In Kathy’s Corner

18

Author: Kelly Neukom

Campus Dining Production/ Servant Assistant Kathy Lauriha (lovingly dubbed “Kathy the Sandwich Lady” by Oxy students) is known for her consistently sweet demeanor and unique ability to remain unruffled by the chaos and activity of even the most crowded days in the Marketplace. But in March 2006, she found something that did shake her – in fact, it scared her to death.

“Well, not to death,” Lauriha said. “In fact, I wasn’t that surprised. I worked as a flight attendant for 33 years and a lot of my peers had breast cancer. We don’t know why that is, but it’s a common thing for a lot of flight attendants.”

Lauriha found a small lump in her breast through a self-exam that hadn’t been picked up in a mammogram or three separate ultrasounds she had taken.

She had the surgery to remove it that same month, and ended up missing only 10 days of work.

“It was a strange experience,” she said. “You don’t know what will happen during the surgery. Sometimes the cancer is in your lymph nodes and they have to put a drain in. When I first woke up, I felt my left side to see if there was a drain. There wasn’t, which was a good sign.”

Lauriha had to wait a week for results to see what stage of cancer the tumor was in. She didn’t know if she would need chemotherapy or not. She remembered feeling very apprehensive during this time. Finally, the call came.

“The surgeon was astounded – it was so small that she almost didn’t test it for cancer,” she said. “But it ended up being a small stage 1 tumor.”

In 2002, breast cancer remained the most common form of cancer among women living in the United States. More than 200,000 individuals will be diagnosed this year and 40,000 will die from the disease. The foundation Susan G. Komen for the Cure reports that one in every eight women will get breast cancer at some point in her lifetime. (One in about every 2,000 women will contract the disease in their 20s.) Factors that put women at higher risk include: high socioeconomic status, lack of exercise, drinking 2-4 alcoholic drinks a day, current or recent use of birth control pills, being tall and the woman’s first period occurring before age 12.

The foundation encourages all women to do monthly self-exams starting at age 20 to catch cancer early like Lauriha did. ” [A] breast self-exam seems like an ideal method of early detection, because it is something all women can do on their own,” the foundation’s website said.

“Despite the open question about its overall benefit, breast self-exam[s] provide an opportunity for women to become more aware of their own bodies and play active roles in their health. Komen for the Cure currently recommends that all women age 20 and older perform monthly breast self-exam in addition to other appropriate breast cancer screening tests.”

Women can go to www.komen.org to order free self-examination cards. They can also download and print out the cards themselves. The foundation also encourages clinical breast exams at least every three years starting at age 20.

Lauriha began 25 days of radiation in May 2006 and said Occidental was very accommodating to her at this time. “They were very nice-they would let me come in 30 minutes early and leave 30 minutes early so I could have radiation right after work,” she said.

But wasn’t it exhausting to work all day and then have a bout of radiation?

“Radiation is actually relatively easy,” Lauriha said in the chipper tone she kept throughout the interview. “The hardest thing about radiation is going back there to meet with the doctors after you’ve finished your treatment. You see a lot of sad things. If you have any sensitivity at all, it really affects you. It’s the most difficult place to go back to.”

Lauriha must now take the prescription drug Arimidex for three-and-a-half more years (five years total) to reduce the amount of estrogen produced by her body. After Lauriha’s experience, she encourages all women to make sure they do frequent self-exams in addition to mammograms. “It’s important that all women pay attention and take care of themselves,” she said. “If you do a self-exam and something doesn’t feel right, you should be aware of that.”

What kept Lauriha coming back to Occidental after such a harrowing experiencing?

“I love the students,” she said immediately. “They come in as freshmen, I watch them for four years and then they are ready to go out into the world. All of our accomplishments are part of the growth process and we learn even from the hard stuff in life.”

The final question on everyone’s mind: What is “Kathy the Sandwich Lady’s” favorite sandwich?

“I would have the multi-grain bread with cheese and pesto-I’m not much of a meat eater. Actually, I’m not really much of a sandwich eater. My dad used to make grilled cheese sandwiches for me when I was little, but I haven’t eaten many since then.”

Not much of a sandwich eater? Even after making hundreds of PB&J’s a month for hungry students?

“I’ve actually never tried a PB&J,” she said.

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