammogram.
[00:02:45] So we scheduled me a diagnostic mammogram in about I want to say about a week or so after I had that appointment, I had my mammogram, and between having those appointments, they came… After I had my mammogram, they came back and said that I needed a bilateral breast ultrasound. So they did a breast ultrasound and went from there.
[00:03:07] Adam Walker: So you said you said you work in women’s health. So I’m guessing you’re probably one of those that, like, sees the test results come in to, like, the, you know, the platform or whatever, goes and looks at the test results. Like, is that what happened? You know did you get, did you look at them before they contacted you?
[00:03:25] And kind of walk me through all that. Oh, yes.
[00:03:29] Keisha Kinison: I saw my results via MyChart. I got my results before a doctor or a nurse could call me, and it was probably the most devastating thing to see because I didn’t know what I was reading. I saw something called immunochemistry E-cadherin staining. I’m like, “What does this mean?”
[00:03:55] So I went to my nurse practitioner and I asked her to read the results, and she read them, and she told me then and there that I had breast cancer.
[00:04:05] Adam Walker: So, so I just want to make sure I… So, like, you got the results before anyone, like, on your kind of medical team had looked at them, and then went to essentially a friend to read the res- like, to give you kind of the, to translate.
[00:04:18] Is that what you’re saying?
[00:04:19] Keisha Kinison: Yeah.
[00:04:23] Adam Walker: That’s a lot. Like, that’s- It was … That c- that cannot have been an easy thing. How, like how did that go?
[00:04:33] Keisha Kinison: It went with me breaking down in the hallway at work, because I was at work. I saw the, I saw my nurse practitioner that ordered the imaging results. I went to her and had her read the results, and I didn’t see the invasive ductal carcinoma.
[00:04:52] I didn’t see that. I saw the EC heterogeneity immunostaining, so I didn’t know what it meant. So I just went to her and asked her what these meant, and she looked at the results, and she’s like, “You have breast cancer.” And I just lost it in the middle of the hallway, so they put me in a room and just started making phone calls, because it was 3:30 on a Friday afternoon.
[00:05:12] Adam Walker: Yeah. Wow. So how did things progress after that? I mean it sounds like things have already kind of gone pretty quickly. Did things continue to move quickly after that?
[00:05:23] Keisha Kinison: They moved very quickly. It was a matter of my nurse practitioner she made the phone calls that afternoon. Because it being 3:30 on a Friday afternoon, most offices close early.
[00:05:37] So she made phone calls making sure that somebody was going to call me and let me know what my next steps were. A few hours later, I got a phone call from the nurse navigator at Franciscan, and she basically called me and told me, “You’re going to meet with the breast surgeon, and they’re going to go over what’s going to go next.”
[00:05:57] And then she made my appointment with the breast surgeon, and then a few days later, it wasn’t that I wasn’t just meeting with the breast surgeon, I was actually meeting with an oncologist. Because my breast prognostic panel, which is the ER, HR, or the ER, like, the estrogen, progesterone, and the HER2, that panel had come back that I was triple-negative breast cancer
[00:06:31] So at that point, they felt that they needed to treat me faster than what they normally would.
[00:06:39] Adam Walker: Right. Yeah. That makes sense. And I understand that you had a few complications along the way that you had to be hospitalized for, so I wonder could you tell us a little bit about that and- Yeah … and how you managed to sort of just stay positive through all of it?
[00:06:54] Keisha Kinison: So my complications my first one was going through chemo. When I went through my six months of chemo from changing from the easy chemo, which is the Keytruda and the Taxol and carboplatin, changing from that going to the Adriamycin, it threw me in what they call neutropenic fever. And I was in the hospital for four days, or three days, correction, three days before my 32nd birthday, or my 33rd birthday.
[00:07:27] And I spent three days just trying to get my counts back up and keeping fluids and liquids down. They had me on a clear liquid diet for two days, and then I was finally able to eat regular food. And then my second complication came after I had my breast reconstructive surgery and my lumpectomy. I developed a streptococcal infection in my right breast where I had my lumpectomy and cellulitis in my left breast, and that put me in the hospital for four days.
[00:08:01] Adam Walker: Ooh. That is, That’s quite a lot to handle, you know? I mean I mean-
[00:08:06] Keisha Kinison: And I stayed positive through it all because my m- my mother always taught me that it’s just temporary. This is not going to be forever.
[00:08:17] Adam Walker: Yeah, that’s a good perspective. I mean, I would imagine it’s hard, I mean, during it to keep that perspective, right?
[00:08:24] Did you just have to kind of remind yourself of that along the way?
[00:08:28] Keisha Kinison: That, and I had two kids.
