Case Study 4
By the time she found her way to Winnie, this patient had already been through years of upheaval, separation, divorce, financial strain, betrayal, isolation, losing the future she once pictured.
Then came metastatic, estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer.
After a right mastectomy, severe tightness and pain set in across her back. Imaging showed the cancer had spread widely, lungs, liver, bones, lymph nodes, possibly the adrenal gland, with compression fractures in her thoracic spine.
Her oncology team started her on an estrogen blocker and ribociclib (Kisqali).
She came to acupuncture not looking for a cure, but for support alongside the medical treatment she was already getting.
Shoulder, mid and lower back, ribs, eventually hips and other joints.
Pain and worry kept her up at night. Her resting pulse ran high at different visits, and she dealt with breathlessness, night sweats, fatigue, hair loss, crying, and this painful feeling of having no control over her own body.
Pain medication helped, sometimes, but it left her feeling foggy and impaired, so she wanted something else in the mix that didn’t involve more drugs. Given that her cancer involved the spine and other bones, staying under close oncology supervision and proper pain management mattered the whole way through.
Across five documented visits, Winnie provided gentle, individualized Soul Mind Body Makeover with acupuncture, supportive care running alongside her oncology treatment, never instead of it.
Each session adapted to how she was doing that week. Back and flank pain, muscular tension, emotional distress, disrupted sleep, night sweats, tight digestion, the sheer effort of breathing, all of it got addressed.
Winnie also made room for her to just say what she was feeling, fear, grief, anger, uncertainty, without pretending everything was fine.
At the same time, she started systemic cancer medication, kept up with medical monitoring, and got a second opinion from oncology. With that much happening in parallel, there’s no clean way to credit any one change to acupuncture alone.
She said she had “a lot less pain.” She felt a bit stronger, spoke more easily, and had woken up that morning feeling more positive than usual.
One cancer marker had dropped, though that’s something for her oncology team to interpret, not something acupuncture notes can claim credit for.
She was still dealing with real, significant symptoms: bone and joint pain, disrupted sleep, night sweats, breathlessness, emotional distress, treatment side effects. Her condition stayed serious.
Metastatic breast cancer is a complicated, life-threatening illness, full stop. Mindful Healing Heart’s role here was complementary, alongside her oncology care, never in place of it.
At the time of these notes she was still on systemic therapy, waiting on more imaging.
What the complementary care offered was real, even if it wasn’t a cure: a sense of being heard, a place to talk through symptoms, a calm environment, and maybe a bit of eased discomfort while her oncology team handled the cancer itself.
Anyone dealing with cancer-related pain, new breathlessness, chest pain, weakness, numbness, confusion, fever, or symptoms getting rapidly worse should call their oncology team or get urgent medical care, no hesitation.
Living with cancer brings fear, grief, anger, questions about who you even are anymore, and a body that can start to feel unfamiliar. Supportive Soul Mind Body healing with acupuncture can be one piece of that larger picture.
BOOK YOUR SESSION NOWQuestions? Text Winnie directly: 626-642-8993
2801 E Foothill Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91107
Disclaimer: Acupuncture and spiritual wellness services complement, they don’t replace medical diagnosis, psychotherapy, medication, oncology care, or emergency treatment. Outcomes vary from person to person. Complimentary group session: breathing.heartcenter.LA
