Another Year Cancer Free

Getting a mammogram...not my favorite thing to do.

However, as a breast cancer survivor, they become pretty routine.

Today was my yearly mammogram and I am thrilled to say, I made it another year cancer free!

hello.

Fall is here...

The leaves are starting to become bright and beautiful...

Cooler weather...sweater weather is coming...

Apple pie and caramel apples are on the menu...

Pumpkin carving and trick or treating will be here before we know it...

It's Breast Cancer Awareness Month and this week, I had my mammogram and everything looked great! I've now been cleared to return in one year instead of six months...

...all of these things are why October is my favorite month!

Happy October!

The Picture of Health

Today I had a visit with my oncologist for a check up. He reviewed my recent mammogram and examined me to determine that everything looks good. He'll follow up with me again in 6 months to make sure I am still well and then hopefully I can just see him yearly. He's a nice guy, but I really don't want to see him any more than that. Ha! And that, is what I am thankful for today!

 

A Little Update on Me

It's been a while since I have posted an update on my health and I know that some of you have been wondering how things are going for me in my cancer recovery. Yesterday I had another mammogram and everything looked normal! Thankfully, aside from a few aches and pains from the meds I'm on, I feel fantastic! :)

 

Breast Cancer Awareness Games

I really do try to stay positive about things like breast cancer awareness, but for some reason these games disturb me. If you're a women and have a Facebook account, chances are you know what I'm talking about. Once again, my inbox has been bombarded with silly requests in "support of breast cancer awareness". Here is this year's game:

 Ok ladies it's that time of year again, in support of breast cancer awareness!! So we all remember last years game of writing a color as your status?.....or the way we like to have our handbag handy? Well this year, it's slightly different. You need to write your shoe size,( just the number) followed by the word 'inches' and how long it takes to do your hair... Remember last year so many people took part it made national news and, the constant updating of status reminded everyone why we're doing this and helped raise awareness!! Do NOT tell any males what the status' mean, keep them guessing!! And please copy and paste (in a message )this to all your female friends to see if we can make a bigger fuss this year than last year!!! I did my part... now YOUR turn ! Go on ladies...and let's have all the men guessing!!..........

Now...where do I begin? First off, how exactly does sharing my shoe size and how long it takes to do my hair make anyone aware that according to breastcancer.org:

"About 1 in 8 U.S. women (just under 12%) will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime."

or that:

 "For women in the U.S., breast cancer death rates are higher than those for any other cancer, besides lung cancer."

Now, lets talk about keeping the men guessing. Believe it or not, MEN can get breast cancer as well!

"About 2,140 new cases of invasive breast cancer were expected to be diagnosed in men in 2011. A man’s lifetime risk of breast cancer is about 1 in 1,000."

If you are trying to spread awareness, why would you hide something so important from someone who also could be affected?  Not to mention the fact that many men are supporting women who have breast cancer, my hubby included! If it were not for him, I am not sure I could have gotten through the last year.

Previously the game asked that you state your bra color. That request is quite insensitive given that fact that so many women with breast cancer no longer have need for a bra because they no longer have BREASTS! 

No, I don't see women rushing to the phone to schedule a mammogram after participating in one of these "games". So, if you truly want to spread awareness, educate yourself and share facts, not your shoe size.

Good News

Yesterday I had my first post-op mammogram and everything looked great! The next step is having my mediport removed. I'm definitely looking forward to that! I'm feeling great and finally seeing a return to normal life.

 Life is good!

Finally.

A "Kicking Cancer's Butt" Update

This past Thursday was a great day! It was my very last radiation treatment! 

I happily accepted my diploma and went on my way hoping to never return again.  :)

The Next Step

Yesterday I began the next phase of treatment for my breast cancer...radiation. Five days a week, for the next six weeks, I'll be spending part of my afternoon getting treatment. Although, it's kind of a pain to be going there every day, the actual procedure doesn't take long at all. I will be happily marking those days off the calender! 

Again, I would like to thank everyone who has sent cards, prayers, and offered encouraging words throughout all of my treatments! It means so much to me and really helps me keep my positive attitude! Staying focused on that has really made a difference for me!  Thank You.