[00:08:34] Adam Walker: Yeah, I mean, and so, so that was my next question was about your kids. So I understand you’ve got, you know, a 12-year-old, seven-year-old at home. I mean, how did you talk to them about this? How did you tell them about your diagnosis? Like, how did that whole thing go?
[00:08:50] Keisha Kinison: I didn’t tell them about my diagnosis.
[00:08:52] My mother-in-law actually told my kids. My mother-in-law is a 20-year-plus survivor, so she knew how to tell them. She knew how to tell my kids what was going on. She didn’t know… My husband went through this the same age as my oldest was at the time, so it was easier for her to explain it to them because she had to explain it to her own kids.
[00:09:15] Adam Walker: Wow. That’s wild. I mean, just the- It was hard … the same age It wasn’t easy. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Now you know I also understand self-advocacy is a big part of your story. You spoke up when you were diagnosed and you ended up, you know, switching doctors during treatment. Why did you choose to do that, and how did you find the courage to do that
[00:09:39] because that’s a tough switch to make for a lot of people.
[00:09:43] Keisha Kinison: So I switched because I didn’t see eye to eye with my oncologist on something, and we… I had started out at a facility that was close to home or close to work, so it was easy for me to get to my appointments. If I needed something, I could just walk over there, and I could get my fluids if I needed them or anything like that when I was going through chemo.
[00:10:09] Shortly after I finished chemo was when I switched providers and switched networks altogether, and I did that because I didn’t see eye to eye with my oncologist. We didn’t see eye to eye on something, and I felt like I wasn’t being heard, and I felt like I was being dismissed on something that I felt did not need to be dismissed.
[00:10:30] Adam Walker: Right. And what was that? I mean like I think a lot of people would be… I mean, I think you said you, you had finished chemos. You’re already- like you’re a good ways into treatment at that point and still chose to… Like, what was that process like and how did you come to that decision I guess?
[00:10:48] I mean, I guess you said because you had a difference of opinion. And then how… I guess, I guess really my question is how scary was that for you?
[00:10:56] Keisha Kinison: It wasn’t nerve-wracking. It was- it wasn’t super scary because I actually had the recommendation from my mother-in-law on who I could go see, and it was her oncologist that she had seen.
[00:11:09] So this doctor knew what she was doing. She was fantastic, and they kept up with every bit of everything that was going on with me. They saw it when I had my breast surgery and I got hospitalized. I was actually almost in septic shock. So they kept up on that. They are the ones that caught that, and they were fantastic, and it didn’t make switching so scary.
[00:11:36] It didn’t make it… It was just a little nerve-wracking because I had to make sure all my records were transferred over. But they made it so seamless where I didn’t have to transfer. I didn’t have to call and say, “I don’t want to see this doctor anymore. I’m transferring here.” They actually called and made the…
[00:11:52] got my records.
[00:11:54] Adam Walker: Wow. Okay. That sounds like an amazing doctor’s office. I’m gla- I’m glad you found those them. I-
[00:12:00] Keisha Kinison: Yeah …
[00:12:00] Adam Walker: I’m glad you found them. I mean, I feel like a lot of times, like, that’s the best recommendation you can get is someone that, that had a good personal experience, right? And that…
[00:12:09] that sounds-
[00:12:10] Keisha Kinison: Correct.
[00:12:10] Adam Walker: Something good for you.
[00:12:10] Keisha Kinison: I agree.
[00:12:11] Adam Walker: Yeah. Now let’s talk about your support. I mean, I think you’ve mentioned your family several times, right, right? So, like, what kind of support did you have throughout your experience?
[00:12:21] Keisha Kinison: Well, Susan G. Komen was big support. They helped pay my rent From the Komen Foundation.
[00:12:30] So that was a big support because I was only working part-time, and my husband was full-time, and nowadays it’s two incomes or more to survive. So going through treatment, you know, we still had all those bills to pay, along with taking care of our kids and making sure that their routines were normal. And then I couldn’t have done it without my mother-in-law.
[00:13:02] She was my biggest support through it all She helped with my kids. She came to almost every appointment that I had. She was my second set of ears, everything. She was my biggest support And then I had my job. I had people who had only known me for three months rally behind me. They threw me what they like to call a chemo party, and they showered me with gifts that they thought I would need during chemo.
[00:13:39] Adam Walker: That’s beautiful. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the term chemo party for that. I kind of love that, though. Like, that’s-
[00:13:46] Keisha Kinison: I know … that’s Amazing.
[00:13:47] But I never-
[00:13:48] Adam Walker: Right?
[00:13:49] Keisha Kinison: I came into work one day- What- … and my desk was plastered with, And this was the day before I was supposed to start chemo, but it was plastered with breast cancer survivor quotes and things like that.
