10 Things That Got Me Through Treatment ft. Kiana Wooten

CURE spoke with breast cancer survivor and advocate Kiana Wooten about the items and rituals that helped her through treatment for invasive ductal carcinoma, which she was diagnosed with in 2019.

Chemotherapy brought side effects Wooten hadn't expected, including mouth sores, dry and inflamed skin, nausea, and aching joints. She found relief in small, often overlooked remedies: swishing clove oil and coconut oil for mouth sores, applying shea butter for her skin, sipping ginger turmeric tea to settle her stomach, and using a lavender magnesium spray to help her sleep.

Her treatment also included a bilateral mastectomy, which left her relying on a mastectomy pillow designed to hold ice or heat packs. "That helped so much during my journey in my healing process," she said, "so I could be in less pain."

Wooten was hospitalized several times, including two bouts of sepsis, often during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic when visitors weren't allowed. To get through those stretches, she turned to her Kindle, word puzzles, and a family photo album she kept packed and ready. "I could not have visitors when I had to stay there, and this was like a great reminder to me of good times that we've had," she said.

Throughout her journey, Wooten also kept a journal documenting her advocacy work and writing, something she returns to on harder days. "There were times when I would be depressed, and I would just open up this book and see, oh my gosh, I've done some really wonderful things, and I should be proud of those things," she said.

That sense of purpose has carried into her advocacy today. "It really motivates me in my advocacy work to just continue on this journey," she said, "and fighting for our lives, and fighting for other people's lives."

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