When Elizabeth “Betty” Krug was told she had cancer, she had one thought.
“I need at least 40 years,” the Northern Cambria mother of two young children told her doctor. “You tell me what we need to do to get me that 40 years, and I’ll do it.”
At 48, and two years past her diagnosis, Krug knows her efforts were worth it.
“Last week I had a CAT scan and yesterday I was told all was still clear,” she said in a recent interview. “I was told to get back to my life.”
Krug found a lump in her breast over Labor Day weekend and immediately made a doctor's appointment. After a mammogram and an ultrasound, she had fluid aspirated from the lump and was told two days later that it was cancer.
A lumpectomy later that month showed she also had cancer in three lymph nodes.
“They put me into a Stage II,” she said.
Stage II cancers are considered locally advanced.
Since Krug’s type of cancer was not estrogen-fed, it had a greater chance for recurring, she was told. Doctors put her on a very aggressive treatment plan.
“I had four rounds of one drug and another four rounds of another drug,” she said.
After she finished the chemotherapy, she was transferred to a radiologist and went through seven weeks of radiation treatments.
Krug said that despite the aggressive treatment, she had few side effects.
“I have to say I was very, very lucky,” she said.
Krug was able to get her children on the bus, go to her treatment and be home in time to welcome the kids at the end of the day.
Krug owns a stained-glass business, and that made her work schedule easier to maintain.
“I would get very tired, fuzzy-headed,” she said. “I never got very nauseated.”
Krug said she knew she would lose her hair, so she bought a wig that closely resembled her own hair, only shorter. She took the wig to her stylist, who cut her hair to match the wig.
When Krug started wearing the wig, many people did not realize the difference.
“My hair has come in just as thick if not thicker,” Krug said. “I now have some loose curls.”
The most difficult part of her cancer experience was the waiting.
“The toughest part for me was between the time I was diagnosed and the time I started treatment,” she said. “That waiting period was to make sure (the cancer) was not somewhere else ... that it had not traveled all the way through my body.”
Despite the challenges of having cancer, Krug has good things to say about the ordeal.
“I can’t say that the whole experience was a bad experience,” she said. “I’ve met some very caring people and I have a lot of friendships that I would not have had.”
Krug said she has utmost respect for each health care worker she met during her doctor’s office visits.
“You have to be a special person to work in oncology,” she said. “You get to be like family.”
Krug said the experience has changed her for the better.
“I no longer live to work, I work to live,” she said.
“I always try to make sure I take time out to spend with my family. I think I appreciate my family much more.”
Her faith also has been made stronger through the ordeal.
“I put it all in God’s hands,” she said. “I realized it was he that decides my fate.”
Krug has been asked to speak at a seminar for newly diagnosed patients, an event similar to one she attended two years ago.
“I’ve been on both sides of the table,” she said, “so I hope I can inspire someone.”
What message would she like to send to those who have just been told they have cancer?
“You get your life back,” she said. “But it just takes a while.”
Breast Cancer
Related Photos
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Elizabeth “Betty” Krug of Northern Cambria, shown with her daughters, Katarina (left), 7, and Natalie, 9, at Northern Cambria Elementary School, was able to put her girls on their school bus, go for cancer treatments and be home in time to greet the girls as they got off the bus. Todd Berkey
Discussion
‘I need at least 40 years’: Mom underwent ‘very aggressive’ cancer treatments
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