Jasmine's cancer journey
Take me to Ogden Regional Medical Center: I’ll never leave their collaborative cancer care.
Jasmine’s and her mammogram techs’ gut feelings found cancer in the nick of time.
Jasmine Linam had a gut feeling — and she has learned to trust her gut. For example, when she first gazed at blurry pictures of a one-acre farm on a real estate app, her gut told her to look deeper. That led to her purchasing the happy homestead where she and her 14-year-old daughter live (along with their goats and chickens).
So, when Jasmine experienced shooting pains in her right breast, she had a feeling something wasn’t right. Jasmine’s mother had fought breast cancer in her 60s, but doctors dismissed Jasmine’s cancer concerns due to her young age. Still, her gut kept urging her to look deeper. As soon as her medical insurance changed, she switched doctors and scheduled her first mammogram.
“With my old insurance, I had tried to schedule a mammogram and it was a 1 to 2 hour wait time on the phone to even schedule! As soon my insurance was in the MountainStar Network, I called, waited less than 5 minutes and had an appointment for the next week,” Jasmine said.
Ogden Regional Medical Center: Going the extra mile for your health
At the appointment, a mammogram tech named Julie looked at Jasmine’s right breast. A gut feeling nudged her to take an additional image from a different angle.
“Typically, they do two views, but Julie said she wanted to do a third. From the two typical views you couldn’t see anything, but the third view revealed a shadow,” Jasmine said.
That shadow led to further imaging and a Stage 3 invasive ductile carcinoma diagnosis. After consulting with her oncology team at Ogden Regional Medical Center, Jasmine knew her treatment plan: a double mastectomy, chemotherapy, radiation and breast reconstruction. The entire process would take a year or more.
“After my diagnosis, my daughter was having a hard time, but I told her it’s just a year. I’ve had forty really good years, and I’m going to have a crappy year now, but then I plan on having many more really good years. This is less than 1 percent of my life,” Jasmine said. “I knew in my gut this was just a moment in life.”
Compassion and communication: Key elements in cancer care
Jasmine’s cheerful resoluteness gave her the boost she needed to pick herself off the floor when she lacked physical strength, and her big-picture perspective brought peace and perseverance. But even Jasmine needed extra care at times. Her cancer journey came with discomfort and unpleasant side effects, like weakness, blood clots and heavy bleeding. Thankfully, Jasmine said she found an extra boost of support from the compassionate approach of her cancer care givers.
“They see cancer patients every day and their schedules are full, but they weren’t too busy to talk with me. I felt like I got so close to everybody. We connected. It really helped. By the last day of chemo, I was like, ‘I wish we were all friends, but I also hope to never see you again,’” Jasmine laughed.
In addition to the compassionate care, Jasmine appreciated the collaborative culture that’s part of cancer care at Ogden Regional Medical Center.
“All my physicians talked with each other. Everybody knew what was going on and everyone was on the same page. They even kept my primary care practitioner in the loop,” Jasmine said. “Plus, the team was phenomenal with communicating to me about what was going to happen next. Knowing what to expect helped me prepare mentally for what I needed to go through.”
I’m a survivor: Cancer free, heart full
After a year of surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation, Jasmine Linam is now cancer free and back to her happy homesteading! In fact, she recently graduated from cancer rehabilitation at Ogden Regional Medical Center, a doctor-supervised program to restore physical strength after cancer treatment.
With this journey nearly complete (she’s still undergoing the breast reconstruction process), Jasmine says she feels strong and changed — in a good way.
“We’re never grateful for cancer, but I am grateful for the things that came from it,” Jasmine said. “I’ve realize that I’m stronger than I ever thought I was.”
And as for Ogden Regional Medical Center, Jasmine has a gut feeling that a healthy future is possible because of the compassionate, collaborative care available so close to home.
“Honestly, I’d never leave Ogden Regional. I love it there. The care is great, the doctors and staff are amazing, and they allow me to be me. The care and attention received there is way above and beyond anywhere else,” Jasmine said.