â¢ Running the Right Way - PhillyFIT Magazine

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PhysicallyFITSHINE LIKE ADIAMOND!By Mary NearpassSome of the most mundane moments we live become life-alteringones we’ll never forget.“What happens when a mascara-fixated, vodka-tasting, chocoholic,handbag-fanatic, fashionista, big-city, single woman in herforties, who’s dated everyone in the tri-state area finds a smalllump in her breast?” That’s the question that makes for the followingpowerful yet poignant memoir.When Randi Rentz’s, a beautiful, vital, Master’s-trained, specialeducation teacher father passed away, she found herself in hisattic a few weeks later cleaning up his belongings, which was thebeginning of an unforgettable journey that happened four yearsago.“I was in my father’s attic, pushing, pulling, and throwing thejunk away he accumulated over the forty years he lived in mychildhood home”, she says. “I was going through his personaleffects, bent for several hours. I kept getting a sharp, shootingpain under my breast like someone was slicing me with ascalpel.”Randi thought it might have something to do with her back, soshe went to her chiropractor. As she was lying on her stomachgetting adjusted, her breast really hurt, which was very unusual.She knew something wasn’t right, so she called her doctor andasked for her mammogram to be moved to a closer date.From there, she had tests, ultrasounds, even a visit to a surgeon tosee if he could detect what was wrong. Nine and a half weeksafter her father passed, Randi received the news.Knowing is Just the Beginning“I was in my car driving at 3:12 p.m. on a sunny day on April30th, 2008, when my surgeon called, and asked me to call himonce I got home. I insisted on having the conversation right thereand then. He asked me to pull over because he didn’t like todeliver good or bad news over the phone as people were driving.I pulled over. He said he got the pathology report back, and in18 I PhillyFITMay/June I 267-767-4205 I www.phillyfit.comreading it, saw that the cells were conducive to ductal carcinoma.He said, ‘You have breast cancer but you’ll be fine.’ And I wassilent.”“I was hearing static, getting a little dizzy. I was shocked,” shesays. I remember thinking, how can ‘breast cancer’ and ‘you’ll befine’ be in the same sentence? Her surgeon asked her to make anappointment for the following day, and she did. After she hungup, Randi called her best friend, Sharon.“She got me through the loss of my father,” Randi says of herbest friend. “She was my motivator during that infamous call andshe met me the next day at the doctor’s office. We each came upwith a list of our own, separate questions. I wasn’t sure if I wouldbe able to comprehend any kind of medical terminology, givenmy state of mind, so I wanted another set of ears.”It was a dismal day, Randi recalls. She was looking out the windowwhile she sat in the doctor’s office. It took her some time toassimilate the conversation her best friend and doctor were having.“I wasn’t hearing anything except the voice in my headshrieking, “Breast cancer, really? Me? I was finally able to tuneinto the conversation when he began illustrating my breast canceron a notepad, while discussing several surgical options,” she says.The option Randi chose was a lumpectomy, a surgical procedurewhere just the tumor is removed which is relatively non-invasive.“I woke up and remember the nurse was standing over me,”Randi says. “She had good news: my lymph nodes were clean.That was the best news of my life!”Randi had stage one cancer, but a grade three tumor; this meansthat the tumor was growing rapidly. Although this was relativelygood news, Randi wasn’t in the clear just yet, but she had thesupport of amazing friends along the way.“I remember waking up in my hospital room, and seeing my bestfriend, Sharon, sitting there, with magazines and food,” she says.“I also had friends visit me throughout my hospital stay, cracking
jokes, saying I lookedgreat and beautifulafter surgery (and Ithink I believed them).And when I got home,three of my friendsbrought a deliciousdinner over to mycondo, and one ofthem even stayed theovernight to make sureI was ok.”Getting ThroughChemotherapyAfter she recoveredfrom her surgery,Randi went back to herjob as a teacher forkids in kindergartenthrough fifth grade onthe autism spectrum.She soon met with an oncologist to decide on her post-surgerytreatment. They explored the options, and opted for chemotherapy,an aggressive treatment. “I wanted chemo in case there wasone sneaky cell that fled the coup,” she says.She took a tour of the chemo suite where she’d receive treatment.Since treatment lasted several weeks, Randi got to know the staffand other patients there very well. “It turned out that chemo forme was almost like being at camp because I always had my girlfriendsby my side sharing stories,” she says laughing. “I waseventually known as ‘The Candy Girl’ because I gave candy tomany patients, to help eliminate the metallic taste as a result ofthe chemo, and I got people talking and moving. At one point Ihad a race to the bathroom with another patient. Can you imaginedragging an I.V. pole behind you while trying to sprint to the restroom?”Philadelphia’sSports PodiatristDR. LEE S. COHENPain When Running? We Can Help!Custom insole fabricationPostural AnalysisVideo Running AnalysisBiomechanical ExamSports Shoe ConsultMuscle TestingTraining techniques610-522-9200642 E. Chester Pike, Ridley Park PA, 19078860 Lancaster Ave. Devon, PA 193332005 Route 70 East Cherry Hill, NJ 08003w w w . d r l e e c o h e n . c o mIn her determined effort to fill this experience with lightness,humor and friendships, Randi and friends would frequently stopfor coffee and munchies at Wawa, get smoothies from her gymand drive to chemo with all this to offer her chemo team, (friends,nurses and oncologist) juice smoothies in margarita glasses.On day seventeen, she began to lose her hair. She wasn’t quitesure what to do with her blonde curls that fell sporadically ontoher kitchen table, floor, bathtub and sofa. Randi decided to collecther tresses and keep them in Zip-Loc bags for safe keeping,which she later donated. Instead of spending up to six thousanddollars on one wig that she would either throw away or donate,Randi decided to give herself a pair of “chemo-earrings” with hermother’s diamonds, which she had re-designed. She proudlywent to all her chemo treatments in sweats, flip flops, and shimmeringin diamonds. To help her through, she wore her mother’sdiamonds as a way to keep her with her during the treatments,and brought the blanket she gave to her father when he was in theBe Different...Be BLue215 947 2963www.bluehairstudio.comA full service hair salon and spaHuntingdon Valley, PennsylvaniaPhoto: Elizabeth Kross PhotographySUPPORTEQUALITYMay/June I 267-767-4205 I www.phillyfit.comPhillyFIT I 19
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