The Wig-free Me

From the beginning of my treatment, Felicia had been the most upset about my hair loss.  She cried when Mike shaved my head and was always quick to remind me to put my wig on when I was leaving the house. It had come to the point where I was very rarely wearing anything on my head, but she still didn’t want me to pick her up at school without my wig. She was worried that someone would be mean to me.  Well, this past Friday I decided that I was just going to throw my hat on when I went to the school. I was worried that she would be upset, but to my surprise, she was FINE! Sunday morning we were about to leave for church and it was kind of chilly so I put my wig on. She looked at me and said, “Eww!” I guess that was the final farewell to the wig!

An Overdue Update

It's been two weeks since my surgery day so I thought it was about time I gave you all an update. The surgery was actually two surgeries in one day. Part one, removal of my ovaries. Although my ovaries had NO cancer, the tumor in my breast was estrogen fed so removing the ovaries reduces the chance for the cancer to return. Part two, a partial mastectomy, which was removing the tumor and an area around it, along with the lymph nodes under my arm. Whew, the operating room sure was busy, but I didn't mind because I got to sleep through it all. lol! Things went well and I am healing great! It feels good to check off another task on my "cancer treatment checklist". 

Thank you for all of your support through prayers, cards, meals, and kind words. It really is encouraging to know that you are all right beside me through this fight. :)

Surgery Day

I just wanted to quickly update before I leave, my surgery day is finally here. I'll be spending the night at the hospital(which I'm not too thrilled about), so I'll update when I get home. If you are the praying type, I would appreciate prayers.

Now...where was I?

Oh yeah, when I left you all just before Christmas, I had the shingles. It was not fun, and yes, they are extremely painful. But, even though I was not feeling so great, we did have a very nice Christmas (maybe it was the pain meds). Just at the point when I no longer needed pain meds to get through the day, I hurt my back. I'm still not quite sure how it happened, I just know that one morning I woke up and could barely move. :( 

Thankfully, I am healing well with only a few scars left from my shingles. Now, I can look ahead to my upcoming surgery. Next week, I'll have an MRI to get a look at my post-chemo tumor. That will help the doctors to determine what type of surgery they will be performing. I'm so ready to get this part of my treatment over with and move on to the next phase.

I can't thank you all enough for all of your kind words, emails, and continued prayers! I really believe that has made a huge difference in how I handle the tough things that have been thrown my way. Thanks again!

Round One-Done!

Yesterday, my oncologist entered the room in a celebratory mood. My chemotherapy treatment for the day, would be my last! I will still be getting my Herceptin treatment every three weeks, but with the chemo out of the way, we can move forward with surgery(round two) sometime in January.

Doc was also very pleased with the majorly reduced size of the mass that will continue to shrink over the next few weeks prior to my surgery. Things are going well. I feel like Christmas came yesterday and am feeling even more encouraged that I will beat this! 

Thank you for all the wonderful support and your continued prayers! They are definitely working!

With love,

Feeling Down.

Saturday we had our first snow of the season.

I love snow.

Especially the first snow.

This year, I missed it because I was too exhausted to move from the couch.

And then, last night was one of my favorite nights ever, Halloween.

The night that we suit up in our costumes and venture through the streets of our tiny town collecting candy and visiting friends.

Again, I missed it.

So today, I am feeling down.

I have tried throughout my treatment to stay positive, but sometimes it is not easy and today is one of those days. I'm angry. I don't like to be angry, but today I am. I want to get up and play with my kids, take a walk, or cook dinner. I hate feeling useless. I hate the things that this cancer is making me miss.

Cancer sucks!

It's Shrinking, It's Shrinking!!!

