Cancer Doctor Faces Cancer Herself

Feb. 17, 2005 -- -- For Dr. Carolyn Kaelin, diagnosing breast cancer is nothing new. Kaelin is director of the Comprehensive Breast Health Center at Brigham and Women's Hospital, one of Harvard Medical School's main teaching hospitals.

But when she started seeing signs of the disease in herself, she had to make the difficult transition from doctor to patient.

In the summer of 2003, Kaelin was training for the 190-mile Pan-Mass Challenge, a bike ride to benefit cancer research.

"I was taking off my cycling shirt and noticed the most subtle area of skin retraction in the breast, just this tiny pulling in of the skin," she said.

Knowing what was at stake and what she needed to do, Kaelin scheduled her own set of mammograms the very next day.

Though the tests came back negative for cancer, Kaelin's expertise told her to keep pressing.

An ultrasound and biopsy were done and confirmed the worst -- it was cancer.

"To have that kind of information relayed to me," she said, "it almost felt like I was sitting next to one of my patients."

Now the doctor who had helped so many through their struggle with cancer would have to face the ups and downs of the disease herself -- including the difficult task of telling her children.

"You can just tell them what you can tell them," she said, "that mommy was diagnosed with breast cancer."

Because Kaelin had multiple cancers in her breast, she chose to have a mastectomy and go through chemotherapy.

She found that the chemo treatments left her with a metallic taste in her mouth and an unexpectedly powerful fatigue.

When the chemo treatments caused her hair to begin falling out, she pre-emptively had it shaved off.

Exhausted but fighting, Kaelin says she drew strength from friends and the sentiments of patients who sent her letters and cards.

"How thoughtful they are, and giving they are, and how important that is during treatment," she said. "It's a village that can help an individual get through this process."