Breast Cancer Stories

Persistent foot pain caused by chemo forces Kristen to spend hours each day on physical therapy, taping, and stretching her feet at home. Wowing her friends with her ingenuity, she reveals that flesh-colored socks with the toes cut out are the trick to wearing flip flops to a wedding. A few weeks before her final reconstructive surgery in a moment of darkness she candidly asks, “if this is what kills me, have I lived a good life?” Answering this question leads her to reflect on just how much her perspective has changed through this experience. If someone you love has cancer, or any chronic illness that transforms their life, Kristen’s advice is an important reminder to give them grace and time, and don’t forget to treat them like a normal person while remaining sensitive to what has changed.
What’s next for Breast Cancer Stories?
SEASON 2 LAUNCHES AUGUST 25, 2022
While there are no more surgeries and no more treatment, our mission to help others going through the shock of diagnosis and treatment continues. Stay tuned for the launch of our 2nd season in August 2022 as Kristen becomes the host and a new story begins with Natasha Curry, a palliative care nurse practitioner at San Francisco General Hospital.
While in Malawi on a Doctors Without Borders mission in 2021, Natasha’s husband of 25 years announced in a text message that he was leaving. She returned home, fell into bed for a few weeks, and eventually with the help of her friends she pulled herself together and went back to work. A few months later when she discovered an almond-sized lump in her armpit, she did everything she tells her patients not to do and dismissed it, or wrote it off as a “fat lump."
Months went by before Natasha finally got a mammogram, but radiology saw nothing in either breast. It was the armpit lump that caught their attention. One painful biopsy later, Natasha found out she had cancer; in one life-changing moment, the nurse became the patient.
Listen to the Season 2 trailer https://www.breastcancerstoriespodcast.com/season-2-trailer-natasha
Other Links
Support the Breast Cancer Stories podcast: https://www.breastcancerstoriespodcast.com/p/donate/
Win your own Kyte bamboo pajamas when you SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER! Sign up here: https://breastcancerstories.substack.com/subscribe
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.
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

After 11 long weeks of chemotherapy we’re at the clinic to see Dr. Ali, the oncologist. Kristen is hopeful because she can see her tumor and it appears on the surface like it’s getting smaller. But the only true measure of whether the tumor has grown is the MRI, and Dr. Ali delivers the news. Kristen can’t shake the question of why shrinking the tumor even matters if it’s going to be removed with surgery in a few weeks. She forces herself into a different mindset about treatment. In this episode, we go with Kristen to the actual appointment and hear her conversations with the doctors.
Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://breastcancerstories.substack.com/subscribe
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

Natasha Curry is not your everyday average nurse. As a palliative care nurse practitioner at San Francisco General Hospital, she cares for the poorest and most vulnerable at what is often the most challenging time of their lives. Many patients are homeless and also struggling with substance abuse and mental illness, in addition to cancer and other life-limiting diseases. It’s tough and heart-breaking work.
Last year, while leading a Doctors Without Borders cervical cancer mission in Malawi, Natasha’s husband of 25 years announced in a text message that he was leaving. She returned home, fell into bed for a few weeks, and eventually with the help of her friends she pulled herself together and went back to work. A few months later when she discovered an almond-sized lump in her armpit, she did everything she tells her patients not to do and dismissed it, or wrote it off as a “fat lump."
Months went by before she finally got a mammogram, but radiology saw nothing in either breast. It was the armpit lump that caught their attention. Next step was an ultrasound, where the lump was clearly visible. One painful biopsy later, Natasha found out she had cancer; in one life-changing moment, the nurse became the patient. This is Natasha’s breast cancer story, told in real time.
Other Links
Support the Breast Cancer Stories podcast: https://www.breastcancerstoriespodcast.com/p/donate/
Win your own Kyte bamboo pajamas when you SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER! Sign up here: https://breastcancerstories.substack.com/subscribe
About Breast Cancer Stories
From 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.
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

Kristen’s plastic surgeon Dr. Salvatore Pacella joins us to deconstruct her breast reconstruction and help us understand his strategy for the multi-stage approach in which the expanders are placed at the time of mastectomy and replaced with breast implants following radiation. We ask all the unanswered burning questions, including whether he can even recognize Kristen with her clothes on and how the recent consumer trend of moving fat to increase the size of one’s rear end has had a positive impact on reconstructive surgery. From the decisions made at the beginning of the process, to the ignorant things people say to women about to undergo breast reconstruction, we covered it all in this first episode of a two-part series.
Learn more about Dr. Salvatore Pacella https://www.drpacella.com/ Follow Dr. Pacella on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sandiegoplasticsurgeon/ Listen to Dr. Pacella’s podcast, Three Plastic Surgeons and a Microphone: https://3plasticsurgerypodcast.com/ 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)
Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://breastcancerstories.substack.com/subscribe
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
Special Guest: Salvatore J. Pacella, MD.

After her 3rd chemo, Natasha is too tired to eat. All food loses its flavor and only texture remains, so peaches and sushi taste the same. She becomes so dehydrated that she wins herself a trip to urgent care for fluids. Wondering if she metabolizes chemo more slowly than others, she plans to set a hydration date after the next infusion. She used to tell her chemo patients that they’d react to each chemo treatment the same way, but learns in yet another horrible discovery as the nurse-turned-patient that nothing could be further from the truth. On the bright side, her hair is so healthy from the cold caps that she needs to get a haircut, and gets a big discount for having cancer.
Links
Support the Breast Cancer Stories podcast: https://www.breastcancerstoriespodcast.com/p/donate/ Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://breastcancerstories.substack.com/subscribe
About Breast Cancer Stories Breast Cancer Stories follows Natasha Curry, a palliative care nurse practitioner at San Francisco General Hospital, through her experience of going from being a nurse to a patient after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
Natasha was in Malawi on a Doctors Without Borders mission in 2021 when her husband of 25 years announced in a text message that he was leaving. She returned home, fell into bed for a few weeks, and eventually pulled herself together and went back to work. A few months later when she discovered an almond-sized lump in her armpit, she did everything she tells her patients not to do and dismissed it, or wrote it off as a “fat lump."
Months went by before Natasha finally got a mammogram, but radiology saw nothing in either breast. It was the armpit lump that caught their attention. Next step was an ultrasound, where the lump was clearly visible. One painful biopsy later, Natasha found out she had cancer; in one life-changing moment, the nurse became the patient.
This podcast is about what happens when you have breast cancer, told in real time.
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