Yesterday, I had my third round of chemotherapy and I got some awesome news from my doctor. The mass in my breast has now shrunk to half of it's original size! My Dr. said I made his day, but truly, hearing this made my day! It has given me the inner strength to fight on, harder than ever!
The ultimate goal is to shrink the mass to nothing or at the very least, next to nothing, which would result in a smaller surgery. He's not making any promises, but he says we are on the right track and I put my trust in him. Please continue your prayers, I do believe they may be working.  :)

Getting Wiggy With It

So, one of the not so fun things about having cancer is the fact that you may lose your hair. Now, I had some pretty long hair before learning that I had cancer and eventually I shortened it a bit to ease myself into total hair loss gradually. Finally when I started losing it rapidly I handed hubby the clippers and he shaved the rest off. Now, I still have some stubble, and some areas actually appear to be growing, but not enough to make me not want to wear a wig. So, my dear sister in law came to my rescue and bought me a gorgeous wig. I have gotten so many compliments on how beautiful my hair is. During my second chemo treatment, a women came up to me and told me how lucky I was to still have my hair because by her second treatment her hair was all gone. Imagine her surprise when I told her I had shaved my head the previous week. She was stunned and I was digging it. I may have even declared that I was never going to grow hair again. Wigs are just so much easier to do!

That is until….the tragic cooking mishap. I love to cook, so when I am feeling up to it, I do it often. On one day in particular, I was not feeling up to it and I had food sent to me from a fellow church member (my church is awesome BTW), anyway, It was a chicken pot pie and I was being impatient waiting for the crust to get brown. My genius idea, put it under the broiler for a few minutes. Normally this works out just fine for me (when I’m not wearing an apparently highly flammable cranial prosthesis on my head) however this time, not so good. The crust was beautiful, my hair was NOT! Now, I wish that I had a picture of this debacle to share with you because I have gotten a few laughs out of it myself, but sadly, for some reason I didn’t take one. But I have learned a valuable lesson…Don’t cook with your wig on or get someone else to do it for you (like my eldest son is doing this very minute).

Although I don’t have my melted wig any longer, Here is a picture of me and my NEW hair:

I love it!

Catching Up

 I know I have been a blog slacker, but not because I haven't been feeling well, it's actually the opposite. I have been really feeling good and have just been spending as much time with my family as possible. Actually, for a few days, we were cut off from the rest of the world because massive flooding in our area made our tiny town an island of sorts. Thankfully, our house is high enough on a hill and we were spared from the devastating floods that have affected so many in our area. The company Mike works for was hit hard and it's going  to be a long road to getting things back to normal.

Also this past week, we celebrated Madelyn's 6th birthday! The day did not start out so good for her because school was cancelled due to the flood. She was to be the Star Of the Day and she had special cupcakes to share with her class. When she found out school was cancelled, she sobbed for hours! The day turned around for her when we took her to Wal-Mart and bought her a new bike. She was thrilled that we let her ride it all through the store. Sadly, Daddy had to miss her birthday dinner and cake because he had to go in to work to prepare for the flood (a lot of good that did!).

Here she is making her wish. It was to go to school the next day. It didn't come true. They were off for the rest of the week.  :(

 Tomorrow I'll be heading back to the doctor for treatment number 2. I am feeling great and in no way discouraged by the terrible sickness I suffered from my first treatment. I am confident that the new plan to combat my tummy troubles after treatment will work this time. Your continued prayers are much appreciated. Thanks!

A Rough Week

“God only gives you what He knows you can handle.” 

I’ve had many people say that to me and, for the most part, I do agree with that. However, this week, I found myself asking why He has so much faith in my strength. Last Saturday, following my first chemo treatment, I became very ill. My doctor had warned me that usually the Saturday and Sunday following a Wednesday treatment are the worst days. I just kept praying for Monday to get here thinking that by then I would start feeling better. Monday came and went and I was still no better. Of course, I am very stubborn and refused to admit that I needed to go to the hospital. I was sure I could handle it. WRONG! By Thursday morning, I could barely lift my head and it was obvious that I was not going to get any better on my own. So, I spent several hours at the hospital receiving IV meds and fluids. Ever so slowly I am regaining my strength and today, I actually feel pretty good.

Thankfully, my family has been awesome helping out and taking care of things that need to be done around here and for that, I am forever grateful.  This first treatment has been a learning experience and we now know how to better approach my next one. Until then, I’m just going to rest and gain strength.

Thank you for your continued prayers!

 

Almost Wordless Wednesday-First Treatment

*Thanks to my friend Jeanette for the “Fight Like a Girl” shirt.