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She skipped a routine screening. Doctors found 2 types of cancer
In 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the globe and people staying home and keeping their distance, Morgen Chesonis-Gonzalez did what about 41% of Americans did during that “anxiety-filled time”: She skipped a medical appointment. In her case, it was her annual screenings, which the Miami public school clinical art therapist typically did in the summer.
But that August, persistent pain in her armpit forced the mom of two to summon her courage and schedule a mammogram. The already-stressful situation was made even more alarming by protocols that made the hospital feel “like a ‘Twilight Zone’ episode,” Chesonis-Gonzalez said.
But the truly surreal moment came with her diagnosis. With two masks on and her husband listening in from the car, she had to ask the oncologist to repeat it, thinking she’d misheard.
She had two forms of breast cancer.
Morgen Chesonis-Gonzalez
Treating two forms of breast cancer
Chesonis-Gonzalez was diagnosed triple-negative breast cancer in her left breast, which does not have the receptors of other types of cancers and can be more aggressive and harder to treat. She also had a hormone receptor positive invasive ductal cancer in a separate area of the same breast.
The two forms of cancer meant that Chesonis-Gonzalez would have to undergo aggressive treatment, said Dr. Starr Mautner, a breast surgical oncologist at Miami Cancer Institute in Florida. Mautner was one of the doctors on Chesonis-Gonzalez’ team. Having two forms of cancer at once like this is rare, Mautner said, but not unheard-of, estimating that it would likely happen only in about 5 or 6% of breast cancer patients.
Treatment began just as the school year started. As she taught her students online, Chesonis-Gonzalez also underwent four months of chemotherapy meant to shrink her tumors.
During those chemotherapy sessions, Chesonis-Gonzalez sat alone in the hospital, unable to have someone by her side because of pandemic restrictions. Friends and family couldn’t risk visiting, especially while she was immunocompromised, so meals with notes of well-wishes were left on the back porch. Her husband continued to attend oncology meetings by phone, taking notes in the hospital parking lot.
After the months of chemotherapy, Chesonis-Gonzalez underwent a bilateral mastectomy.
Morgen Chesonis-Gonzalez
“Since I was only 47, the anxiety of constantly worrying for the rest of my life when cancer might appear in the healthy breast was too much to bear,” Chesonis-Gonzalez said. Once again, she went into the hospital alone. The surgery included tissue expanders, or empty implants placed during surgery to make completing breast reconstruction easier later.
After the surgery came physical therapy to regain the range of motion in her chest and shoulders. She had a specific goal in mind: To be able to raise her arms over her head and hold the position long enough for radiation treatment. The physical therapy was difficult, but eventually she was able to begin daily photon radiation sessions, targeting the right breast to ensure no cancer remained.
Mautner said that after ten months of active treatment, there were no signs of cancer in any samples taken from Chesonis-Gonzalez. After six months of healing, she was able to get reconstruction surgery, exchanging the tissue expanders for breast implants. Now, three years later, Chesonis-Gonzalez is almost done with her maintenance endocrine therapy, which helps ensure that the cancer won’t return.
Morgen Chesonis-Gonzalez
Breast cancer symptoms and screenings
One in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime, Mautner said. Mammograms are “crucial in detecting a potential problem in its beginning stages,” she said, and women should begin getting them regularly at age 40.
People who are higher-risk due to genetic markers, family history or breast density should ask their doctors about a breast MRI, Mautner said, since that find lesions that a mammogram may not pick up.
It’s also important to be aware of signs of breast cancer, said oncologist Dr. Christina Annunziata. Persistent pain in the armpit like Chesonis-Gonzalez experienced can be a sign, especially of more advanced cancer, she said. People should also watch for skin redness, changes in the breast’s nipple or a lump in the breast. Mautner added that discharge from the nipple can also be a sign of breast cancer.
Annunziata said that while screenings dropped off during the pandemic, they have since returned to normal levels.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday will visit the Pennsylvania ammunition factory that is producing one of the most critically needed munitions for his country’s fight to fend off Russian ground forces.
He is expected to go to the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant to kick off a busy week in the United States shoring up support for Ukraine in the war, according to two U.S. officials and a third familiar with Zelenskyy’s schedule who spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that were not yet public. He also will address the U.N. General Assembly annual gathering in New York and travel to Washington for talks on Thursday with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Scranton plant is one of the few facilities in the country to manufacture 155 mm artillery shells. They are used in howitzer systems, which are towed large guns with long barrels that can fire at various angles. Howitzers can strike targets up to 15 miles to 20 miles (24 kilometers to 32 kilometers) away and are highly valued by ground forces to take out enemy targets from a protected distance.
