ROME, Ga., June 4, 2024 – Vicki Lunceford, a breast cancer survivor, loves to garden. The rehabilitation experts at Atrium Health Floyd have worked to make sure the 72-year-old can continue doing that – and more.
Lunceford was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021 at The Breast Center at Atrium Health Floyd. After surgery and draining rounds of chemotherapy, she needed to get her strength back. That's when she turned to a new breast cancer rehabilitation program at Atrium Health Floyd.
“You know, one thing that I think a lot of people don't think about is how chemotherapy impacts your whole body," said physical therapist Megan Snider, who provides rehabilitation for cancer patients at The Breast Center. “Our heart is a muscle and I know you can't see it, but it is affected."
After working with Snider on strength, stretching exercises and massages, Lunceford started going to Atrium Health Floyd's rehab gym to work with physical therapist Daryl Floyd, who continued Snider's work.
“So that's my primary focus, getting people stronger and increasing their stamina and their endurance that they lose from the side effects of the chemotherapy and radiation therapy," said Floyd, who is a certified cancer specialist. “We were working her entire body so she could continue doing what she likes to do, which is working outside and gardening."
Snider said the process can't be rushed.
“So, doing stuff like that, from an endurance and stamina standpoint, it is important to make sure that her heart can tolerate it," she added.
Lunceford said the two have definitely made her stronger. She had a workout with Floyd a few weeks ago.
“It feels good to do it," she said of the strengthening work. “I will probably continue working out at the rehab center once or twice a week," she added.
Her cancer journey also reflects the quick response she received from The Breast Center when she was first diagnosed.
In February of 2021, a mammogram she received at her doctor's office came back negative. Then she later detected a small lump.
“I didn't worry too much about it because I just had a clear mammogram, right?" Lunceford said. That July she visited her gynecologist, Dr. Lisa Blake, at what is now Atrium Health Floyd Northwest Georgia Medical Clinic, who sent her over to the Breast Center.
On a Friday, she had another mammogram, an ultrasound and a biopsy. She received news by Monday that she had breast cancer.
“They moved pretty fast," Lunceford said of the health care professionals at The Breast Center. “I was glad to get it over and done with at the same time. I would hate to have to go back and wait and wait."
She moved to the area from Rockdale County in 2019, and said she is grateful for the change.
“I am so impressed with the medical community here," she said. “Living in Rockdale County, I would have had to drive into Atlanta to receive treatment like this."