Teresa Lazar is a married mom of four. A teacher and a world traveler. >> I spent a lot of time
traveling the world. We love to sail, scuba dive... >>Teresa had gone faithfully every
year for a mammogram and every year she would get called back for an immediate follow-up.
Nothing ever went further than that. Until last summer, the outcome was different, she received a
phone call from her doctor. >>He said, you need to go and have a second mammogram and I said,
"oh" of course why are you calling me? I always do this every year. And he said no, this time,
it's the real deal, you have cancer. I was sitting away from it and I'm not sure I heard clearly
but her reaction right away, I knew that this was a big problem and I knew that what we had to do
now was find out how serious this was. >> So, I was shocked. >>Teresa and her husband went to
Penn State Health Breast Center for additional images and a biopsy confirmed the diagnosis.
>>And they just told us that it's the worst possible news we can give you. [Crying]
And they said, you know, you have cancer and I said, well I can't do this right now. I said,
I have to go to the Bahamas. >>Teresa's family already had a trip planned so,
she kept her plans and decided to start treatment when she returned. While in the Bahamas,
a seashell she found resembling a chest became a sign that everything was going to be fine. >>The
one breast looked like it's off and the other one's on and it washed up to my feet. I said,
it's a sign, i'm gonna be okay. I took that every day to my cancer treatments. >>Her stage was not a
stage four so, when we are in a stage two or stage three we are looking at obtaining a cure and we
are talking about doing chemotherapy first to try and shrink the tumor as much as we can. >>I would
be there for hours and hours and when you go for the treatment, you go, you always have your blood
work done and then you see the doctor and then you have your treatment. So, you're there a long
time. A good portion of the day. >>Treatment took a lot of time and also had a lot of side effects.
Her family was a constant support. Sometimes, I just wanted to give up. I just did, I was so sick
but they would say we're going to fight it together. You know,
so, we did. >>The treatment itself was was kind of brutal and that she was up and down with her own
psyche and so, I kind of followed that too but I tried to all the time say, you can do this, you're
a tough person, let's do this together don't give up. >>Teresa's brother even came to her rescue.
>>At one appointment, he came with me and I had forgotten my ball cap so, he and I got to the
hospital, we ran in, we ran to the gift shop and we bought ourselves matching ball caps. >>After
six cycles, she got that one infusion every three weeks . After six cycles we were able
to take her to surgery. >>And by doing that, we were actually able to completely get rid
of the cancer even before surgery. >>Teresa would now have breast conservation surgery.
An option to a mastectomy and an outpatient procedure. We were then able to do breast
conservation for her a lumpectomy as well as check her lymph node which had no cancer and of course
she actually had no cancer left in her breast either. And I really didn't have any issues.
I didn't really have serious pain issues and it healed very very quickly. >>Her next step,
radiation therapy. >>In order to make sure there aren't any little cancer cells that could still be
in the breast, the radiation is an insurance policy for those. >>This experience has given
Teresa inspiration to see more of the world with her family. >> I quickly made arrangements
just to get away for two and a half weeks. I'm going back to Croatia. >>I could see
a light at the end of the tunnel, I guess I would say. Things are looking better. >>Teresa and her
doctors have a message for other women. >>Anyone who has cancer knows that once you have cancer
you are always looking over your shoulder always . >>Go ahead and get your mammograms. I know it is
again a scary moment if you get a call back but this is where we can change the outcome,
we can make a difference, we can catch it early and you will also have an outcome like Teresa.
>>Teresa says, the only thing she misses about her chemo appointments is the amazing staff that she
now calls friends. Back to you Deborah. >>Thanks Denise. Joining us is Dr Melody Poloshak, breast
surgeon at Penn State Health Breast Center and also Teresa's surgeon. Thanks for being with us.
>>Thanks for having me. >>Let's talk about the team approach for breast cancer treatment at
Penn State Health. Why is that so important there are so many aspects too treating the whole patient
with the breast cancer diagnosis? >>So, Penn State Health we really collaborate from radiology,
pathology navigation medical oncology surgery radiation oncology, so, on and so forth.
All the way through to survivorship so that we can really tailor our care to that individual patient
and we also want our patients to know that they have that whole team behind them.