In August of 2019, my life forever changed. I was working part time as a speech pathologist and raising two little boys with my husband Lucas. Cancer was not on our radar. The first sign that something was wrong was an ache in my hamstring. I noticed it when walking long distances or when standing for long periods of time. I ignored it, thinking it was a torn or inflamed muscle that would get better. I then developed a lump in my muscle about the size of a quarter. I spent a lot of time at the gym, and one morning before class I decided to foam roll my hamstring to get rid of that bump. The next morning, I woke up to a huge bruise that covered the back of my leg. I still thought it would get better on its own.
Four weeks later my leg was still hurting. The lump was still there, and I decided it was time to see a doctor. My husband was off work as he had just had a knee surgery to remove non-cancerous tumors from his knee, and I was helping him with his recovery. When I told him I was going to see the doctor, we joked- I sure hope it’s not leg cancer. Stupidly, we didn’t really know leg cancer was a thing.
I went to see my family doctor on a Friday afternoon. I could tell immediately that she was concerned. She sent me for an ultrasound right away. I could also tell the ultrasound tech was concerned. She went over the area for way longer than I was expecting. Back in the doctor’s exam room, my doctor. told me that she wanted me to have an MRI as soon as possible.
I went for the MRI early the following week. My mom was in town, and she went with me to the MRI appointment. As we were driving home after the appointment, my cell phone rang. It was my doctor. She asked if I was driving or if I had made it home. That’s when I knew for sure the news wasn’t going to be good. She told me that she suspected I had a malignant tumor in my leg, and she was referring me to a Dr. Miller at the University of Iowa. I knew who that was, as he had just performed surgery on my husband a few weeks ago.
Fast forward several agonizing days later, and I found myself at Dr. Miller’s office. He looked at my MRI, listened to my story, and told me he suspected it was sarcoma. I had a biopsy of my leg that day. This was Halloween day of 2019. We went home, and I was too freaked out to take our kids trick or treating. My husband was able to take them on his own sore leg while I sat on the couch paralyzed with fear.
I then had to wait another terrible week until my next appointment for confirmation that I did have sarcoma. This appointment was on November 7th. Dr. Miller and Jill delivered the news, and we went on with a long awful day of doctor appointments. I was told I had stage 3B sarcoma in my hamstring. I was told percentages and survival rates and concerns about the cancer spreading to my lungs. I was given clinical trial options. I was provided with the dreaded black and gold tote bag full of cancer information. We left that day scared, but with a plan – radiation followed by a surgery to remove the tumor.
I did receive several months of radiation, five days a week to my leg. It was scary that first day, but I quickly realized it was something I was going to get through. The last few weeks were painful, mostly because the tumor on my leg was so large I was unable to straighten my leg, which made lying flat on the radiation table difficult.
Surgery day came January 31, 2020. I was so happy to have that tumor off of my leg. I thought I was going to have a massively disfigured leg, but I was pleasantly surprised at the end result. I was determined to get back to normal and pushed through recovery and physical therapy quickly. Today I’m incredibly thankful to have my leg. It serves as a daily reminder of what we all went through. I have now reached the milestone of two years cancer free. I will be forever grateful to my team of doctors at the University of Iowa for saving my life.
