Becky Rennebaum was treated for breast cancer at Kootenai
Clinic. She was able to receive care at Kootenai every step of the
way—through diagnosis, treatment, surgery and rehabilitation.
Kootenai Health now offers the
complete spectrum of care for
breast cancer patients, from diagnosis
to reconstructive surgery.
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By Stacie Jones
Sitting together
at their
dining room table, Becky
and Fritz Rennebaum
admire the view of Lake
Coeur d’Alene from
their home near Worley,
Idaho. It’s a drizzly
mid-February afternoon,
but Becky is fantasizing
about the warmer months
ahead when she and Fritz
can spend time kayaking
the bay, one of their
favorite pastimes.
“When I get all my
strength back, I’ll be
back out there,” Becky
says, before the conver-
sation shifts to a more
serious tone.
“You’ll have to forgive
us—we will probably get
a little emotional as we
talk about this. But I
have my tissues ready,”
Becky warns nervously
as she and Fritz prepare
to recount what have un-
doubtedly been the most
traumatic five months of
their 45-year marriage.
T H E C A L L
In April 2013, during
her annual physical,
Becky asked her primary
care physician, Bradley
Drury, M.D., of Family
Health Associates in
Coeur d’Alene, if she
could forgo her annual
mammogram.
“There had been a
lot in the media about
having mammograms
every two years. I’ve had
one every year since I
was 45 years old, and the
results were always
negative,” explained
Becky, now 67. “I asked
if I could skip this year’s,
but my doctor said no,
that I should have one
yearly.”
In May, heeding
Dr. Drury’s advice, Becky
obtained a referral for the
mammogram from Kate
Foresman, a nurse practi-
tioner at Coeur d’Alene’s
Health Care for Women.
However, feeling no
sense of urgency, Becky
delayed visiting Kootenai
Imaging for the routine
exam until September.
The initial screening
mammogram revealed
two lesions in Becky’s
left breast. She returned
for a second mammo-
gram with ultrasound.
David E. Moody, M.D., a
Kootenai Imaging radiolo-
gist, read and confirmed
the abnormal results.
Becky needed a biopsy.
C O N T I N U I T Y O F C A R E : A K E Y W E A P O N I N B E C K Y
R E N N E B A U M ’ S B AT T L E A G A I N S T B R E A S T C A N C E R
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CANCER SERVICES