[00:14:00] And then I just had, like, gifts coming in and things like that, of things that they thought that I could use during chemo, like ChapStick, and coloring stuff, and like socks, and ChapStick, and Epsom salt, you know, just for those days- … that your body aches and things like that. So- Yeah … it was
[00:14:21] Adam Walker: really good. I, so, so I guess I, I have to ask then, because those sound like some good gifts for someone going through chemo.
[00:14:27] Like what are kind of their, your top three gifts for somebody going through chemo? But, you know, because we ha- we have to talk about the chemo party for, again for a minute here.
[00:14:36] Keisha Kinison: Oh, yes. The top three gifts, I would say, would be… Like, I love to color, so that was, like, one of my biggest things, is like having- adult coloring books with some gel pens or something to color with to keep me occupied on those long days when you’re getting your chemo, and you’re there for, it seems like eight hours-
[00:14:55] Adam Walker: Right.
[00:14:55] Keisha Kinison: A day. That and then just probably the ChapStick because your lips get chapped pretty easily.
[00:15:04] Adam Walker: Yep. Right.
[00:15:05] Keisha Kinison: And then I want to say probably just the Epsom salt was a big thing for me.
[00:15:10] I loved it because after chemo, three days after I had my chemo, my body would ache really bad.
[00:15:16] And so taking an Epsom salt bath would just kind of just help with those aches.
[00:15:21] Adam Walker: Got it. Okay. That’s really good advice, though. I mean I, you know, I think I’ve talked about that before, but not quite in that context.
[00:15:28] I think it’s really helpful for listeners to hear, like, what the types of things that help someone, you know, with chemo.
[00:15:32] Keisha Kinison: Yeah.
[00:15:33] Adam Walker: From the perspective… because f- you know, a lot of us have not experienced that yet. So all right, so, so working in breast health, how has your experience changed or, like, how has this experience impacted the work that you do?
[00:15:51] Keisha Kinison: I navigate for these women to get their breast imaging done. Even if it is, even if you’re my age, which I’m only… I’ll be 36 this year, so, or 37, 36, something like that. I don’t know. But I, and I navigate and advocate for these women to get their breast imaging done- If they have questions, you know, I try to answer as much as I can.
[00:16:15] Like, the other day, I had a woman call, and she was questioning. She’s like, “I’m supposed to have this sent over, but it’s not been sent over.” And I was like, “Well, I know that it’s nerve-wracking because it’s a diagnostic imaging, but definitely get it done. You know, don’t wait to get it done because it could be nothing, and it could be something.
[00:16:34] You don’t know until you have that done.”
[00:16:38] Adam Walker: That’s right. Yeah, that’s right. Yeah, and, you know, I would imagine it gives you a lot of passion for the work that you’re doing, right?
[00:16:45] Keisha Kinison: It does. I have a lot of compassion for anyone that… You know, I see these results come in all the time, and I see them, and I just, like, have…
[00:16:54] My heart breaks for the ones that I see the results come in, and they have breast cancer. But I can’t do… I can’t call them and tell them, “I’m sorry. I feel bad for you.” But I just a- advocate for them, for those ones that, you know, were like, “Oh, well, I can just wait.” No, don’t wait.
[00:17:12] Adam Walker: Yeah. Yeah. That’s right. Yeah, don’t wait.
[00:17:16] All right Keisha, last question for you. Why is it so important to… Like why are you sharing your story and what final advice do you have for our listeners?
[00:17:29] Keisha Kinison: It’s important for me to share my story because it can help someone young who may not know anything about breast care, and if they find a lump, then it could be something, but it could be nothing, you know?
[00:17:40] And we know our bodies better than oursel- Like, we know our bodies are, better than doctors do. So- Yep … if you find a lump or if you have something off that you just don’t know about, like excessive fatigue or anything like that, you know, just talk to your provider. That’s all I have to say about that. You know, just advocate for yourself.
[00:18:03] You know, don’t push it off. Don’t let it be. Just know that if you feel like something is off, that it is for you to decide if you
[00:18:17] feel like it’s the best.
[00:18:17] Adam Walker: That’s right. Yeah, you know yourself better than anyone else does, and you are in the position to be your own advocate in a better way than anyone else is. And so, Yes … yeah, that’s one of the key themes of this show. So, well, Keisha thank you so much for sharing your story.
[00:18:31] I think it’s important. Thank you for for giving us just kind of a glimpse into your path and your life, and thank you for joining us on the show today.
[00:18:41] Keisha Kinison: Thank you for having me.
[00:18:44] Adam Walker: Thanks for listening to Real Pink, a weekly podcast by Susan G. Komen. For more episodes, visit realpink.komen.org, and for more on breast cancer, visit komen.org.
[00:18:53] Make sure to check out @SusanGKomen on social media. I’m your host, Adam. You can find me on Twitter at AJWalker or on my blog, adamjwalker.com.