Ukraine has already received more than 3 million of the 155 mm shells from the U.S.
With the war now well into its third year, Zelenskyy has been pushing the U.S. for permission to use longer range missile systems to fire deeper inside of Russia.
So far he has not persuaded the Pentagon or White House to loosen those restrictions. The Defense Department has emphasized that Ukraine can already hit Moscow with Ukrainian-produced drones, and there is hesitation on the strategic implications of a U.S.-made missile potentially striking the Russian capital.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Russia would be “at war” with the United States and its NATO allies if they allow Ukraine to use the long-range weapons.
At one point in the war, Ukraine was firing between 6,000 and 8,000 of the 155 mm shells per day. That rate started to deplete U.S. stockpiles and drew concern that the level on hand was not enough to sustain U.S. military needs if another major conventional war broke out, such as in a potential conflict over Taiwan.
In response, the U.S. has invested in restarting production lines and is now manufacturing more than 40,000 155 mm rounds a month, with plans to hit 100,000 rounds a month. During his visit, Zelenskyy is expected to meet and thank workers who have increased production of the 155 mm rounds over the past year.
Two of the Pentagon leaders who have pushed that increased production through — Doug Bush, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology and Bill LaPlante, the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer — are also expected to join Zelenskyy at the plant, as is Gov. Josh Shapiro, D-Pa.
The 155 mm rounds are just one of the scores of ammunition, missile, air defense and advanced weapons systems the U.S. has provided Ukraine — everything from small arms bullets to advanced F-16 fighter jets. The U.S. has been the largest donor to Ukraine, providing more than $56 billion of the more than $106 billion NATO and partner countries have collected to aid in its defense.
Even though Ukraine is not a member of NATO, commitment to its defense is seen by many of the European nations as a must to keep Putin from further military aggression that could threaten bordering NATO-member countries and result in a much larger conflict.
Federal agents have boarded a vessel managed by the same company as a cargo ship that caused the deadly Baltimore bridge collapse, the FBI has confirmed to CBS News.
In statements Saturday, spokespeople for the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Maryland confirmed that authorities have boarded the Maersk Saltoro. The ship is managed by Synergy Marine Group.
“The Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division and Coast Guard Investigative Services are present aboard the Maersk Saltoro conducting court authorized law enforcement activity,” the FBI told CBS News in a statement.
The agency said it was “unable to comment further.”
In a lawsuit Wednesday, the U.S. Justice Department has alleged that Dali owner Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and manager Synergy Marine Group, both of Singapore, recklessly cut corners and ignored known electrical problems on the vessel that had a power outage moments before it crashed into a support column on the Francis Scott Key Bridge in March. Six men who were doing work on the bridge died.
The Justice Department is seeking to recover more than $100 million the government spent to clear the underwater debris and reopen the city’s port.
Darrell Wilson, a Grace Ocean spokesperson, confirmed that the FBI and Coast Guard boarded the Maersk Saltoro in the Port of Baltimore on Saturday morning.
Wilson has previously said the owner and manager “look forward to our day in court to set the record straight” about the Justice Department’s lawsuit.
The budget motel chain Motel 6 is being acquired by the parent company of Oyo, a hotel operator based in India.
The New York-based investment firm Blackstone, which owns Motel 6’s parent company G6 Hospitality, announced Friday that the deal would be an all-cash transaction worth $525 million.
The transaction will also include the sale of the Studio 6 motel brand, which caters to customers seeking extended stays. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.
Don and Melinda Crawford/UCG/Universal Images G
Oyo, which launched in India just over a decade ago, has been expanding its footprint in the U.S. over the past few years. The company says it currently operates 320 hotels across 35 states and is aiming to add 250 more this year.
“This acquisition is a significant milestone for a startup company like us to strengthen our international presence,” Gautam Swaroop, OYO’s international division chief, said in a statement.
Blackstone had purchased Motel 6 and Studio 6 in 2012 for $1.9 billion. Since then, the private equity giant says it has heavily invested in the brand and pursued a strategy that converted the chain into a franchise.
“This transaction is a terrific outcome for investors and is the culmination of an ambitious business plan that more than tripled our investors’ capital and generated over $1 billion in profit over our hold period,” Rob Harper, the head of Blackstone Real Estate Asset Management Americas, said in a statement.
Under the deal, Oravel Stays, which owns Oyo, will acquire G6 Hospitality.