October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Find more stories of courage, treatment and survival in the face of breast cancer at www.columbian.com/news/health/breast-cancer
Susan Gotshall had always struggled to find activities that motivated her to exercise.
But three years ago, she found her motivation in CrossFit.
Regular CrossFit, Gotshall said, helped her to develop mental, emotional and physical strength. CrossFit made her strong and healthy. And it prepared her for a breast cancer diagnosis in October 2013, a mastectomy that winter and a recovery that led her back to the gym.
“CrossFit just put me in the best possible place to go through this,” said Gotshall, 43.
Cancer diagnosis
Every October, Gotshall sees her physician for an annual physical exam. Last October, her physician felt something while administering Gotshall’s breast exam. She assumed she was feeling calcium deposits, but told Gotshall to schedule a mammogram.
About a week later, Gotshall got a call from Kaiser Permanente. The mammogram — which was the first for the then-42-year-old — revealed abnormalities in her right breast.
She was sent to Kaiser’s Sunnyside Medical Center in Clackamas for another exam and biopsy. The biopsy confirmed Gotshall had stage 1 breast cancer. More specifically, she was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ — a noninvasive form of cancer in the milk ducts of the breast.
“When they did the mammogram, it looked like a firework had gone off in my breast,” she said.
The mammogram revealed cancer across her entire breast, up to her collarbone. Additional tests revealed the cancer was using estrogen and progesterone in her body to grow; her physicians immediately took her off of the birth control pills she had been taking.
“My own body was feeding the cancer,” Gotshall said.
Gotshall met with a surgeon who recommended a lumpectomy. The procedure would remove the milk ducts with cancer cells and some surrounding tissue, leaving virtually nothing left of her breast, Gotshall said.
Gotshall decided she wanted a double mastectomy. Her surgeon tried to talk her out of the procedure, but Gotshall was steadfast.
“I’m not going to go through this again in five, 10 years,” Gotshall said.
She met with two more surgeons before finding one who supported her decision.
On Dec. 12, Gotshall underwent a double mastectomy. Once the surgeon removed the breast tissue, a plastic surgeon put in expanders that would be used to reconstruct Gotshall’s breasts.
A sentinel node biopsy came back clear; the cancer had not spread, and Gotshall did not need additional treatment.
Back in the gym
Gotshall was welcomed home after surgery by the people she had sweat alongside for the previous two years, her family from CrossFit Untamed in Salmon Creek. While she was at the hospital, they had decorated her Vancouver apartment with pictures and signs, reminding her the diagnosis was just one big WOD (CrossFit lingo for “workout of the day”).
For a week after the surgery, they were at her house around the clock. They took care of her, made her meals, stocked her cupboards and kept her company while she stayed in bed.
“They’ve gone through this cancer journey with me,” Gotshall said.
The support and encouragement made Gotshall determined to get back to the gym.
Every time Gotshall met with her surgeon for follow-up appointments, she asked if she could start working out again. During her first physical therapy appointment, Gotshall impressed her therapist with her wide range of motion despite compromised muscles in her chest.
Finally, 38 days after her double mastectomy, Gotshall was back at CrossFit.
Gotshall eased her way into her regular workouts over the course of several weeks, modifying workouts until she built up muscle strength.
In February, just two months after surgery, Gotshall competed in the annual CrossFit Games. She didn’t think she would be strong enough to compete, but she completed all five workouts.
“Now I’m stronger than prior to having my mastectomy,” Gotshall said.
Rebuilding
Nearly a year has passed since her diagnosis, and Gotshall continues to heal and move forward.
Gotshall had surgery in April to replace the expanders in her chest with implants and, this summer, had her nipples reconstructed.
“They’re rebuilding me,” she said.
The follow-up appointments will continue every six months for the next three years. She won’t need mammograms since she doesn’t have any breast tissue remaining.
Gotshall also underwent testing for inherited mutations to her BRCA genes, which are breast cancer susceptibility genes that also put women at higher risk for ovarian cancer. She was adopted but learned from her birth mother that she has a family history of breast cancer.
The test revealed Gotshall does not carry the mutated gene.
This fall, Gotshall started a new school year as a reading intervention specialist at Battle Ground Public Schools. She’s also completing her administrative internship with the district.
And Gotshall remains a fixture at CrossFit Untamed, working out every morning before heading to work.
While the diagnosis made Gotshall realize cancer doesn’t bypass anyone, it also taught her about herself.
“You just realize you’re stronger than you ever thought,” Gotshall said.=
