Over the years, music has played an increasing role in health and wellness.
It’s a form of therapy that’s proven to help reduce stress and anxiety, ease pain and, in some cases, promote physical rehabilitation.
For Mary Reid, music was a comfort that helped her through breast cancer treatment in 2021.
“Our whole family likes bluegrass music,” said Reid, a Kentucky transplant who now lives in Bremen with her husband, Dennis. “When I was going through treatment, my son gave me two CDs from a band called the Stillhouse Junkies. Every day on the way to treatment, I would put one in and listen to it on the way to my appointment and on the way back home. Throughout my treatment, I really fell in love with this group.”
The album was on heavy rotation each morning as Reid completed 26 rounds of radiation last December at the Roy Richards, Sr. Cancer Center in Carrollton.
“It was June and I was lying in bed one night and happened to find a lump on my chest,” said Reid, 64. “I sent an email to my primary care physician and set up an appointment for a mammogram.”
Reid had a mammogram at the Comprehensive Breast Care Center in Carrollton, where she met with Raul Zunzunegui, MD, a board-certified surgeon and Susan G. Komen Fellowship-trained breast health specialist.
“Dr. Z,” as he’s known to his patients, performed a tissue biopsy to diagnose the lump Reid had found.
“My husband is the one who insisted that I go and have a mammogram,” Reid said. “After I had it, I could tell something was not going right. Somehow, in the back of my mind, I expected it to be cancer. When Dr. Z called with my results, he was so encouraging and compassionate. It was Saturday morning and I was talking to my parents, like usual. I hung up and answered his call — that’s when he told me.”
Dr. Z diagnosed it as early-stage breast cancer, meaning that preliminary results showed that it did not seem it had spread to her lymph nodes.
Immediately after the call, Dr. Z and the rest of Reid’s cancer care team began establishing her treatment plan — because with the Tanner Cancer Care Promise, patients receive a personalized treatment plan within three days of their diagnosis.
While discussing her plan, she learned that she wouldn’t need chemotherapy.
She would, however, need a lumpectomy to remove the lump from her breast tissue, followed by 26 rounds of radiation and hormone-blocking medication to lower her estrogen levels.
Dr. Z scheduled her lumpectomy for Sept. 10, allowing Reid enough recovery time to attend a worship music conference in Nashville happening a week later.
“I had surgery that Friday, rested on Saturday, and after church that Sunday we drove to Nashville for the conference,” said Reid. “I never had pain. I didn’t have a single worry the entire conference. I got to enjoy it, and we even rented a cabin to enjoy some family time with my kids before coming back home.”
After the trip, Dr. Z called with more news: Additional tests showed that Reid’s margins weren’t as clear as Dr. Z would like them to be, so he wanted to perform a second procedure to remove more of the tissue.
When a surgeon performs a lumpectomy, they try to remove as much abnormal tissue as possible from the surrounding healthy breast tissue. The term “margin” refers to how close the cancer cells are to the edge of the healthy tissue around them.
Dr. Z scheduled her second procedure for the first week in October.
Reid had surgery on a Friday and was able to make her weekend cabin trip to Blue Ridge with her friends from college.
However, Reid said, in hindsight, the second trip may not have been the best idea because she wasn’t able to fully manage the pain from her second procedure on her own. When she got home, Dr. Z and her patient navigator, Nicolle Rooks, RN, were there to help.
Patient navigators at Tanner are compassionate providers who specialize in supporting patients, helping them coordinate their care, schedule appointments and connect to resources to aid their treatment and recovery.
“Dr. Z did an amazing job, and I felt like he gave us as much time as we needed,” said Reid. “He was so patient, and he’d always asked if we had more questions. Nicolle, too — if I needed her, I could always text her or call her. I felt completely cared for by all the nurses in the office.”
Reid said she experienced the same level of care at Tanner Radiation Oncology and Northwest Georgia Oncology Centers.
There, she met with Anil Dhople, MD, a board-certified radiation oncologist, and Brad Larson, MD, a board-certified medical oncologist, who worked with her in the next phase of her treatment plan — which included 26 rounds of radiation.
No cancer diagnosis is easy, and Reid’s experience taught her why it’s important for women to stay up to date on important screenings like mammograms.
“In the beginning, I was kind of resistant to some things, like having a mammogram,” said Reid. “But having gone through this, it’s important that women don’t skip that step. Breast cancer is so treatable now. It’s not like it was when my grandmother passed away from cancer in the ‘50s. There are many treatments available now and knowing that helped remove some of the fear. My Bible study group has six survivors. That is a testament to how far cancer treatment has come.”
Through treatment, Reid had a lot of support from her friends and family, especially her husband and two children, Marshall and Elizabeth, who live out of state but were still there for her throughout her treatment.
But Reid’s faith was an ultimate source of strength that got her through her journey.
“We had a lot of support from our friends locally and all over the country,” said Reid. “Dennis and I both have strong faith, and I feel like God carried us through this whole experience.”
Reid also writes a weekly column for the Haralson Gateway-Beacon newspaper, where she covers local events and other goings-on around the town.
Sometimes, her submissions are more personal.
“I wrote three different columns about my cancer journey,” said Reid. “My mom and I talked about it. I told her that I could keep it private, and that’s OK for those who want to keep their health private. But I decided being open about my experience might help someone else.”
While writing was a way for her to share her experience with her readers, music was an expressive outlet that was all her own.
“I’ve played the piano ever since I was a little kid, and I was in the church choir,” said Reid. “I even used to sing in an acapella group in Carrollton. Just before the pandemic, I started taking violin lessons from a classical music teacher in Fairfield. I have always loved classical music. It’s been a fun instrument to learn.”
And just after her treatment last year, Reid had her first solo on Christmas, where she played “Away in a Manger” on her fiddle at CrossPointe Church in Bremen.
“When I retired, I really wanted to play the upright bass, but I decided on the fiddle,” Reid said. “Lately, I’ve even been entering the local bluegrass scene for some Saturday night jam sessions.”
To learn more about breast cancer care at Tanner, visit TannerCancerCare.org.