Kristen adjusts to Taxol, the drug used in the second phase of chemotherapy, which brings bizarre side effects requiring special booties and mittens to prevent permanent nerve damage in her hands and feet. Her beachfront living arrangement is upended, and while moving is stressful, her home is replaced with an even better beachfront home through the generosity of a friend. Being single, having cancer, and wondering if you’re going to die alone is scary. As the days go by, it becomes clear who’s really in her corner for the long haul.

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Read about Taxol (https://chemocare.com/chemotherapy/drug-info/taxol.aspx)

Chemo mittens and booties shopping list:
Best chemo cooler/backpack (https://amzn.to/3nXD4lT)
Ice mittens (https://amzn.to/2ZQA7eu)
Ice booties (https://amzn.to/3CLAOof)
Ice booties refill (https://amzn.to/3H00SP5)

Meet Kristen’s doctors: surgical oncologist Dr. Louis Rivera (https://www.scripps.org/physicians/31924-louis-rivera?tab=overview), hematologist and oncologist Dr. Sonia Ali (https://www.scripps.org/physicians/8669-dr-sonia-ali?tab=overview), plastic surgeon Dr. Salvatore Pacella (https://www.drpacella.com/), and radiation oncologists Dr. Anuradha Koka (https://www.scripps.org/physicians/4516-anuradha-koka-md?tab=overview) and Dr. Kenneth T. Shimizu. (https://www.scripps.org/physicians/5313-kenneth-shimizu)

About Breast Cancer Stories
Breast Cancer Stories follows Kristen Vengler, a 56 year old single empty nester in San Diego, from her diagnosis of hormone positive breast cancer through chemotherapy, mastectomy & breast reconstruction, radiation, and whatever happens after that. In 2020, Kristen moved from Austin to San Diego to be near family and start her life over after a life-shattering workplace trauma. A few months later she had that terrifying moment in the shower we all hope we never have. From her breast cancer diagnosis, through chemotherapy, breast reconstruction, and radiation, we experience each new milestone as it happens.

This podcast is about what happens when you have breast cancer, told in real time.


Support the show by sharing online, writing a review, or donating at https://www.breastcancerstoriespodcast.com/p/donate/

Host and Executive Producer: Eva Sheie
Co-Host: Kristen Vengler
Editor and Audio Engineer: Daniel Croeser
Theme Music: Them Highs and Lows, Bird of Figment
Story Editor: Mary Ellen Clarkson
Assistant Producer: Hannah Burkhart
Cover Art Designer: Shawn Hiatt

Breast Cancer Stories is a production of The Axis.
PROUDLY MADE IN AUSTIN, TEXAS